Tapioca Pearls for Bubble Tea

Add tapioca pearls and half of the sugar to boiling water in a large bowl. Stir quickly to separate pearls and dissolve sugar completely. Let stand for 3 hours or until pearls are soft on the outside and pasty in the center when squeezed between thumb and index finger. If stirring them makes the water really cloudy, they have been oversoaked. Drain tapioca pearls, retaining the water. Put water and remaining sugar in saucepan and bring to a boil. Add soaked tapioca pearls and lower heat to medium-high. Simmer, taking a pearl out every minute and eating it. You have to sample it in order to see how cooked it is as every tapioca pearl brand has a different cooking time. The cooking time ranges from 1 minute to even 10 minutes. The pearls are done when the outside is soft, and the center is chewy. Put cold water in a bowl; drain pearls and put into cold water to stop cooking. Yields about 1/4 to 1/2 cup, depending on the size of the pearls. NOTE: If you don't keep the pearls in the water, they'll dry out and turn inedible. However, keeping them in water overnight turns them into mush, so eat them as soon as possible.