About Bird Spit Soup (Swiftlet's Nest)

Bird Spit Soup are glycoprotein with properties of protein as well as of carbohydrate. The total protein content is about 65%, carbohydrate of about 20% and 0.35% of fat. Other minerals present are calcium, magnesium, and iron. Amino acids isolated from Bird Spit Soups consist of amide, humin, arginine, cystine, histidine and lysine. The total content of mono amino acids is about 6%.

What is Bird Spit Soup .

Bird Spit Soup  or 燕 窝is a traditional Chinese delicacy made from the nest of the swiftlet, a tropical bird which is found in many parts of Asia, including China and Thailand. The unique ingredient in this soup is believed to increases longevity, and as a result, this dish is in high demand in some parts of China. The Bird Spit Soup  used in the soup can be quite expensive, and the dish is typically served only at exclusive restaurants.

About Bird Spit Soup (Swiftlet's Nest)

Swiftlets are birds in the family Apodidae. Several species within this family are able to use echolocation, which allows them to nest and breed in caves. These species produce a unique gummy saliva, which they use to build their nests; they lay down strands of saliva which harden when exposed to air, creating a solid nest. Harvesters enter the caves, retrieve the nests, clean them, and then offer them for sale.

To make Bird Spit Soup , the nest is simmered in chicken stock.

The result is a broth with floating chunks of the nest; the chunks have a distinctive gelatinous texture when cooked which is not to the taste of all consumers. The soup is usually lightly seasoned, if at all, and some people actually find it rather bland. It is the exotic ingredient which makes the soup popular, rather than an amazing flavor.
There are some serious ecological issues associated with Bird Spit Soup . Many companies which harvest nests engage in unscrupulous practices like harvesting nests too quickly for the birds to breed, and some have been accused of establishing private armies to protect particularly fruitful caves. Some companies also destroy nests from the wrong species of bird to encourage the growth of a colony which will produce usable nests, thereby putting other swiftlet species at risk. Overall populations of these birds have declined in Asia, possibly as a result of the growing market pressure for Bird Spit Soup .
Nests for making Bird Spit Soup  can be obtained in Asian markets, where they are usually secured behind a counter due to their high cost. It is also possible to make the soup with vegetarian meat substitutes, some of which can very closely approximate the texture of swiftlet's nest, although they lack the perceived aphrodisiac benefits.

Bird Spit Soup

Bird Spit Soup  is a delicacy in Chinese cuisine. A few species of swift, the cave swifts, are renowned for building the saliva nests used to produce the unique texture of this soup.
The Bird Spit Soup are among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans. The nests have been used in Chinese cooking for over 400 years, most often as Bird Spit Soup .

Name

The Chinese name for Bird Spit Soup , yàn wō (燕窝), translates literally as "swiftlet nest". When dissolved in water, the birds' nests have a gelatinous texture used for soup or sweet tong sui. It is mostly referred to as "jin wo" unless references are made to the salty or sweet soup in Chinese cuisine.

Harvesting

The most heavily harvested nests are from the Edible-nest Swiftlet or White-nest Swiftlet (Aerodramus fuciphagus) and the Black-nest Swiftlet (Aerodramus maximus). The white nests and the "red blood" nests are supposedly rich in nutrients which are traditionally believed to provide health benefits, such as aiding digestion, raising libido, improving the voice, alleviating asthma, improving focus, and an overall benefit to the immune system.
The nests are built during the breeding season by the male swiftlet over a period of 35 days. They take the shape of a shallow cup stuck to the cave wall. The nests are composed of interwoven strands of salivary laminae cement. Both nests have high levels of calcium, iron, potassium, and magnesium.
Hong Kong and the United States are the largest importers of these nests. In Hong Kong a bowl of Bird Spit Soup  would cost $30 USD to $100 USD.A kilogram of white nest can cost up to $2,000 USD, and a kilogram of "red blood" nest can cost up to $10,000 USD. The white nests are commonly treated with a red pigment, but methods have been developed to determine an adulterated nest.
The nests were formerly harvested from caves, principally the enormous limestone caves at Gomantong and Niah in Borneo. With the escalation in demand these sources have been supplanted since the late 1990s by purpose-built nesting houses, usually reinforced concrete structures following the design of the SE Asian shop-house ("ruko") These nesting houses are normally found in urban areas near the sea, since the birds have a propensity to flock in such places. This has become an extraordinary industry, mainly based on a series of towns in the Indonesian Province of North Sumatra which have been completely transformed by the activity. From there the nests are mostly exported to Hong Kong, which has become the centre of the world trade, though most of the final consumers are from mainland China. It has been estimated that the products now account for 0.5% of the Indonesian GDP, equivalent to about a quarter of the country's fishing industry.