Bird’s nest soup is a delicacy 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. The edible bird’s nests are among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans. The nests have been traditionally used in Chinese cooking for over 400 years, most often as bird’s nest soup.
The Chinese name for bird’s nest soup, yàn wō , translates literally as “swiftlet 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.The swifts are a family, Apodidae, of highly aerial birds.
They are superficially similar to swallows but are actually not closely related to those passerine species at all; swifts are in the separate order Apodiformes, which they share with the hummingbirds. The treeswifts are closely related to the true swifts, but form a separate family, the Hemiprocnidae. The resemblances between swifts and swallows are due to convergent evolution reflecting similar life styles based on catching insects in flight. Bird’s nest contains water soluble glycoprotein, amino acids, and Epidermic Growth Factor that promote cell growth and tissue repair.
birdnest sample
Consequently, the process of ageing is controled through the antioxidant content in the bird’s nest. Besides, minerals such as calcium, sodium, potassium increase the body’s resistance against disease.
birdnest sample
Information from Wikipedia.
