Preparing and consuming bird nest during pregnancy
Edible Bird's nest is a chinese delicacy that is consumed by the
high-ranking officials, wealthy people and the royal family in the past. Like
the name suggests, it is the nest of swallows, and is thought to be rich in
nutrients like collagen, amino acids and anti-oxidants. Until now, chinese
have the tradition of consuming bird nest, especially during pregnancy and
confinement to ‘bu’ the body.
Bird nest is a chinese delicacy that is consumed by the high-ranking officials, wealthy people and the royal family in the past
1. How is Bird Nest produced?
Bird 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 Bird
Nest is built primarily for laying eggs and housing the baby Swiftlets.
The nest cement is secreted from a pair of sublingual glands located beneath the tongue of the swiftlet.
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 Bird Nest becomes abandoned and will never
be re-used. If not harvested, scavengers such as ants, lizards and cockroaches
will consume the Bird Nest.
2. How to identify the Genuine Bird's Nest?
Bird's nest is an
expensive and nutritious product. Thus, it is important to distinguish a
genuine piece of bird's nest. In the market, there are many unethical
businessmen who would increase the weight of bird's 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.
In the market, there are many unethical businessmen who would increase the weight of bird's nest by adding additives like white fungus, jelly and animal skin.
After Cooking: When
double boiled for 1-2 hours the bird's nest inner filaments become
water-soluble.
The outer filaments
contain mainly minerals; it is less soluble but gives bird's 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.
3. How to cook the Bird Nest in slow cooker (or double boiler)
1) Soak the bird
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
bird 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 bird nest from
Hello Nest, they will give free rock sugar or special dried lotus.
5) Serve warm or
chilled. Wala!
4. How to cook bird nest with rock sugar in a double boiler (simple bird’s nest soup recipe)
- Prepare a
double-boiler and fill the external pot with water that covers almost half the
internal pot.
- Place the drained
bird's 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.
The outer filaments contain mainly minerals; it is less soluble but gives bird's nest its signature fibrous taste and appearance.
- Once it's
boiling, turn to low flame to continue to boil for another 2 - 3 hours.
- When the bird's
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 bird's nest served hot or cold in a
bowl depends on your preference.
You can also cook
bird’s nest soup with rock sugar using a slow cooker like above method.
5. What are the health benefits of eating Bird Nest?
From the chemical
analysis report of pure bird 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.
Bird Nest also
contains EGF(epidermal growth factor) which produces an anti aging effect,
making regular Bird Nest consumers young and radiant looking.
Many clinical
trials of using Bird Nest as an anti-cancer food is now currently being
conducted.
6. Why do bird's 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 bird's nest is
first formed by the swiftlets, they are white in colour; thus it is fair to say
that white bird's nest (Bai Yan) is the purest form of bird's nest. As the
bird's 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.
7. How to cook bird nest for pregnancy:
How to cook bird
nest for pregnancy: here are easy steps for you
Ingredients:
1pc Dry bird's nest
1 cup Hot water
1 cup Drinking
water or boiled then cooled water, for soaking
5-6 pcs Rock/Lump
sugar
How to cook bird nest for pregnancy: here are easy steps for you
Methods:
Step 1. Soak the dry bird's 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 bird's nest. After 30 minutes, carefully
strain the bird's nest and throw the water away.
Step 2. Put the soaked bird's 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 bird's nest and
water in the slow cooker for about 2 hours.
Step 3. Once the bird's nest is
soft and cooked, add the rock sugar into the bird's nest soup in the slow
cooker and stir gently. You may add more rock sugar into the soup if you wish
for sweeter bird's nest soup. Turn the slow cooker off.
Step 4. Consume the bird's nest
soup when it is cooled.
I think the
home-made bird's nest soup tastes more natural and possesses a pretty strong
'egg-like' smell than instant or bottled bird's nest drink bought from
supermarkets or TCMshops. Nevertheless, the plain home-made bird's nest soup is
still bearable to drink.
I found this
article that may be useful in preparing bird's nest soup and alternatives in
cooking home-made bird's nest soup to make it more delectable by adding pandan
leaves, dried red dates, dried longan, etc..
8. How often to eat bird nest soup ?
Scientifically,
proteins which make up 60-70% of bird's 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 bird's nest is much more effective, since excess bird's nest generally
gets eliminated and removed from the body.
Scientifically, proteins which make up 60-70% of bird's nest are eliminated within hours by enzymes in the body.
Continuous dose is
desirable to give you the sustained effect.
So how often to eat
bird nest ? We recommend 5 g of dried bird's nest (60-80 ml of bird's nest
soup) a day. A small amount of bird's nest goes a long way towards preserving
your health and beauty.
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