Edible Bird’s Nests Made with Saliva: One of the World's Most Expensive Foods

Prized in China for its alleged health benefits for hundreds of years, nests made from swiftlets' saliva are being mixed into coffee and cereal as the Southeast Asian producers of the delicacy seek to broaden its appeal, and their profit margins.

The nests are among the world's most expensive foods, selling for up to $2,500 a kg and the swiftlets that weave them are indigenous to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. China consumes almost 90 percent of all Edible Bird’s Nests, traditionally eaten in soup, creating an industry that last year recorded $5 billion in sales and which executives expect to double by 2020.
Companies such as Malaysia's Swiftlet Eco Park, one of the country's largest developers of swiftlet houses, want bigger gains by expanding their product line and market beyond China, where importers can often dictate the price.
"Ask anybody in the industry where is your market and they'll say China and Hong Kong. Everybody is going there," said Group Managing Director Loke Yeu Loong. "We are looking at new markets, but if I sell raw Edible Bird’s Nest to Europe or India, they don't even know how to cook it."

Edible Bird’s Nests Made with Saliva: One of the World's Most Expensive Foods

Swiftlet Eco makes coffee, skin care, puddings and candies with Edible Bird’s Nest. Loke declined to give specific sales figures but said the profit margin on some of these products was 10 times more than the raw nests.
The company is also spending big on marketing Edible Bird’s Nest as a health food in the Middle East, Europe and the United States and plans to raise about $30 million through an initial public offering and New York listing in the third quarter of this year.
Southeast Asian swiftlets' nests are particularly popular in the Lunar New Year festivities, which began in China last week, and are believed to be rich in nutrients that can help digestion, raise libido and improve the immune system. Malaysia is the world's largest producer of raw nests after Indonesia.
Lee Kong Heng, president of the Malaysian Federation of Edible Bird’s Nest Traders Association, says marketing Edible Bird’s Nest as a supplement would attract younger, wealthier and more health-conscious consumers worldwide.
Vietnam's largest Edible Bird’s Nest producer Company is also keen to play up the benefits of the delicacy.
Malaysian Edible Bird’s Nest producers are well placed to market to the majority Muslim Middle Eastbecause the nests are halal, or a food permissible under Islam, Swiftlet Eco Park's Loke said. With more research, he hopes Edible Bird’s Nest will become a global phenomenon. "We can conduct research and prove the benefit of consuming Edible Bird’s Nest scientifically," he said.

Edible Bird’s Nest

Products

The Edible-nest Swiftlet (Aerodramus fuciphagus) is a small bird of the swift family which is found in South-east Asia. Its nest is entirely made of solidified saliva with little or no plant material. The nests are made by the males during a period of 35 days.
Its diet consists of flying insects which are caught on the wing. Naturally these swiftlets breed in colonies in caves, in a cleft in a cliff or sometimes on a building.
The bracket-shaped nest is white and translucent and is made of layers of hardened saliva attached to the rock. It measures about 6 cm across with a depth of 1.5 cm and a weight of about 14 grams.
Average Edible Bird’s Nest contain about 62 per cent proteins including amino acids, about 27 per cent carbohydrate and a few per cent minerals, fat and moisture.
The most common nests have a white to grayish color. There are also more expensive yellow to orange and red colored nests (also called: red blood nests) marketed, which are harvested from limestone caves and the specific color is natural due to the environment. Red nests are thought to be more potent than then the yellow-orange and they should be more potent then the white ones.

Introduction

The Edible Bird’s Nest are made by the "South East Asia's swiftlets" (Aerodramus fuciphagus). These sparrows like birds construct their nest with glutinous strands of starched like saliva produced by a pair of large, salivary glands under their tongue.
These very special kind of nests are found mostly in Hainan Island of China, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Borneo Island (consisting of Sarawak, Sabah, Brunei and Kalimantan) and the Philippines.
The collectors of Edible Bird’s Nest harvest about 5 times a year, but assure that the bird's can reproduce during the months February until July.
The traditional method of harvesting has not been able to keep up with the escalating demand for Edible Bird’s Nest, prompting some inventive technology. Concrete or wood nesting houses have been built along the sea coast, mostly in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
vogelnestjes geoogst Photo: Edible Bird’s Nest just after harvesting. After collection comes the tedious process of cleaning the nests. They are soaked in water to soften the nest cement so that feathers and bits of dirt can be removed with tweezers.
benseng-vogelnestjes wit premium kwaliteit Photo: Real white Edible Bird’s Nest from premium quality after cleaning.

Application

In some countries of Southeast Asia the edible nests are mainly consumed as a delicacy used in the preparation of soups and other dishes. The soup is made by soaking the nests in plenty of water. Then let it simmer for as long it takes for the Edible Bird’s Nest to dissolve completely. In this way it is also possible to brew a tea from it.
It is said that cave nests are better as it takes up to three hours to double boil them while nests farmed in houses or other manmade structures take only 30 minutes.
Occasionally Edible Bird’s Nest are used as food supplements. For this application either the dry nests are ground into powder or an extract is made from it.
Externally edible nest extracts are sometimes worked in cosmetics. Facial masks and beauty crèmes are sighted in the market.

Industrial application

There are still no industrial application known of the Edible Bird’s Nest.

Dosage

The optimum beneficial dosage of the Edible Bird’s Nest has not been supported by any scientific research.
Because it is such a costly ingredient, for therapeutic purposes most often 5-10 grams of dried whole Edible Bird’s Nest (1-2 dry nests) are taken as soup or tea 2-4 times a week for as long as the complaints last.
For cosmetic purposes it is sufficient to use only 1-2 nests weekly.

Contra-indications

The use of Edible Bird’s Nest can generally be regarded as safe. Nevertheless one should make sure that the real Edible Bird’s Nests are obtained.

• Edible Bird’s Nest should not be taken by children or adolescents, because of increased risk of food-induced anaphylaxis.
• Ovotransferrin is known to be responsible for egg allergies, and interestingly, very similar reactions have been seen in some young children after consuming Edible Bird’s Nest soup.
• There are fake nests in the market that can contain harm full ingredients.
• The red colour of the very expensive Red blood nests is sometimes artificially made by adding large amounts of sodium nitrite. Nitrite is a toxic substance that is highly carcinogenic.

This document is for professionals only. It is the responsibility of the user to refer to the laws in force in the country of sale and determine the relevance of the products for the intended use. This ingredient is not intended to treat, cure or prevent any disease. The allegations have not all been evaluated by EFSA, they are not intended to be labelled on a commodity to the consumer.