Lime agua fresca with pomegranate tapioca
In my house, lime agua fresca is the first option when we don’t have anything prepared to offer as a drink. It’s also the one that always takes us out of trouble. As a good Mexican house, we always have limes. It is an ingredient that cannot miss in our kitchen. We never drink any type of soda for dinner, but a jug with agua fresca can’t be missing on the table. 
Being such an important element of the dinner table, I wanted to give it a modern touch; to kick it up a notch. A few years ago “bubble teas” were all the rage, I think you can still buy “bubble teas” but I’m not a big fan anymore, mainly because all the sweeteners and artificial flavors. So I wanted to do something similar, but this time using fresh ingredients. I thought that it would be nice to add a little bit of color, so for that I added tapioca infused with pomegranate juice. 
The hardest part while making this recipe is cooking the tapioca; you have to have patience. In my case I had to repeat the process eight times until the tapioca was perfectly translucent! I knew it would take some time that is why I decided to prepared the tapioca the day before and refrigerate it overnight. The good news is that you can refrigerate the tapioca for 4-5 days, and then add it to your drinks as you like. 
Instead of using large or medium sized tapioca, I preferred small sized tapioca for easy consumption. Of course, if you prepare this recipe, you can choose the size of the tapioca you will use, maybe the only difference will be the cooking times.
It is a very simple and refreshing agua fresca, with an intense lime flavor and a small hint of pomegranate. I loved the combination of pale green and pale pink, I think it’s very original. The addition of tapioca gives it a fun twist to the traditional and dull lime agua fresca of everyday.
- 150 gr (5.3 oz) tapioca, small sized
- 400 ml (13.5 fl. Oz) pomegranate juice
- 2 Tablespoon corn syrup
- ½ cup fresh lime juice
- 1.250 liter (42 fl. Oz) water
- 100 gr (3.5 oz) sugar
- Place the tapioca in a saucepan with enough cold water, the water has to cover it by about 2.5 cm (1 in). Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and strain. Wash off with warm water. Return to the saucepan, cover again with cold water and bring to a boil. Repeat the same process until the tapioca is fully translucent. (I had to repeat it 8 times)
- To a saucepan, add the pomegranate juice along with the translucent tapioca. Simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let stand for 30 -45 minutes, or until most of the juice has been absorbed. Drain and rinse with cold water.
- When completely cool, place in a bowl and add the corn syrup, this will help prevent it from sticking together.
- Dissolve the lemon juice and sugar in the water. Taste and adjust for acidity and sweetness.
- To each glass add1 ½ tablespoon pomegranate tapioca and fill it with lime agua fresca.
- Enjoy!
- You can prepare the pomegranate tapioca one day ahead. After adding the corn syrup, refrigerate it in a closed container.
