We all knew about bird’s nest and and it’s nutritional values and worth as much as $2,000 a kilogram. But do you know who did bird’s nest come about? No, we didn’t go to limestone caves and peek behind the scenes but we went to a shop lot that has been turned into “breeding grounds” for swiftlets.
KampungBoy visited one of the famous swiflet breeder in Kuala Terengganu and the business is run by his mate, Tor. The shop lot is transformed to replicate the birds’ natural habitat. The temperature is kept at 26 to 28 degrees Celsius and the level of dampness must also be suitable. They even spray a potion made of of water, ammonia, fish oil and some other herbs to entice the birds.
The entrance of “House of Nest”
Tor (the Boss) also plays some CD on chirping sound and smear the walls in droppings to replicate the smell of a cave. This is a CCTV footage that shows the environment in the breeding ground.
Plastic moulds were placed along the ceiling to hold the shape of the swiftlet’s saliva. However, most swiftlets would prefer to build their nest along the “L” shape pillar. The bird’s nest will be graded lower because of the smaller yield. You will find out why, just read on.
R: A good grade A nest should be as big as three fingers, white in colour, have very few feathers stuck in it, and have a saucer-like shape.
L: Bird’s nests built along the corners and crevices is thinner because less saliva is needed to produce a saucer-like shape.
Guess which one has a better grade? Left or Right?
To clean the nest, water is sprayed on it and a sharp, tweezer-like instrument is used to carefully remove the feathers one by one.
The aluminum sieve is used to hold the shape of the bird’s nest during the process of cleaning and plucking.
The cleaned bird’s nests were dried in oven using “Freeze Drying” method to eliminate excess moisure.
Cleaned bird’s nest were categorized according to its grade. The finished products have a faint scent of egg and the scent comes from soluble protein. Bird’s nest also have a high nutritional and therapeutic value to human body but it’s not something that I can afford to consume. However, it’s good to know more about bird’s nest right?
Supposedly good for the lungs 😉 Who am I to argue with over 400 years of tradition? 😉
supposingly good for everything haha. soluble protein mar
educational huh?? I never knew about the painstaking process until my family started the same business… well, not for commercial purpose. The bird nest is for own use 🙂 so we has endless supply of bird nest all year round!
Normally they would use Meranti wood which has been planed and moulded, as the swiftlets prefer this wood compared to other type of woods. Not an easy task to remove the nest from the wood and definitely harder to remove the feather from the nest without jeapordising the shape… believe me, I’d spent one hour ++ just to clean one myself
Now my family has embarked to go into this business as side income..
.-= thule aka leo´s last blog ..Pizza Uno @ Centrepoint Bandar Utama =-.
wow for own use! ur parents need any god daughter anot?
Impressive, great info!
.-= Precious Pea´s last blog ..My Birthday Dinner @ Tao’s =-.
tq pea
too bad I don’t know how to appreciate 😛 mom used to boil when she strike lottery, I just gave it to my sis lol
aiyahyah what a waste! :p
Bird’s nest! a luxury item. i think i will go for ‘sheut yi’ lar… cheaper and same nutrition 🙂 😛
.-= ai wei´s last blog ..Ko Hyang @ The Gardens =-.
yaya i like the crunchy type
wow.. this is super educational.. thx for the tip;)
.-= ciki´s last blog ..Viral Marketing =-.
ur welcome prettyhttp://kampungboycitygal.com/wp-admin/edit-comments.php#comments-form
Ooh my favourite! And thanks to my generous wine drinking kaki, we sometimes have a big bowl of birds nest for dessert! Woot… yummy…
.-= eiling´s last blog ..The Social @ Changkat Bukit Bintang =-.
ur really 1 lucky girl!
I’ve never got to like bird’s nest and simply because of what it is.
Anyway, do you know that thre’s a town in Perak is quite known for breeding these birds to get their nests too i.e. Sitiawan.
You would know when you see a whole building built without any proper windows nor doors. Just some circular windows (sealed of course) where birds are in there, and you would hear very loud chirpings when you pass by … I always wonder if the nests would turn out any good since birds are living in such unnatural condition moreover, is it even legal?
Sad to know that one of my distant relatives tried to breed these birds at the floor above his TCM shop, while climbing to reach for a nest, he fell and passed on. Risky business even it’s done in a building.
.-= adel´s last blog ..[review] Lunch @ Sun with Moon, Central, Singapore =-.