Bird's Nest is essentially the saliva of a species of swiftlets. Cave swiftlets, to be exact. Traditionally, the birds build their nests in caves. Layers and layers of saliva are cemented onto the ceiling of caves, in the shape of small crescents. My last trip to Niah Caves right here in Miri, coincided with the bird's nest harvesting season. Right in front of my very eyes, was a nest collector. He was strapped to a rope, and he was dangerously suspended in mid-air. He poked a long bamboo pole at a nest, and when it fell to the ground, his friend hurried to collect it.
Given the hazard of harvesting these nests, the high demand for the nests and its low supply, bird's nests yield a high market price. Good quality bird's nests sell for thousands of dollars per kilogramme. It is also known as the Caviar of the East.
These days, concrete nesting houses are built to "cultivate" bird's nests. The natural conditions of the cave is simulated to entice the birds to build their nests there. I have seen these concrete buildings around, but have never been inside, though. Check out this website to provide insight into one such house.
So anyway, when I went home this time, there were bird's nests, given by Sil's mom. They came from one such bird's nest farm belonging to her brother. These nests were unprocessed, meaning that there were lots of impurities embedded in them. They had to be removed before they could be consumed.
Dried birds' nest
When soaked, the bird's nest turned into soft white fibrous strands. They were semi-translucent, and smelled much like raw eggs.
Soaked birds' nest
But there was so much of tiny black fibres and feathers, nestled amongst the strands. And picking them out was a painstaking process. I took out the bird's nest, strand by strand, and washed them in water. Cleaning just one piece of nest took hours.
Once cleaned, there were ready to cook. Usually, it is double-boiled with just some rock sugar and a bit of water. Mom boiled it over small fire for an hour.
It's best to consume birds' nest on an empty stomach, to allow the body to fully absorb the nutrients. Some people eat it early in the morning once they get out of bed. I have a friend to eats it late at night, before she goes to bed.
Me? I consumed it at night. Well, it's not my first time eating birds' nest. I usually buy those ready-to-eat ones in tiny containers. Those were pretty much tasteless. It felt like eating strands of jelly in sugar water. These ones which I had cleaned myself ... was slimy or rather, gelatinous. I did like to slurp the strands and lightly chew on them. And to me, these ones tasted like cooked egg whites. Lol. Not sure why. Perhaps these were the unprocessed ones.
Of course, merely consuming a bowl would not do anything to enhance my complexion - admittedly, that was the only reason which compelled me to eat bird's nest. Lol, but anyway, I did like to eat it. Back-breaking labour it was to pick out those tiny feathers ..... we still had some in the container .... and I do not think anyone is interested to clean them anytime soon. Lol. Maybe next time.
I've had birds nest soup once before and I enjoyed it very much. What mystifies me is how, going way back in time, did people discover that you could make soup out of birds' nests? Not only that, but this particular type of birds nest, retrieved from the highest and most inaccessible of cave ceilings? You wonder what goes through peoples' minds sometimes.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do wonder who discovered that birds' nest was edible. But the Chinese people eat anything and everything to achieve longevity !!
ReplyDelete