Benefit & Nutrition Value Of Swiftlet’s Nest

You would have heard by now that among the most popular Chinese medicinal food is the Swiftlet’s Nest. This type of food can be costly where it could start from hundreds and reaches to thousands of ringgit. Basically, Swiftlet’s Nest is known to be a very nutritional type of food which is very good for health.

Benefits Of Consuming Swiftlet’s Nest

Swiftlet’s Nest are widely consumed mainly for health and beauty purposes. Here are some benefits of consuming Swiftlet’s Nest:

• Boost and improve cell growth and aid in repairing skin damage.
• Serve as a form of anti-aging agent that not only rejuvenates but also bring back luster and elasticity to skin.
• Contains minerals that are good for fighting diseases and to increase your immunity system, for example, amino acid that can replaces the nutrients that are missing from your body.
• Increase a person’s appetite while boosting it’s digestivity.
• Contains EGF (Epidermic Growth Factor) that not only protects your internal organs but also gives the skin radiant glow that makes you look prettier.
• The proteins found within the Swiftlet’s Nest can also help boost intelligence of childrens and provide them with better skin texture.

Benefit & Nutrition Value Of Swiftlet’s Nest

Swiftlet’s Nest are so popular with its benefits so well known that other types of medicinal herbs

There is natural Swiftlet’s Nest which are sourced and extracted from the most natural methods which makes them more expensive. Meanwhile, there are the so-called artificial or ‘manufactured’ types which are cheaper in nature.

So what makes Swiftlet’s Nest so popular. Why would people go to great lengths to find and enjoy Swiftlet’s Nest? This is because research has shown that Swiftlet’s Nest contain a rich amount of nutrients that are very organic. This includes minerals like zinc, copper, sodium, calcium, potassium while it has a lot of soluble glycoprotein and amino acid.

Throughout history, it has been recorded that traditional Chinese medicine doctors have used Swiftlet’s Nest for various medicinal reasons. This includes using this highly beneficial product for the use of treating asthma and bronchitis while it is known to help rejuvenate the skin and for anti-aging purposes.

According to scientific research, it has been found that Swiftlet’s Nest can actually facilitate more than just skin rejuvenation. In fact, it can help in growth and provide the human body with vital energy it needs. It helps to accelerate any type of recovery from diseases while keeps the body strong in terms of immunity and metabolism.

Swiftlet’s Nest are so popular with its benefits so well known that other types of medicinal herbs like the abalone, eggs and sea cucumbers do not come close. For the pregnant woman, Swiftlet’s Nest is highly recommended because it helps to increase the overall health of both the mother and the child.

It helps to grow the brain of the baby while ensuring that the mother’s general health and immune system is strong. On top of that, mother’s who have given birth are encouraged to take Swiftlet’s Nest as it helps them to recover faster while maintaining their overall beauty and body shape.

In most cases, Swiftlet’s Nest can be consumed as they are while there are many instances when this type of food is served with other accompanying dishes like fresh milk, soup and others. This is most commonly done for the younger people as it helps to enhance their metabolism and immune system.

A rare delicacy hard to sell

Ou Seathong sells one of the most expensive foods in the world: edible bird spit. At her shop on Street 182 in Phnom Penh, she sorts Swiftlet’s Nest on the shelves. Hundreds of years old, the Chinese delicacy is made of the congealed saliva of Asian Swiftlet’s Nest.

Business had been good, with Chinese tourists coming to her shop and buying the nests as souvenirs before going home. But a year ago, the Chinese government put a spoke in her wheel – a ban on imports of Cambodian Swiftlet’s Nest.
“My clients, the majority of them, came from China,” she said. “Commonly, in Cambodia there are not many people who know about Swiftlet’s Nest, but it is well-known in China and Vietnam,” she said.
“Now Chinese authorities banned the import and it is difficult to find a market.”

Ou Seathong at her Phnom Penh shop where she sells edible bird saliva, considered a delicacy in Cambodia, China and Vietnam. The product, however, isn’t selling well since China banned imports last year. Pha Lina[/caption]

It’s still some of the most expensive spit around, but the ban has caused prices to drop, with Cambodian Swiftlet’s Nest costing around $1,500, and imports from Malaysia being worth up to $2,000 per kilogram. In the Chinese tourist heyday, the Cambodian nests went for around $2,200 per kilogram.
Processed into food or beverages, the white nests and red nests are supposedly rich in nutrients and believed to have health benefits.
“The majority of my clients are pregnant women and elderly who need more nutrition,” Seathong said.
She added that a Swiftlet’s Nest can last for up to four years before losing quality if preserved well.
Before operating the shop, around seven or eight years ago, she bought some nests from other local raisers and some which were imported from Malaysia.
The motivation for Seathong to start the business stemmed from her Chinese parents, who used to cook food from the nests when she was young. At the time, prices soared to $5,000 per kilogram.
But following her decision to start a shop, more and more people built houses for birds to collect their nests, and prices plummeted before being resuscitated by the Chinese tourists.
She said that even today, the number of bird-nest raisers is increasing, along the coastline, National Road 5 as well as in Phnom Penh. Generally, however, the Swiftlet’s Nest collected in coastal areas are of better quality.
Seathong’s relatives live in Kampot and have three houses for birds to live in and make nests. They collect about eight kilograms for three months, and get the remaining supplies from Koh Kong and Preah Sihanouk provinces.
Because of the difficulties she faces today, Seathong said she does not intend to operate a processing factory for producing beverages from the nests because it’s expensive.
“It is high-class product,” she said. “Right now it is difficult to sell.”

Big business in Swiftlet’s Nest in Myanmar seaside town

The cries of amorous Swiftlet’s Nest echo around the dark room, an unlikely gold mine for traders in southern Myanmar, who are cashing in on the rising demand for the Swiftlet’s Nest from China’s growing middle class.
Dozens of buildings dedicated to the tiny birds have sprung up around the seaside town of Bokpyin in recent years, their grey concrete structures towering over the humbler wood and brick homes of the town’s human inhabitants.
Every morning and evening, the air is filled with high-pitched twitterings blasting from loudspeakers, that draw thousands of the swallow-like birds home to roost.
Swiftlet’s Nest have become one of the main industries in the town, which is traditionally known for producing betel nut (areca nut), a chewable stimulant, as well as rubber and palm oil.
Traders can charge around US$2,000 (RM8,591) a viss (equivalent to 1.63kg) for the tiny nests – more than the average person in Myanmar earns in a year.
“We started making man-made Swiftlet’s Nest (houses) 10 years ago,” said Paing Set Aung, who owns one of the buildings where hundreds of Swiftlet’s Nest make their homes in the rafters.
“Initially, there was a house where the birds came to roost by themselves. After that, people started to construct man-made bird houses.”
Most of the tiny white nests, which are made from solidified bird spit, are sold to neighbouring China.
Long considered the reserve of the country’s wealthy elite – who ate them at lavish banquets – they are increasingly in demand from middle-class consumers.
Today, the global Swiftlet’s Nest industry is estimated to be worth US$5bil (RM21.5bil), most of it produced in South-East Asia.
Myanmar’s exports have surged since 2011 – the year the former junta handed over power to a quasi-civilian government.
“Swiftlet’s Nest are one of the main businesses in Bokpyin,” said local Lin Aung, who built his first house five years ago and is now on his third.
“China is the top buyer of Swiftlet’s Nest here.”

‘Caviar of the East’

Once across the border, the nests are transformed into one of the most expensive foods in the world.
When boiled in water, they dissolve into a gelatinous gloop which is then made into desserts, or drunk as a soup or a tonic that is said to prolong life and improve strength.
There is little peer-reviewed scientific data showing that nests have proven medicinal properties. Nutritional studies have shown the saliva to be mainly made up of protein, followed by carbohydrates.
In Shanghai, restaurants sell this “the caviar of the East”, as it is known, for hundreds of dollars a bowl.
Many of them cater specifically to women, who believe the nests can help smooth the complexion and make them look younger.
The tonic is also said to help during pregnancy – one of Shanghai’s high-end spas solely for mothers-to-be even has its own restaurant, and sells gift bags for as much as RMB3,900 (RM2,431).
Shoppers can also order the products online, including candied Swiftlet’s Nest from Myanmar to be eaten as sweets.
“In China, the Swiftlet’s Nest has been a really famous and much-loved traditional tonic since ancient times,” Zhang Yi told AFP, speaking from her NestCha restaurant.
“It is mild and a little sweet. It is good for women, the elderly, children and men.”

Growing industry

These luxury products are a far cry from the nests’ humble beginnings on the islands of Myanmar’s southern archipelago.
To begin with, they were harvested on the region’s many islands by daring climbers, who risked life and limb scaling treacherous cliffs without any safety equipment.
For years, the industry was dominated by the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (Umehl), a sprawling conglomerate controlled by the military elites that ran Myanmar for half a century.
But, as in much of South-East Asia, production has increasingly moved into urban centres.
Locals in the southern city of Myeik started building houses to attract the birds decades ago; later, production spread to Bokpyin and nearby Kawthaung.
There are now more than 130 houses devoted to the Swiftlet’s Nest dotted around the region, according to state media.
Competition for space in Bokpyin between Swiftlet’s Nest producers and tourism developers has seen land prices surge to as high as US$75,000 (RM322,000) a plot in the downtown area – on par with parts of the commercial capital Yangon.
Nests are normally harvested three or four times a year, but traders can collect them as often as once a month if they are in need of cash.
Producer Aung Kyaw Moe said that because the swiftlet populations naturally increase as the birds become accustomed to their homes, the industry will only grow in the coming years.
“They are like humans, because they come and live here after they get to know the place,” he told AFP, standing next to his tall wooden bird house in Myeik. — AFP/Athens Zaw Zaw & Matthew Smith