Edible Birds Nest is a spoonful of legend

As I swallowed another spoonful of bird spit soup, I wondered, not for the first time, about what makes people prize one dish above all others.

How deep Edible Birds Nests roots go into the collective Chinese soul.

Take this soup, for instance. Properly known as Edible Birds 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 Edible Birds Nests roots go into the collective Chinese soul.
At some point, a cook was hungry enough to boil Edible Birds Nests and have a swig. Maybe this particular brand was prized because it was devilishly hard to get. 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 spit nests, pound for pound, than silver.

Edible Birds Nest is a spoonful of legend

So there I was at a table inside Sun Restaurant Buffalo, 1989 Niagara St., feeling downright unappreciative, unworthy almost, of this spoonful of bird spit. Across the table, proprietor Kevin Lin explained he was selling Edible Birds Nest for $40 a bowl.
That’s zero profit, he said. “I want to have it because I come from Edible Birds Nest region,” Lin said. “Because it’s a good thing, so good for you, and we want to let people get good things, like us.”
I could only nod, because the most expensive ingredient sold in a Buffalo restaurant tastes like nothing. I said so to Lin, and he shook his head. I wasn’t getting the point. “You want flavor? I recommend tom yum soup. Five dollars.”
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. Or in Hollywood terms, the backstory.
While trade in Edible Birds 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 Edible Birds 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.

The nests have been credited with a long list of benefits

The rest, as they say, is legend. The fact that they were cleaned, dried strips of bird saliva didn’t stop yan wo, literally “Edible Birds Nest,” from becoming one of the most prized tonics in traditional Chinese medicine. 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.
Which is why the nests have been harvested across China, Malaysia and other coastal Asian regions as long as the Chinese have been buying them. Teams of gatherers scale bamboo ladders and dangle from ropes to get at the nests. It’s the biggest cash crop for some villages.
If they’re careful, gatherers take nests no more than twice in an egg-laying season, or the birds can’t rebuild in time. There have been documented cases of overharvesting driving off swiftlet colonies. But the hardy little bird has confounded man’s hunger for centuries, and is not listed as endangered.
Recognizing their value, Thai, Burmese and Indonesian entrepreneurs have been building condos for Edible Birds Nest, 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.
The Lins’ story starts with Stephanie, Kevin’s wife. She’s Burmese too, but her father was ethnic Chinese, and started feeding her Edible Birds Nest when she was 2. He could afford it, because he owned a pineapple canning factory and was rich, by Burmese standards.
The Burmese have no particular affinity for Edible Birds Nest, Kevin Lin explained. The Burmese government controlled the nests’ collection and export, as a precious commodity. But Stephanie’s mother got the nests from a black market source, and made soup the traditional way, steaming the nests with rock sugar.
“Stephanie’s father would wake her up at 2:30 [a.m.] to drink Edible Birds Nest,” Kevin Lin said. The nest’s medicinal qualities are best absorbed on an empty stomach, fans say. She got it perhaps four times a year, and believes it helps keep her healthy today. Her husband’s a believer, too. “I am a healthy man, but her family, her older sister never get sick. So I suspect Edible Birds Nest.”
Despite the lack of Chinese background, Kevin knows about Edible Birds Nests. At 21, before he met Stephanie, he was a Edible Birds Nest smuggler, he said. He’d buy them in Burma and sell them in Thailand for twice the price, he said.
“Whole time I sell it I never eat one piece,” said Lin. “Too expensive.”
The first time he drank it was on his wedding day with Stephanie, in 1997. His mother-in-law fed it to him. Asked if its effects were felt that night, he just chuckled.
In December, Lin returned from a trip to Burma with a bag of Edible Birds Nests, determined to put it on the menu.
So that’s why his menu now includes traditional Edible Birds Nest, $40, steamed with rock sugar; in chicken soup with ginseng, another honored Chinese medicine, $50; and Edible Birds Nest over a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
“I invent this one,” Lin said. “This is Western Edible Birds Nest. Like cake.”
At home, the Lin boys are getting their dose too.
They were a little wary at first, but the rock sugar won them over, Stephanie said.
“Now every morning they want it,” she said. “Mom! Edible Birds Nest!”

Edible Birds Nest Price

The benefits of Edible Birds Nest are proven in China from many centuries and it forms one of the major staple foods of the country. Even after such huge demand for the product in China, the country is not allowed to harvest Edible Birds Nests. This gives great opportunity to other Asian countries to cash the opportunity. No doubt, that Edible Birds Nest fetches huge prices from China because of its nutritional value. Depending upon the season of cultivation, species of swiflet bird, quantity, and quality of Edible Birds Nests, the House nest prices may range between RM 8,000 to RM 12,000 per kg. And Cave nest may range between RM 13,000 to RM 18, 000 per kg.

This price gives soaring margins to the manufacturers since the cultivating costs of Edible Birds Nests is just a fraction of the selling price. However, to earn maximum benefits, they need to maintain high quality and restrict the use of chemicals and bleaches during the cleaning process.
In the past, China had temporarily banned the import of Edible Birds Nests because of the presence of high quantities of nitrite in the products. Owing to factors, which leads the industry to crash sometimes, the prices of the raw Edible Birds Nests may drop or fluctuate according to the market demand. However not any more if you buying from us. We are here to ensure the consistency of stock, quality, stringent cleaning process so that you can enjoy the greatest taste & yet the benefits of the premium Edible Birds Nest.

Edible Birds Nest Types

There are two types of places to develop the nests of swiftlets:
In the caves
In the cultivated or abandoned houses

1自然洞穴 Cave nests

洞燕窝通常在收获马来西亚，即沙巴和砂拉越的天然洞穴、岩洞及悬崖上。由于受到大自然气候及天然环境所影响，专捕食天然杂虫，所以一般也相信它们所制的燕槽比较高营养,也因为采集风险高，价格也水涨船高。 燕窝的质地比较韧及硬，颜色比较深、外形不讨好、杂质较多、浸炖时间较长及爽口，
Cave nests are usually harvested in the natural caves of Malaysian states namely, Sabah and Sarawak. These caves vary in height and size, but they are typically found on lofty cliffs elevated against the sea. These kinds of nests usually contain more feather and dirt than the other variant.

2.人工屋育House Nests

这类燕窝是在屋檐或是人工燕屋下系统化培养。这种燕巢的质地比洞穴巢顺滑，它包含较少的杂质和羽毛。因此，燕窝可以保留其月牙或碗型或羽毛这也提高采集效益，经过消毒精选，和洞燕相比成本可以大大减低， 也不失其原有营养价值。
These nests are made by swiftlets under the house roof in the countryside. House nests are harvested from swallow houses. The texture of this kind of nests is smoother than the cave nests, and it contains lesser contaminants and feathers. Therefore, it is possible to retain the crescent kind of bowl or the cupped hand shape of the nest even after the feathers are removed.

燕子类型分为白燕窝，黄燕窝，血燕窝。

In these places, the following types of golden Edible Birds Nests spring up- white Edible Birds Nest, yellow Edible Birds Nest, and blood Edible Birds Nests. After the nests are taken off the houses, they need to be cleaned and processed before delivery. Malaysia single-handedly sends millions of Edible Birds Nests to Chinese communities all over the world. The main consumer countries of Edible Birds Nests include China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.

燕窝的品质：Quality of Edible Birds Nest

In terms of quality of Edible Birds Nest, they are classified into different categories such as:
Cave Edible Birds Nest 洞燕盏
House Edible Birds Nest 屋燕盏
Feather Edible Birds Nest 毛燕盏
Grass Edible Birds Nest 草燕盏
燕窝的处理分为：Although the benefits of Edible Birds Nests are innumerable to overwhelm anyone, but there are only two variants of Edible Birds Nests-:
Unprocessed Edible Birds Nests or Raw Edible Birds Nests 未经处理燕盏
Processed Edible Birds Nests or Clean Edible Birds Nests 已经处理燕盏
形状也分别为：条状，片状，饼状，粒状，散状
The nests come in different shapes such as strips, whole pieces, cakes, pieces, balls and broken pieces.