Edible Birds Nests sought from China to Silicon Valley

To the Western palate, dining on bird spit may sound unappetizing. But to people here and across Asia, it is a highly coveted delicacy.

Nests made from the congealed saliva of Asian swiftlets, a member of the swift family that can navigate in total darkness, is a multibillion-dollar industry. Selling for as much as $5,000 a pound, the edible nests — dubbed the “caviar of the East” — are sought by connoisseurs from Chengdu, China, to Cupertino. Once reserved for Chinese royalty, the nests are now popular among the nouveau riche, who devour the stringy, high-protein food both to show off their wealth and because they believe it provides a host of health benefits. It’s popular to consume the nests, which like tofu absorb other flavors, in seafood soups as well as in beverages.

“They believe it’s the product for a king and queen,” said Ha Bui, a Ho Chi Minh City resident who, like many Vietnamese, is a fan of Birds Nest even if it is too expensive to be enjoyed very often.

The nests are stocked in Asian markets in Silicon Valley, though they are usually kept in a backroom because they are so expensive, and some Chinese restaurants offer them. The saliva nests, formed into shallow cups, develop a jellylike texture when soaked in liquid.

Inviting a friend to a Birds Nest meal is akin to sharing a very expensive bottle of wine, said Hung Le, a San Jose software engineer who has received such an offer in the past. “It means something important. People think, ‘This guy must have money.’ “

In Asia, it is a $5 billion industry, said Le Danh Hoang, who founded Hoang Yen, a Ho Chi Minh City-based Birds Nest business with annual revenues of $3 million and growing rapidly. In Vietnam, it’s a $200 million industry, behind Indonesia, the world’s largest producer, Malaysia and Thailand, he said.

Even the crumbs are valuable; Le sells leftover bits of nests to beverage companies in Vietnam.

It is one of the world’s most expensive foods, observed Massimo Marcone, an associate professor of food science at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. As a result, a counterfeit market has sprung up, prompting him to develop a chemical process to verify the authenticity of nests.

“For thousands of years it has been eaten,” said Marcone, who has visited nest vendors across Asia. “It’s 60, 70 percent protein, so it was good nutrition for the emperor. You had the aristocracy and members of the court who wanted to mimic what the royals did. And it went all the way down the line so that people who could afford it, even commoners, would consume them.”

Until recently, harvesting the nests involved the dangerous work of retrieving them from caves, where the swiftlets, like bats, cling to high rock ceilings and weave palm-sized nests before laying eggs.

Edible Birds Nests sought from China to Silicon Valley

The harvesting process often results in the destruction of eggs or chicks and threatens the bird population, said Le, who uses a safer method. His company builds four-story concrete structures designed to attract swiftlets, which create nests on planks of wood or thick plastic beams attached to the ceilings. Workers retrieve the nests only after eggs have hatched and chicks have flown away.

Le, 28, said he was the first to promote the procedure in Vietnam. He manages about 500 structures across the country, both for his own retail and wholesale business and for investors. He also sells the equipment needed to construct a birdhouse.

His business is an environmentally friendly one, Le said, because it provides diners with nests while protecting the birds and the beneficial role they play in eating insects. Swiftlets, which rely on sonar, fly in and out of the nesting structures in search of insects that are harmful for local crops. “It’s good for nature,” Le said. “It’s good for agriculture in Vietnam. And it’s a sustainable business.”

Le entices birds to the buildings by playing amplified recordings of the birds’ chirps. He also coats the buildings with swiftlet feces to make them feel at home. He sets the building’s temperature at 82 degrees and humidity at 90 percent — ideal conditions for the birds.

“To them, it’s like a cave,” he said. “The birds need a safe place where they have the right temperature, the right humidity, the right light. And then they nest.”

The buildings are monitored 24 hours a day by workers and video cameras. Le can watch the birds in each of his buildings through a video stream on his iPhone

At his Ho Chi Minh City headquarters, dozens of female workers, faces covered with masks, use tweezer-like tools to pick bird feathers out of delicate nests. It can take an hour or more to clean just one. Bits of the yellowish nests are then sifted out of the specks of plucked feathers — a tedious but highly lucrative assembly line. The nests are treated with a cleansing chemical and heating process to kill bacteria before being packaged in elegant lacquer boxes with prices starting at $3,000.

Le sells his nests in a handful of his own store-restaurants around Ho Chi Minh City. Customers can buy individual boxes or eat a prepared meal in each outlet. The Birds Nest soup is served with dim sum and tea. The meals, which include only a tiny portion of nest, sell for as much as $26 each.

Tang Hong Chau, who owns a medical equipment company, visits Le’s store or that of a competitor regularly to have a bowl of soup.

The meal is good for his health, he said, before tucking into a bowl of nest soup. “I feel very strong in my body. I always sleep very well.”

Another customer, Chi Tran Thi Bang Phuong, said she buys the nests for herself and baby during the winter months to ward off illness: “My body feels better when I eat it.”

In fact, Marcone said Birds Nest contains a type of protein that prevents bacteria from growing. “It doesn’t kill bacteria, but stops its proliferation or growth,” he said.

Some Vietnamese, though, attribute mystical powers to the nests, including giving women youthful bodies for decades.

“Women come here and they tell me they are 55, but I don’t believe it. They look very young — beauties,” said Tuong Vi, a supervisor at one of Le’s stores. “They have been eating them since their childhood.”

H.G. Nguyen, president of the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce in San Jose, said she recently prepared Birds Nest for her mother, who was dying of cancer and grew up eating it.

“I had to cook it for eight hours,” she said of her special recipe, the ultimate comfort food for her mom. “Then you put it inside papaya and you steam the papaya. So the taste is sweet. My mom was very happy. It gave her comfort. It’s very expensive. But it’s worth it.”

Things You Need To Know Before Buying Edible Birds Nest

Our parents or relatives have probably fed us Birds Nest soup at some point, and we’ve consumed it at their behest, willingly or not.

But if there’s one thing that’s clear as day, it’s that the folks seem to have an unfaltering love for the delicacy. From meeting your in-laws to family reunions, if you’re searching for that one-size-fits-all gift that’s bound to impress - it’s Birds Nest. But this quick fix doesn’t come cheap; so it’s important to know exactly what you’re consuming, and how to make sure you’re getting the biggest bang for your buck.

1. How is Birds Nest produced?

After the eggs have been laid and hatched, the baby swiftlets will remain in the nest until it is able to fly away independently. The Birds Nest becomes abandoned and will never be re-used. If not harvested, scavengers such as ants, lizards and cockroaches will consume the Birds Nest.
Birds Nest is produced by Swiftlets (Collocalia species). They use a glutinous secretion, also known as “nest cement” to bind together materials for nest building, or construct a whole nest with it. The nest cement is secreted from a pair of sublingual glands located beneath the tongue of the swiftlet.
A Swiftlet Edible Birds Nest is built primarily for laying eggs and housing the baby Swiftlets.
After the eggs have been laid and hatched, the baby swiftlets will remain in the nest until it is able to fly away independently. The Birds Nest becomes abandoned and will never be re-used. If not harvested, scavengers such as ants, lizards and cockroaches will consume the Birds Nest.

2. How often to eat Birds Nest soup ?

So how often to eat Birds Nest ? We recommend 5 g of dried Birds Nest (60-80 ml of Birds Nest soup) a day. A small amount of Birds Nest goes a long way towards preserving your health and beauty.
How often to eat Birds Nest
Scientifically, proteins which make up 60-70% of Birds Nest are eliminated within hours by enzymes in the body.
Furthermore, not all this proteins can be absorbed by the body. This means small and frequent dose of Birds Nest is much more effective, since excess Birds Nest generally gets eliminated and removed from the body.
Continuous dose is desirable to give you the sustained effect.
So how often to eat Birds Nest ? We recommend 5 g of dried Birds Nest (60-80 ml of Birds Nest soup) a day. A small amount of Birds Nest goes a long way towards preserving your health and beauty.

3. How to identify the genuine Birds Nest?

Birds Nest is an expensive and nutritious product. Thus, it is important to distinguish a genuine piece of Birds Nest. In the market, there are many unethical businessmen who would increase the weight of Birds Nest by adding additives like white fungus, jelly and animal skin.
Appearance: Good and genuine nests consist of two main types of filaments:
The outer layer that has longer and bigger filaments whereas the inner part has finer, shorter filaments.
After Cooking: When double boiled for 1-2 hours the Birds Nest inner filaments become water-soluble.
The outer filaments contain mainly minerals; it is less soluble but gives Birds Nest its signature fibrous taste and appearance.
Odour: During double boiling a fine scent of near albumin smell will occur.
Much like the smell of faint cooked egg white.

4. How to cook Birds Nest in slow cooker (or double boiler)

Add 2 tablespoon of rock sugar and further cook for another 5-10 minutes. Buying Birds Nest from Hello Nest, they will give free rock sugar or special dried lotus.
1) Soak the Birds Nest until soft in tap water. This may take up to an hour.
I usually consume one whole piece, which is actually quite alot. Is even sufficient for 2 people.
2) Add the softened Birds Nest, together with about 250mL of water. Using slow cooker or the double-boil method, no lost of water volume.
3) Switch on and turn to high. For my cooker, it takes about 45 mins if I started out with room temperature water. But it is much faster if I use hot water.
4) Add 2 tablespoon of rock sugar and further cook for another 5-10 minutes. Buying Birds Nest from Hello Nest, they will give free rock sugar or special dried lotus.
5) Serve warm or chilled. Wala!

5. How to cook Birds Nest with rock sugar in a double boiler (simple Birds Nest soup recipe)

You can also cook Birds Nest soup with rock sugar using a slow cooker like above method.
- Prepare a double-boiler and fill the external pot with water that covers almost half the internal pot.
- Place the drained Birds Nest in the internal boiler and add 1 - 2 bowls of water depending of the pieces cooked.
- Cover both the internal and external pots and start boiling the pot.
- Once it's boiling, turn to low flame to continue to boil for another 2 - 3 hours.
- When the Birds Nest is cooked to desired texture, stir in rock sugar to taste and cover for about 5 minutes to allow the sugar to dissolve fully
- Do remember to check the water in the external pot is not dried up and sufficient throughout the boil. Once cooked you can have your Birds Nest served hot or cold in a bowl depends on your preference.
You can also cook Birds Nest soup with rock sugar using a slow cooker like above method.

6. What are the health benefits of eating Birds Nest?

Many clinical trials of using Birds Nest as an anti-cancer food is now currently being conducted.
From the chemical analysis report of pure Birds Nest, we can identify soluble amino acids that will help to repair body cells and generate new cells. The antioxidant helps to eradicate free radicals in the body.
Birds Nest also contains EGF(epidermal growth factor) which produces an anti aging effect, making regular Birds Nest consumers young and radiant looking.
Many clinical trials of using Birds Nest as an anti-cancer food is now currently being conducted.

7. How do you store uncooked Birds Nest?

Dried Birds Nest can be kept for 6 months to 1 year, preferably in an air tight container in a cool and dry room or in the refrigerator. So, it is very easy to keep the Birds Nest and you can get your bulk purchase now to enjoy our cheaper bulk price!
You need to ensure that the Birds Nest is dry. When you detect some moisture in your Birds Nest, you can dry it in front of a fan in an air conditioned room for a couple of hours. DON’T dry the nests under direct sun as it might damage the protein. Dried Birds Nest can be kept for 6 months to 1 year, preferably in an air tight container in a cool and dry room or in the refrigerator. So, it is very easy to keep the Birds Nest and you can get your bulk purchase now to enjoy our cheaper bulk price!

8. How to cook Birds Nest for pregnancy:

I think the home-made Birds Nest soup tastes more natural and possesses a pretty strong 'egg-like' smell than instant or bottled Birds Nest drink bought from supermarkets or TCMshops. Nevertheless, the plain home-made Birds Nest soup is still bearable to drink.
How to cook Birds Nest for pregnancy: here are easy steps for you
Ingredients:
1pc Dry Birds Nest
1 cup Hot water
1 cup Drinking water or boiled then cooled water, for soaking
5-6 pcs Rock/Lump sugar
Methods:
Step 1. Soak the dry Birds Nest in a bowl of water for about 30 minutes. Use drinking water or water that has been boiled and cooled down to soak the Birds Nest. After 30 minutes, carefully strain the Birds Nest and throw the water away.
Step 2. Put the soaked Birds Nest and pour 1 cup of hot water into a slow cooker. If you prefer thinner soup, you may add more hot water into the slow cooker. Cook the soaked Birds Nest and water in the slow cooker for about 2 hours.
Step 3. Once the Birds Nest is soft and cooked, add the rock sugar into the Birds Nest soup in the slow cooker and stir gently. You may add more rock sugar into the soup if you wish for sweeter Birds Nest soup. Turn the slow cooker off.
Step 4. Consume the Birds Nest soup when it is cooled.
I think the home-made Birds Nest soup tastes more natural and possesses a pretty strong 'egg-like' smell than instant or bottled Birds Nest drink bought from supermarkets or TCMshops. Nevertheless, the plain home-made Birds Nest soup is still bearable to drink.
I found this article that may be useful in preparing Birds Nest soup and alternatives in cooking home-made Birds Nest soup to make it more delectable by adding pandan leaves, dried red dates, dried longan, etc..

9. Why do Birds Nests come in different colors?

Thus it is a common misconception that blood nest is formed when the swiftlet vomits blood. Another misconception is that the swiftlet’s different diets give rise to different colour of nests.
When Birds Nest is first formed by the swiftlets, they are white in colour; thus it is fair to say that white Birds Nest (Bai Yan) is the purest form of Birds Nest. As the Birds Nest spend more time in the house, natural fermentation of the nest gradually takes place and the nest absorbs minerals such as iron from the walls and water, slowly changing its color from white to yellow (Jin Si Yan) and then orange and finally red (Blood nest). Thus it is a common misconception that blood nest is formed when the swiftlet vomits blood. Another misconception is that the swiftlet’s different diets give rise to different colour of nests.