Bird Saliva Nest- A Spoonful Of Legend

Properly known as Bird Saliva Nest, it’s been a prized delicacy in China and among Chinese people for 1,200 years. The best nests were reserved as gifts for emperors and empresses, who ruled China as gods incarnate.That’s how deep Bird Saliva Nests roots go into the collective Chinese soul.

Tiny swiftlets use their sticky saliva to build nests onto seaside cliffs and cave walls, to save them from predators. That’s not enough to keep them away from the humans who consider the nest powerful medicine, and are therefore willing to pay more for the Bird Saliva Nest nests, pound for pound, than silver.

Bird Saliva Nest- A Spoonful Of Legend

While trade in edible nests has been recorded since the T’ang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.), famed 15th century Chinese admiral Zheng He is also credited with starting the Chinese belief in the medicinal powers of Bird Saliva Nest. As the story goes, shipwrecked sailors scavenging for food found the nests, and He told them to clean and cook them. A few days later, the sailors were full of vim and vigor, and He figured he should tell the emperor.

Benefits of Bird Saliva Nest

The nests have been credited with a long list of benefits, including ensuring strong children for pregnant women and erasing wrinkles for mature matrons, providing lifelong immunity boosts for children and enhancing sexual prowess for men.
Our GM, Elaine Dang, attests to the soup’s medicinal value; ”I drank this when i was young which is where i get my immunity from,” she happily concludes.

So how exactly does the soup taste like?

”The jellylike strands had a slippery spaghetti texture, yet no discernible taste beyond sweetness from the rock sugar the meticulously cleaned nests were steamed with. It occurred to me that here was a food whose value had nothing to do with its flavors or eating qualities, and everything to with its cultural history,” explains Andrew Z. Galarneau News Food Editor at BuffaloFood.
Recognizing their value, Thai, Burmese and Indonesian entrepreneurs have been building condos for edible nest swiftlets, purpose-built structures as tall as apartment buildings. They’re honeycombed with alcoves where swifts can nest, lured by recorded swiftlet calls broadcast over loudspeakers.

Bird Saliva Nest History

Primarily known as Swallow Nest, Bird Saliva Nest has been consumed by the Chinese people since more than 1500 years ago, firstly discovered during the Tang Dinasty (A.D. 618-907) in China. In the earliest records, it was said that the swallow nests were actually traded for porcelain during that time, and Admiral Cheng Ho returned from South East Asia, bringing back the swallow nest to the Chinese Emperor.

Royal Food for Chinese Emperor

Since then, swallow nest started to gain popularity inside the Chinese royal families, but was only consumed by the Emperor family and officials working in the court due to its limited supply. The ladies also regularly had swallow nest soup to maintain their beauty, and enhance their health.
Because of the scarcity and medicinal benefits, swallow nests were often given as highly prized presents or to represent wealth and power. At the end of Tang Dinasty’s reign, the swallow nest was finally introduced to the public and then has been widely known as the Bird Saliva Nest.

Modern Bird Saliva Nest House

After being open to public, Bird Saliva Nest has been gaining a great popularity. The increasing demand and unpredictable harvest amount from the caves in the village encouraged the invention of new farming techniques. The modern Bird Saliva Nest house is built to protect the swiftlets and nesting farms from natural predators, to increase the population of the swiftlets, and to improve quality consistency.

Medicinal Benefits

The medicinal values have been recorded on several historical records on the Traditional Chinese Medicine. According to medical masterwork, Pen Tsoa Feng Yuan, during the Ming Dinasty (1405-1433 AD) and early Ching Dinasty (1644-1911 AD), there was indication that Bird Saliva Nest can strengthen the lungs and served as an anti-aging medicine. In the book of Ben Jing Feng Yuan by Zhang Lu Cheng in 1659, Bird Saliva Nest can nourish the kidney and lungs, good for general health and stomach. In addition, on Medical Dictionary of China by Xie Guan published in 1921, Bird Saliva Nest can nourish the lungs, balance and invigorate the Qi, enhance appetite, stop the coughing, act as an aphrodisiac and galvanize bone marrow.
Today, Bird Saliva Nest still serves as a highly sought food for its numerous health benefits, and can be widely consumed by elderly, women, men, children, babies, and even pregnant women. Grab a natural and high-quality Bird Saliva Nest in our store