ISO: ISO: TARO DRINK--I have developed a sincere craving for Taro Slushies. . .

In Search Of:
M

mistral

Well-known member
Taro slushies, as they are called at the Boba tea/drink houses around here.

I cannot find any recipes in web searches on Google to make them at home from scratch. I am willing to buy and cook taro at home, mash it or do whatever to it; I can mucho puree it in my VitaMixer to get a smooth, creamy drink.

I need to know what is in the Taro Syrups/powders that these Boba places use in Taro Slushies and drinks. I'd like to know all the ingredients (except for stabilizers and preservatives). Is there any other flavoring in a Taro drink, other than Taro itself?

I'd really like a recipe to make them from scratch, starting with cooking the taro!

I'm thinking that I will just try cooking some taro, mashing it and then start blenderizing. . .

I can see my kids now--Mom, we want dinner, stop making the Taro stuff!

 
You can find Taro there?? Have you had any experience cooking it, Mistral?

It is a funny starch- you must cook it thoroughly or it can cause you severe throat problems. Once cooked there is no worry but be certain you cook it fork-tender. Maybe you already know this.

Taro takes on flavors around it- not exactly like Tofu does but the same idea. Alone it is a rather bland starchy flavor. Most Hawaiian folks I know eat Poi mixed with other stuff, not by itself.

Here, the stands that sell Taro smoothies use hunks of frozen, cooked Taro in them. One even uses Poi. I haven't seen syrup or powder but it may be because the "real thing" is so easily obtained here.

 
Cathy,

I can get taro tubers, those smaller, brown and somewhat hairy things at local oriental/asian/south pacific markets. No problem there.

And I had known that you need to cook it. I figured on cooking it as soft as a well cooked Irish potato, definately point-of-the-knife-very-tender.

The chunks of cooked taro thing is how I was going to experiment to make slushies, but I did not know if any other flavorings were used in the slushies. The taro slushies I have had taste, well, like nothing else I have had; I guess they taste like sweetened taro. . . I just don't know if they add anything like vanilla or such, or what type of sugar is used to sweeten it (brown, white. . . )

They make the slushies at Boba Tea places here, with some sort of syrup/powder.

A few questions for you, if you wouldn't mind:

Just so we are talking about the same thing here, what I am calling "taro" is a tuber, brown and somewhat hairy, with lavender or purplish flesh. Is this what you are talking about when you say taro?

Is cow's milk used in the taro-chunk drinks you hace seen? Or coconut or soy? I have seen some sites that sell the taro powder give recipes that use dried milk or dry coffee creamer in their recipes, along with their taro powder.

What is used to sweeten the drink?

Could you give me some specific directions on cooking taro, or give me a link to a good site for this?

Hmmmm, maybe I will need to see If I can pick up some frozen poi somewhere, then I could try some of that in a drink, though I think chunk taro would be cheaper.

Thanks!

 
Yes, I think we are talking about the same "Taro"

Hmmm- the syrup or powder might be an extraction but juicing a Taro root would be like juicing a potato so I'm not sure what it starts with.

There are different varieties of Taro just like any other vegetable- there is one variety that is almost exclusively used for Taro chips (delicious, by the way!) and might be a bit more tender and less dry after being cooked- might suit your purpose better. I wouldn't bother buying poi unless you really want to experiment with it- you'll get the same result with chunks I imagine.

The drinks I see here are made with simple syrup for smoothies (must be the same as slushies) and with coconut milk for a creamier version. I will put an ISO out for Sandi from Hawaii just in case she has more insight than I do.

http://www.produceoasis.com/Items_folder/Vegetables/Taro.html

 
ISO Sandi from Hawaii- can you read what I wrote (above) and give more insight to Mistral, please?

 
The roots in the pic at your link are wha I am talking about. . . And how do you cook it?

As far as I know we only get generic "taro" out here, so that is what I will use.

Do you have any info on cooking taro? With skin, without, how much. . .

 
Are the roots you get purplish or do you get the white ones?. . .

One site seemed to indicate that the root interiors change from a white to purplish when cooked.

I have seen mainly the big and little purple ones out here.

Do the ones you cook especially irritating to the skin on your hands?

 
It depends on the variety- smaller, purple ones used for chips, larger, whitish

ones used for cooking mostly. Yes, they do turn purplish when cooked.

Yes, irritating to the skin- all Taro is when it is uncooked. Maybe cook then peel instead of peel then cook.

 
Thanks! I had found stuff like this pretty easily in my searches. . .

But I know there has to be a way to make the stuff from scratch, real scratch.

I am thinking that cooking the taro and blenderizing it should give a nice consistency to the drink and I can sweeten to taste however I like.

When I figure out the sugar to taro to milk/liquid, I will be able to make a taro puree syrup that I can freeze to use later as I can pop frozen stuff into the Vitamixer as long as the pieces of frozen are not to big.

I did find a source for powder poi (which if you choose right, is the fresh type of poi and not the older, sourtype of poi). This would do the trick, but again, expense is involved in shipping it to me.

I am going to search for Taro Flour (there are taro bread mixes out there) and see what I can turn up.

 
Sorry Mistral, you and Cathy exhausted the extent of my knowledge of taro...

I eat poi, but that's about the extent of my knowledge of the taro smileys/smile.gif I also knew that you had to cook it a long time, or it'd make your throat itchy.

I'll go look to see how much the powdered poi is, and let's see if we can ship it more economically to you. Will be in touch smileys/smile.gif

 
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