Americans and Chewy Drinks

[Jujubee]

Those tapioca balls are filling cause they they are about 600 calories a drink on top of the 500 in the tea. They make Konnyaku boba pearls that have virtually no calories.

←

1100 calories in a regular bubble tea drink? And I guess my prefered flavours like taro and pudding would pack in even more calories! I had no idea. Asian kids drink these all the time and they're still teeny! And I usually eat the thick toast with condensed milk as a snack whenever I have one of these drinks! Oops.

←

If you follow the Wikipedia link, they estimate the calories to be closer to 350 a drink. That makes a lot more sense, given that it's just 12-16 oz of sweet, milky tea with about 1/2 cup of starch balls.

Edited July 6, 2007 by Jujubee (log)

[Ling]

^Ahh...I was thinking that 7 starch balls at 100 calories is pretty high. I'm wondering where you got the number from, GlorifiedRice?

Edited July 6, 2007 by Ling (log)

[GlorifiedRice]

There is no clear nutritional info except wildly varying stuff.

Some say its as low as 250 per drink, others go as high as 1200.

I decided to do some research on the tapioca in pudding and just the tapiocas in pudding are very high...

Here are two sites, one stating that its 1000 cals, and the other saying 7 balls = 100 cals

http://www.hungry-girl.com/askhg/askhgdetails.php?isid=189

http://www.nutrition.com.sg/atd/atdfood.asp

[slkinsey]

My most unwavering culinary rule is that I don't partake of foods or drinks that may be described, in part or whole, as "mucilaginous."

For people who like this sort of thing: make at home! All you need is boiled okra slime and sugar!

[eje]

Oh, shoot, I forgot to put this link up before it zipped off to premium content.

Well, if you are a NY Times Subscriber, or want to pay for it, they asked Michael Laiskonis, executive pastry chef at Le Bernardin to update a 1949 recipe for Strawberry Tapioca Flamingo. He created a variation on tapioca pearl drinks called a "Strawberry Tapioca Soda". I made a raspberry variation last weekend and my wife described it as, "the weirdest thing I have ever drunk". I think she meant that in a good way. I know at least she drank it all.

Recipe Redux; 1949: Strawberry Tapioca Flamingo, Amanda Hesser

If you're not a NY Times Subscriber, drop me a PM for the recipe.

Edited July 7, 2007 by eje (log)

[Terila]

My most unwavering culinary rule is that I don't partake of foods or drinks that may be described, in part or whole, as "mucilaginous."

They are very much like jujube candies. Remember them?