Type Dessert | Main ingredients Boba, ice cream | |
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Boba Ice Cream Bars are a frozen food, mainly eaten as a dessert or snack. It is an ice cream bar with boba bits throughout. The ice cream is usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and can be flavored with other ingredients, such as green tea, thai tea, etc. The boba (or tapioca pearls) is made out of tapioca starch, becoming gelatinous when cooked. It is a combination of both creaminess from the ice cream and chewiness from the boba. The bars should be kept frozen and defrosted a little before eating.
Contents
Process
Boba ice cream bars consist of ice cream and boba. A mixture of whole milk, heavy whipping cream, sugar, vanilla, and any additional flavors are mixed in a bowl until the mixture is homogeneous. Once homogeneous, the mixture is poured into an ice cream maker. Our boba consists of tapioca starch, sweet rice flour (mochiko), brown sugar, and water. The dough is rolled into tiny spheres. The spheres are cooked in boiling water. When done, it is cooled in an ice bath so that they don't stick together. The boba is then mixed in with the ice cream. The boba and ice cream mixture is then put into popsicle molds and put into the freezer until the popsicles are hardened.
Health Concerns
It should be noted that tapioca starch, a main ingredient in creating boba, are made from cassava root. If prepared incorrectly, cassava root can be highly toxic as it naturally contains linamarin, a cyanogenic glycoside, which upon ingestion will release cyanide in the gut. Prolonged ingestion can result in acute cyanide poisoning, a goiter, spastic paraparesis, or ataxic neuropathy.
If eggs were used in making the ice cream, there is risk for Salmonella infection if the egg base was not cooked to a proper temperature. Infants, elderly, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems are at greater risk for infection.
Eating ice cream made with unpasteurized dairy products can also be harmful and may contain Salmonella, E.coli, or Listeria. Infants, elderly, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems are at greater risk for infection. Listeria is a greater risk to pregnant woman as it can cause miscarriage, fetal death or illness or death of the newborn.
Asides from risk of illness, eating too much ice cream can lead to high blood cholesterol levels, due to its high milkfat content of at least 10%, which in turn can increase ones risk for heart disease or stroke.
Those with lactose intolerance should also be careful of eating ice creams that are not labeled "lactose free" as ice cream is commonly high in lactose.
Regional Application
The idea of boba ice cream bars comes from a Taiwanese drink, bubble tea. Boba, or tapioca, is made from tapioca starch derived from cassava root. Ice cream, on the other hand, has a diverse history and originates from places such as China, the Middle East, and Europe. Boba ice cream bars can be consumed throughout the world.