Frog Spawn and Swamp Water Tea

Just in time for Halloween, here is a recipe sure to make your party guests want to toss their little bat-shaped cookies.

And it tastes, yummmm...

I created this recipe based on instructions for home-made bubble tea. However, instead of bubble tea tapioca (boba) which is black, brown, or white when cooked, I use standard white tapioca that you can get at the grocery store. It is colorless and translucent when cooked.

Tapioca pearls have NO flavor. Less, even, than tofu. That is why we add the extra sugar syrup.

Step 1 Gather your Ingredients

1 package of white dried tapioca pearls (large) Do not use instant tapioca by Minute Rice.
A jar of honey or corn syrup
Your favorite green liquid drink: Lime Kool-Aid, Green Tea, limeade, or, if you are over the legal drinking age....
Food Coloring, if desired

A stovetop
A medium saucepan
A mixing spoon
A strainer
A small mixing bowl
A small glass cup. The effect works best if the drinking vessel is clear. Small, because for a first-timer it is difficult to drink more than a small amount of it.
Big fat straws, at least 1/4 inch diameter. Big enough to suck up those little frog eggs.

Comments

[Sputny]

hey i was wondering if i added dry ice would it be foggy and still work

[whiteoakart]

Yes that would work and be quite Halloweeny! I wonder if it might freeze the tapioca balls?  That might be kind of interesting.

[Meralis]

Love this! I can't wait to try it out next year.

I was considering trying this with Mt. Dew but I was wondering if the carbonation would do anything weird to the tapioca. For example do you think it would make them bubble up to the top?

[whiteoakart]

That's a very interesting idea.  Haven't tried it.  But it may make the tapioca pearls act like a lava lamp floating to the top, releasing their air bubbles, then sinking again.

[zmay1]

I would just put water in a glass and put green food colouring in to it and stir it with a spoon and done

[geodez]

in harry potter it is called gillywater.

[apdog4]

gillyweed, not gillywater, gillyweed is a plant that turns you into a fish in harry potter.

[geodez]

I know the Herb is called Gillyweed, however the Three Broomsticks serves a drink called a Gillywater (McGonagall likes them.) I imagine this would be similar.

[purefusion]

They've got a pretty good selection of tapioca pearls here: http://bit.ly/tpearls

[VanillaXtiffy]

Perfect..I have a container of boba in my cupboard. Time to experiment.

[-insertnamehere-]

slllluuurrrppp...bloop! mmmmmm nice instructable!

[whiteoakart]

I see you have had bubble tea before!

[Thundertydus]

My bubble tea place closed down =(
I went there SO much that i knew the names of the people who worked there by heart, and I had my own "The Usual"

Coconut and vanilla with pearls

[msunde]

I know! That's what I thought of instantly - bubble tea. Good idea to use the tapioca. The local chinese grocer sells it in a variety of colors. :)

[mcadwell]

How is this swamp water? Where I grew up Swamp Water was hot water, cider vinegar and honey mixed together and then cooled. VERY refreshing on a hot summer's day over ice.

[scoobbrandon]

where i live swamp water is when you take every kind of pop in your house and mix it all together

[Nettiemac]

We use this concotion warm for sore throats and winter colds. Yummy. Or, if you don't have cider vinegar, lemon juice works just as well.

[whiteoakart]

Interesting. I have not heard of that drink. I was simply calling it swamp water to go with the frog eggs. ;)

[mcadwell]

Ah, now I understand. Just to let you know, the swamp water recipe I provided is not green...if it were I wouldn't drink it.

[finfan7]

First things first: this is a pretty good instructable. I would like to see your recipe for the boba tea though. As a secondary subject I gotta say I find it strange how many things people say are flavourless. Water, manioc pearls, water chestnuts, air etc etc, all have flavours.

[ThomasvanZwol]

water is indeed flavourless, if we're speaking about non-poluted water without anything added to it. good instructable! pitty I didn't find it in time.

[DGerman]

Has anyone tried this with watery J e l l o?

[TippyStClair]

I'm a year-round hallowe'ener as well and this is fab!

[whiteoakart]

When I served this to a bunch of 9-11 year old girls, they all freaked out. To their credit, they all tried it.

[HamatoKameko]

What a fun idea! I'd so serve this year-round, but I'm of the weird type who celebrates Halloween all year long. ;) I think with this, I'd want to add something (maybe just a touch of milk/cream?) to make it just slightly opaque (but not so much that you couldn't see the "eggs"), to give it a slimier, more brackish appearance. Maybe even a drop or two of red food coloring to brown up the green a little bit, so it's less radioactive and more "I just scooped this out of the creek out back.". I love grossing people out. XD Awesome instructable; I'll be favoriting this one!

[chocolate_zombie]

yay for halloween all year! this is also kind of fun to do with black tapioca pearls, and use different kinds of fruit in a smoothie to create the perfect "freaky" color. the smoothie texture is fun to gross people out with too!

[whiteoakart]

great ideas. Consider serving it in a homemade gourd cup, an old tin can, or a dog dish.

[chocolate_zombie]

wouldn't that make it hard to see the tapioca pearls then? maybe a glass beaker... a sort of "mad scientist" theme...

[whiteoakart]

I kind of like the beaker idea. You can see that in step 3. I am partial to mad scientist ideas. Sometimes, however, it enhances the creepiness factor if you can just barely see what's inside. That is why I like the milky solution in a funky cup idea, too.

[xanxor]

What the hell kind of tapioca pearls are you getting? THEY HAVE GREAT FALVOR... SO DOES TOFU!

[KaptinScarlet]

that is really fantastic, what a great instructable. I know what you mean about satisfying, there is something really infantile about sucking up grub through a straw. great idea, I will have to try it.

[el-pedro]

Good Instructable, this would be great for grossing out my aunt!!

[Chris Bilton]

great instructable and brings back memories of school dinners, yummmeeeee!!!!

[T3h_Muffinator]

Awesome! I'm just wondering.. is this sort-of kind-of like bubble tea? I'd really like to learn how to make that!

[whiteoakart]

Yes, It is my own version of bubble tea. Here is a link that I found helpful in creating my own recipe:

http://www.bubbleteasupply.com/index.php?page=recipes.html

They also have all the difficult to find supplies available.

[T3h_Muffinator]

Cool! Thanks so much!

[Sergeant Crayon]

Excellent Instructable and nice, clear, explanatory pictures!