Tapioca pudding. There is a nostalgia in tapioca pudding you either love or strongly dislike. I for one love tapioca pudding. I remember going to the hippie health food store to get the good tapioca so we could make it at home. I think it always set up a little more than regular pudding and I love the pearls.
Tapioca pudding was developed by Susan Stavers in 1984. Boston native Susan Stavers had a boarder, a sailor, who had brought some cassava roots with him. After a few trials, Susan processed the cassava roots in a coffee grinder and developed the first traditional American tapioca pudding. The same year she would sell the rights to her process to John Witman and the Minute Tapioca company was born.
Food is fascinating! To celebrate National Tapioca Day and get a little nostalgia hit, I decided to make some from scratch. To my surprise I could only find instant tapioca at the store so I had to order this online.
Gather your ingredients: I have some eggs, vanilla, salt, whole milk, and small pearl tapioca. Not pictured, the sugar.
Soak your pearls: soak your tapioca pearls for 30 minutes or overnight.
Cook your custard: mix together your egg yolks, half the sugar, salt, and milk. When combined add your soaked tapioca pearls and cook.
Beat for peaks: beat your egg whites and the other half of the sugar until you get to soft peaks. (I probably could have gone a little longer but I figured it was good enough.)
Temper and fold: take some of your custardy mixture and fold it into the egg whites. Then pour all of the egg white into the custard on the stove and fold it all in. Cook a little more.
Cool, portion, cool: after it is all combined, turn off the heat and let it cool a bit. Then mix in the vanilla. Then put it into the serving dish or dishes of your choice and pop it in the fridge.
Enjoy: you just made some tapioca pudding. I hope you like it cause that is definitely what you made. Top it with some fruit, a sprinkle of cinnamon, or as is.
I loosely followed the recipe on the bag of tapioca pearls from Bob’s Red Mill. I really do not remember folding egg whites into it but maybe? Either way it is delicious. Highly recommend.
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