Preparation of the Orange Flavoured “Boba” Ball in Milk Tea and Its Shelf-Life

Ying Liu,Huan Cheng,Dan Wu

doi:10.3390/app11010200

Ying Liu, Huan Cheng + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/app11010200

Copy DOI

Abstract

Boba milk tea is very popular around the world. The “boba” balls in milk tea are usually made of tapioca. Reports on calcium alginate ball encapsulation in fruit-flavoured drinks have rarely been seen. The preparation method for this kind ball was studied. The “boba” balls were obtained by membrane formation on the interface through the addition of calcium chloride fluids into a sodium alginate solution. The operation conditions were studied, including drop height, flow velocity, sodium alginate and calcium chloride solution concentration. The diameter, mechanical strength, loading ratio and encapsulation rate of the “boba” balls are discussed. The optimized preparation conditions were as follows: the diameter of adding tube was 8 mm, the drop height was 25 cm, the drop flow rate was 60 mL/min, 1.0% sodium alginate, 1.0% calcium chloride. The prepared “boba” balls were stored at different temperatures. No microorganisms were detected in 90 days, and the sensory quality decreased with storage time. Shelf life was predicted using the Arrhenius equation; when the storage temperature was less than 10 °C, it could be stored for more than 1 year. This preparation technology of “boba” balls has potential for application by milk tea ingredient companies or relevant beverage manufacturing factories.

Highlights

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.license.Boba milk tea originated in Taiwan in the 1980s, became very popular in Asia in the1990s, and has been increasingly popular around the world since 2000 [1,2]
There have been some studies on the calory content and obesity risk of milk tea [6], but there have been few reports related to the improvement of milk tea technology, including that related to the “boba” balls
The results showed that after storage at 25 ◦ C for 21 days, the contents of astaxanthin in the calcium alginate gel (CAG) both remained above 90% of their original amount [17]

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Boba milk tea originated in Taiwan in the 1980s, became very popular in Asia in the1990s, and has been increasingly popular around the world since 2000 [1,2]. Balls, which are called “pearl” balls, are the central ingredient of the milk tea. It contains nutrient elements needed by the human body, it contains plant phenols and flavonoids, containing an especially high content of Vc [7,8]. It is one of the most popular fruits in the world. Trombin, and Marques et al analysed the global consumption of frozen concentrate orange juice from 2013 to 2018. A large number of studies have shown that eating a large amount of citrus fruits is beneficial to anti-cancer functions and prevention of cardiovascular diseases [10,11,12,13]

Objectives

Methods

Results