What Is Bird Saliva Nest?

Bird Saliva Nest is a type of Chinese food that is purported to have numerous healing qualities. For the last 400 years, it has been thought to be one of the world’s most expensive foods. And when you hear what it’s made from, you might double take…

What it’s Made From

Bird Saliva Nest is essentially made from spit.
Yes, the name is accurate. This soup is indeed made from Bird Saliva Nests. But rather than being the product of leaves, twigs and egg shell, it is made from the saliva of certain species of swallow. The birds line these nests with their saliva and regurgitated seaweed which forms into a hard outer layer. The whiter varieties are generally thought to be better and they come in small, biscuit-like pieces. The idea is that they can be boiled in hot water or a pre-existing soup in order to give it texture. Reportedly, the taste is not something to write home about…
And just how much is this hardened spit and bile? It can cost you anywhere up to $4,500. So these health benefits better be pretty darn extraordinary…

What Is Bird Saliva Nest?

Health Benefits

On the plus side, Bird Saliva Nest is now also being added to a range of other foods and drinks, as well as various cosmetic products. In these formats, you can enjoy some of the benefits for a slightly less inhibitory cost.
So what are they supposed to do for you?
Among other things, they are thought to be aphrodisiacs (you can buy them in the shape of hearts), anti-carcinogens and youth promoters.
Unfortunately, there is zero evidence to support any of this. The polite way of saying that is ‘the healing qualities of Bird Saliva Nest are still a mystery’.
What we can do is take a look at the constituent parts. On the plus side, they do contain hormones including testosterone and estradiol according to some researchers. This would likely back up claims regarding the effects on libido, although whether these are present in the right quantities remains to be seen.
Otherwise, the nests are a complete source of essential amino acids (so are eggs) and provide some carbohydrates and lipids (fats).
Unfortunately though, a lot of people are also deathly allergic to them. They are known to cause anaphylaxis in a lot of people and seeing as you’ve probably never had the opportunity to try one before, you won’t know until you’re struggling to breathe. That’s a very expensive trip to the hospital!
In conclusion, this is a fascinating piece of culinary culture but not something you need to be seeking out…

Common Tricks and How to spot Fake Bird Saliva Nest

Bird Saliva Nest is becoming more popular, however, many places sell those low quality nests, damaging consumer's confident and health resulting in negative views of the Bird Saliva Nest industry in general. In recent years, there has been increasing reports of fake Bird Saliva Nests. This article aims to provide useful information to help customers identify the common types of fraud when buying nests.

1. Adding salt, sugar or other agents to increase weight

Through our survey, we found that the majority of Bird Saliva Nest available for sale are glazed with either salt, sugar or other additives to increase weight, often up to 40%. Imagine you pay $100 for 100g of nests but in reality you only get 60% of real nest while the remaining 40% is sugar. That means you pay $40 for 40g sugar!!! Just when you thought you got a good deal, you are actually paying more for the same amount of authentic Bird Saliva Nest. Not only that, the unknown additives used in the making of fake Bird Saliva Nest could be carcinogens. Moreover, these unknown mixture of Bird Saliva Nest are highly susceptible to pathogenic bacteria and molds that could seriously damage your health.

*** How to tell:

+ Pure authentic Bird Saliva Nest: if you were to lick it, it would be tasteless, similar to licking a rice noddle. When you pick it up, it is light, brittle, and inflexible (even when exposed to air for a long time). It is prone to fracture even to light touches.
+ Bird Saliva Nest glazed with salt, sugar or other additives:
- Break off a small piece and chew it, you will find it sweet (or salty). Sometime you can even taste the sweetness or saltiness by just licking the Bird Saliva Nest, especially when large amount s of additives were used. Another way to detect fake Bird Saliva Nest is to taste the water that was used to soak the Bird Saliva Nest in. If the water become sweet or salty then the Bird Saliva Nest were tampered with.
- The glazed Bird Saliva Nest are usually more flexible because the additives make the strands soft and bendy. These fake nests are highly susceptible to pathogenic bacteria and molds. They will often darken with prolonged exposure to air. This change in color is indicative of the Bird Saliva Nest was glazed with some type of sweetener. In addition, the fake nests become iridescent under shining lights.

2. Red Nests

There are usually 3 categories of fake red Bird Saliva Nest:
- Normal food coloring -> easily detectable upon soaking in water as the dye will leak out of the Bird Saliva Nest
- Industrial dyes -> hard to detect as the dyes won't leak when soaked in water
- Chemical reactions turning Bird Saliva Nest from white to red. This is when Bird Saliva Nests are put in the manure/compost pit, which contains NH3. Under the proper conditions, a chemical reaction will occur changing the Bird Saliva Nest from white to red. Check out this YouTube video.
When done properly (UNCOMMON), even though the Bird Saliva Nest changed from red to white, the quality remains unchanged meaning these red nests have no additional nutritional values unlike the authentic red Bird Saliva Nest made naturally by the swiftlets in sea caves. However, the price difference is significant. Authentic red Bird Saliva Nest are priced 5-10x more than the white couterparts. Moreover, when incubated in the manure or compost pit, Bird Saliva Nest can become contaminated with nitrite, which increases the risk of cancer upon prolonged consumption.
Nowadays, the market is flooded with these fake red Bird Saliva Nest, often very cheap to attract uninformed customers. We found that some stores even give 20g free samples of red Bird Saliva Nest with purchase of 100g white ones. How is that possible when red Bird Saliva Nest worth 10x the price of the white ones? Be a smart consumer! Think twice before spending your hard-earned money buying toxins that could be detrimental to your health.

*** How to tell:

Authentic red Bird Saliva Nest carries the essence of the sea. Any one who has ever been to the ocean knows that the ocean air smells different. It has that distinct smell of the water, salt, sun and sand. Authentic red Bird Saliva Nest has that same smell because it was exposed to the same elements. It has to be soak for a long time (2-3 hours) to become soft and the recommended cooking time is 2-3 hours compared to 30-45 minutes for the house Bird Saliva Nest.

3. Fresh Bird Saliva Nest

Fresh Bird Saliva Nest are ones that have been soaked in water to clean out the debris but have NOT been through the drying stages. Hence, fresh Bird Saliva Nest contain a large amount of water, ie weight of Bird Saliva Nest and plus weight of water. It's impossible to assess whether you get a good deal as it's very difficult to know how much water fresh Bird Saliva Nest contains.
There are rumors that fresh Bird Saliva Nest is better than dried ones. That is NOT true. When it comes to nutritional value, fresh and dried Bird Saliva Nest are the same. Smaller produces do not have adequate equipment for drying Bird Saliva Nest so they spread such rumors for their benefits. And as we mentioned earlier, the customer usually lose when buying fresh Bird Saliva Nest as it is nearly impossible to determine the amount of water inside. One way to check is to dry fresh Bird Saliva Nest with fans then you can determine how much you actually pay for Bird Saliva Nest vs water. Be an informed consumer and don't pay for water!
For your peace of mind, Hello Nest's food processing facilities are registered with the FDA. We are also licensed by the USDA and US Fish & Wildlife Services. We only uses Bird Saliva Nests from small family farms that employ environmentally friendly and sustainable practices. Our Bird Saliva Nest is 100% natural product and does not contain any chemical contaminant making it a premium product.
Unlike other manufacturers, we buy the Bird Saliva Nests directly from the farmers and clean & package in our own facilities. We have strict quality control measures in place to ensure only the cream of the crop are delivered to our customers. By eliminating the middleman, we're able to provide you the highest quality Bird Saliva Nests at substantial savings.
Our products are available in many Asian STORES throughout the US.