A way to make Milk not curdle from acid?

[BAPyessir6]

Trying to make a Passionfruit bubble tea drink, but the milk always curdles. I've tried most all I can think of, adding starch to the milk or emulsifiers like xanthan gum (which have both worked to stop milk from curdling due to heat), but for the life of me I can't figure out how to stop milk curdling from acid. I know that bubble tea shops use "fake" milk (non dairy) when making their milk teas, but I really want to use cow milk for my bubble tea as I love milk and like that creamy flavor. I bought non dairy milk and non dairy creamer powder and they work well but I'm really like, wondering if there's a way to make a Passionfruit milk tea with actual cow's milk. (I also don't use much almond milk or oat milk in my bubble teas or cooking in general). Thanks all!

 

[Kathleen]

Two thoughts come to mind (and I have no idea whether either will work):
1. Replace the milk with heavy cream. It has a high fat content so might be a bit more resistent.
2. Make your syrup solution using milk and add the tapioca bubbles to it first before making your drink. Perhaps the high sugar and heating (or the starch) might make the milk more resistant to curdling.

If you try either, let us know whether it worked. Now I am curious.

BTW, I have tried to make bubble tea, but my tapioca pearls never soften up right. What's the trick?

 

[BAPyessir6]

Two thoughts come to mind (and I have no idea whether either will work):
1. Replace the milk with heavy cream. It has a high fat content so might be a bit more resistent.
2. Make your syrup solution using milk and add the tapioca bubbles to it first before making your drink. Perhaps the high sugar and heating (or the starch) might make the milk more resistant to curdling.

If you try either, let us know whether it worked. Now I am curious.

BTW, I have tried to make bubble tea, but my tapioca pearls never soften up right. What's the trick?

Do you use traditional tapioca pearls or the quick cooking kind? Traditional tapioca pearls are very chewy, and should be eaten within a few hours of making them. I tried making bubble tea with them 4 hours later and they got too hard. So consumption pretty quickly after you make them is key.

Onto cooking!

The keys I've found in making tapioca bubbles are only 2 keys. Lots of water and 30/30.

For like 1 cup boba I use like half to 3/4 a gallon of water. Trust me I've tried using less and they always end up chewy and not cooked well. The other method is you boil all that water, toss in the boba (don't heat them up with the water or else they stick together. Ask me how I know haw haw). Then you boil them for 30 minutes, covered, stirring occasionally, then after 30 minutes you take the pan off the heat, covered, and let them just sit there for another 30 minutes to keep stewing in there. Then you make your sugar/brown sugar syrup and evacuate those bobas into the syrup then you can let them sit in that syrup maybe an hour or two before they get hard so make your drink and drink up!!!

 

[Kathleen]

I have the traditional boba. I'll try your method! Thanks!!!

How do the boba shops keep their boba ready for a few hours or so?

 

[BAPyessir6]

From what I've heard from friends who work in shops, most shops use quick cooking boba (the 5 minute kind) and they also hold them in hot water. That way they can make more at a moments notice. Traditional (1 hour cooking) would be wayyy too long for a high turnover spot to manage. Nobody gonna stand around 1 hour for more boba, but most would for 5 minutes.

 

[BAPyessir6]

According to a YouTuber who also does bubble tea in shops many shops are different. She does traditional boba then holds it for up to 4 hours in a rice cooker and if the boba gets cold in the sugar syrup she puts the rice cooker on warm for 5 minutes.