The key ingredient of bird-nest soup

Bird Nests box showing $888.99 price tag

An island in southern Thailand where bird nests are collected

Bird's nest soup is a delicacy^[1] in Chinese cuisine. A few species of swift, the cave swifts, are renowned for building the saliva nests used to produce the unique texture of this soup. Traditional Chinese characters refers to one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Standard Mandarin, also known as Modern Standard Chinese, is the official modern Chinese spoken language used by the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and is one of the four official languages of Singapore. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... This article is about all of the Cantonese (Yue) dialects. ... Jyutping (sometimes spelled Jyutpin) is a romanization system for Standard Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK) in 1993. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (640x640, 171 KB)Swiftlet nests (燕窩) as soup ingredient The top image shows the inside of a nest (shown here upside down). ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (640x640, 171 KB)Swiftlet nests (燕窩) as soup ingredient The top image shows the inside of a nest (shown here upside down). ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1280 × 960 pixel, file size: 592 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1280 × 960 pixel, file size: 592 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 681 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Trang Province Birds nest soup Southern Thailand Mu Ko Phetra National Park Metadata This file contains additional... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 681 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Trang Province Birds nest soup Southern Thailand Mu Ko Phetra National Park Metadata This file contains additional... Chinese cuisine (Chinese: 中國菜) is widely seen as representing one of the richest and most diverse culinary cuisines and heritages in the world. ... Genera Hydrochous Collocalia Aerodramus Schoutedenapus // Description The birds called Swiftlets or Cave Swiftlets are contained within the four genera Aerodramus, Hydrochous, Schoutedenapus and Collocalia. ... Genera Hydrochous Collocalia Aerodramus Schoutedenapus // Description The birds called Swiftlets or Cave Swiftlets are contained within the four genera Aerodramus, Hydrochous, Schoutedenapus and Collocalia. ... A basket style nest A nest is place of refuge built to hold an animals eggs and/or provide a place to raise their offspring. ...

The edible bird's nests are among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans. The nests have been traditionally used in China for over 400 years, most often as bird's nest soup.^[2]

Name

The Chinese name for bird's nest soup, "yan wo(燕窝)", translates literally as "swiftlet's nest" (yan=swiftlets, wo=nest). When dissolved in water, the birds' nests have a gelatinous texture used for soup or sweet tong sui. It is mostly referred to as "jin wo" unless references are made to the salty or sweet soup in Chinese cuisine. Asian soups are soups traditionally prepared and consumed in the cultures of East Asia. ... Cantonese cuisine (Chinese: 粵菜; pinyin: ) originates from the region around Canton in southern Chinas Guangdong province. ... Chinese cuisine (Chinese: 中國菜) is widely seen as representing one of the richest and most diverse culinary cuisines and heritages in the world. ...

Harvesting

The most heavily harvested nests are from the Edible-nest Swiftlet or White-nest Swiftlet (Aerodramus fuciphagus) and the Black-nest Swiftlet (Aerodramus maximus)^[3]. The white nests and the “red blood” nests are supposedly rich in nutrients which are traditionally believed to provide health benefits, such as aiding digestion, raising libido, improving the voice, alleviating asthma, increasing concentration, and an overall benefit to the immune system.^[2] Genera Hydrochous Collocalia Aerodramus Schoutedenapus The birds called Swiftlets or Cave Swiftlets are contained within the four genera of Aerodramus, Hydrochous, Schoutedenapus and the remaining species left in Collocalia. ... Binomial name Hume, 1878 The Black-nest Swiftlet (Collocalia maxima) is a species of swift in the Apodidae family. ... For other uses, see Libido (disambiguation). ...

The nests are built during the breeding season by the male swiftlet over a period of 35 days. They take the shape of a shallow cup stuck to the cave wall. The nests are composed of interwoven strands of salivary laminae cement. Both nests have high levels of calcium, iron, potassium, and magnesium.

Hong Kong and the United States are the largest importers of these nests.^[1] In Hong Kong a bowl of Bird Nest Soup would cost US$30 to $100 .^[2][4] A kilogram of white nest can cost up to $2,000, and a kilogram of “red blood” nest can cost up to $US 10,000. The white nests are commonly treated with a red pigment, but methods have been developed to determine an adulterated nest. The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ...

The nests are traditionally harvested from high up on cave walls. There is some risk to the collectors who stand on bamboo scaffolding that is sometimes hundreds of feet tall and centuries old - with obvious repairs. Over the past twenty years, the demand, the price, and the overexploitation of these nests have increased. The string of people involved in the trade of swiftlet nests has led to the mismanagement of a once sustainable system. Laws governing how the nests are harvested are implemented in each cave^[3]. One common system allows the licensed harvesters to take the first nest, allow the bird to build a second nest which she can remain in until her chicks have fledged, and only then is the harvester allowed to take the second nest. Unfortunately, harvesters will take a nest once it is large enough, whether or not eggs or chicks are present. Most caves have one season for harvest but thieves steal nests throughout the year. Because these rules are often broken the swiftlet population has dropped, putting swiftlets on the protected species list. For other uses, see Bamboo (disambiguation). ...

The penalty for stealing nests is not large enough to deter thieves. Some believe that taking all the nests provides some degree of benefit to the swiftlets because the female will not lay her eggs in an old nest. Old nests line the cave walls where new nests could be built. Whether or not this idea of ‘cave cleaning’ benefits the swiftlet population, indiscriminate nest-collection endangers the swiftlet population.

Some bird-nest merchants in southeast Asia (Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia etc.) have started to raise and breed the swiftlets in house-like structures. They build the shelters to attract wild swiftlets to build nests in them. The wrong kind of nests are then destroyed along with the eggs inside. Over time, the selection process leaves behind a colony of swiftlets that produce the right kind of nest for the trade. "House nests" are priced much lower than "cave nests" due to the risks involved in harvesting the latter.

Notes

References

• Lau, Amy S.M. and Melville, David S. (April 1994) International Trade in Swiftlet Nests with Special Reference to Hong Kong Traffic Network 35pp. ISBN 1-85850-030-3

External links

• Nests image;
• "Peternak Walet Indonesia Forum"
• Bird's Nest Soup, Australian Broadcasting Corporation News reported by Peter Lloyd, 24 August 2004;
• "The Deadly Delicacy: Allure of bird's nest soup endangers swiftlet colonies and drives violent clashes" by Sarah Rooney, San Francisco Chronicle, 19 December 2000;
• "养燕必找'金丝燕农场'帮忙, 投资养燕(燕屋)前必到网站Swiftlet Ranching"
• EDIBLE BIRD-NEST SOUP| English