Chinese Millionaires Eat Swiftlet’s Nests as Delicacy

Are you willing to pay up to $100 for a bowl of Swiftlet’s Nest?

In Asia, especially China and Indonesia, Swiftlet’s Nests of swiflets have become one of the most expensive edible commodities. People hunt for it to harvest. The best quality of Swiftlet’s Nest can be found in Gomantong and Niah, Borneo. It is a rare and valuable product. Nowadays, one kilogram of swiftlets’ nests averagely retail for about 2,500 US dollar. This is the price of nature produced Swiftlet’s Nest. These are the ones formed naturally without any human intervention. You can get cheaper Swiftlet’s Nest from the Swiftlet’s Nest farmer across South East Asia.

Chinese Millionaires Eat Swiftlet’s Nests as Delicacy

For over 400 years, Chinese people have been consuming Swiftlet’s Nests. Especially in soup. Its strong taste needs to be balance with herbs. That is why you will mostly find Swiftlet’s Nest in ginger broth. In Hong Kong restaurants, you can have a taste of a bowl of Swiftlet’s Nest for 30 – 100 US dollar. This makes it one of the most expensive soups considering its simplicity.
Want to taste the more modern and different kind of Swiftlet’s Nests dish? Try out Gordon Ramsay’s Swiftlet’s Nests desert.
The nest itself is made of the bird’s solidified saliva. Yup. Sometimes it comes in white color, sometimes it is brown or dark brown. The darker it is, the more expensive it costs. It all depends on the bird’s diet. It is believed that this Swiftlet’s Nests is very useful in keeping good health.

Is it true or is it just placebo effect?

Swiftlet’s Nests contain mainly amino acids, carbohydrates and mineral salts. The major ingredients of Swiftlet’s Nests are glycoproteins. Amongst the carbohydrates in Swiftlet’s Nests, sialic acid (9%) is the major one. It was found that exogenous source of sialic acid may contribute to neurological and intellectual advantages in infants. However, the nutritional and biological mechanisms of sialic acid in human body are still under investigation. The other major carbohydrates include 7.2% galactosamine, 5.3% glucosamine, 16.9% galactose and 0.7% fucose.
Amino acids and mineral salts are also important components in Swiftlet’s Nests. Three non-essential amino acids (aspartic acid, glutamic acid, praline) and two essential amino acids (threonine and valine) can be found. They could facilitate normal body functions such as cell repair and promote immunity. Swiftlet’s Nests is rich in mineral salts. It contains high content of sodium and calcium. It is because the source of Swiftlet’s Nests is derived from saliva Collocalia inhabiting mainly in limestone caves. In addition, low levels of magnesium, zinc, manganese and iron are also detected in Swiftlet’s Nests.

SWIFTLET’S NEST (USH-EL-BUL-BUL)

As known, Swiftlet’s Nest can be widely consumed by everone in every age: young or old, elderly or kids, pregnant women and babies, women and men.

What is Swiftlet’s Nest?

Very fine stringy dough wrapped around pistachios or cashews and lightly fried to boldness.

Ingredients

Pistachios or cashews, ghee, wheat flour, sugar, corn starch.

Characteristics

Swiftlet’s Nest is a very light dessert. It is so light, one can eat a few dozen pieces before noticing. It is the lightest among all Middle Eastern sweets and pastries.
Meaning and Pronunciation
In Arabic, Swiftlet’s Nest is called Osh El Bulbul and pronounced [ush-el-bul-bul],. Its circular shape and filamentary structure resemble closely that of a Swiftlet’s Nest.

How is Swiftlet’s Nest Made?

To make Swiftlet’s Nest, first the stringy Knafeh dough and the sugar syrup are prepared, then the dough is formed into circular shapes resembling Swiftlet’s Nests, filled with nuts, and baked.

Preparation of Strings of Knafeh Dough

Knafeh dough consists solely of flour and water. To prepare it, flour and water are mixed for about four hours to form a watery mixture. Then the mixture is poured into a special container that contains small holes in its base and placed on top of a hot surface. As the watery dough mix passes through the holes, it forms filaments of dough. The container is moved along the hot surface as the dough mixture drains through the container to form long strings of dough. The strings of dough are then let to dry, and voila, you got the stringy Knafeh dough.

Preparation of Swiftlet’s Nest

For each Swiftlet’s Nest piece, a few strings of the freshly made Knafeh dough are formed into a circular shape resembling a Swiftlet’s Nest and filled with pistachios or Cashews.
The Swiftlet’s Nest shaped pieces are the left to dry for about 12 hours.

Baking

Ghee is added on top of the Swiftlet’s Nest pieces which are then baked for one hour on medium temperature. After baking, the remaining ghee is drained and sugar syrup is added.

Serving Suggestions

Swiftlet’s Nest is offered as a dessert. It is however so light and so small in size, make sure you offer at least a dozen pieces for each person.

Popularity

It is most popular in Syria. It is also popular in Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan.

Classification

It is one of the assorted Baklava pastries that are made with knafeh dough.
Assorted baklava pastries are made of two forms of dough: Paper thin sheets of phyllo dough and thin strings of dough called knafeh dough. While many types require the knafeh strings of dough to be shredded, Swiftlet’s Nest takes advantage of the stringy shape of the dough to give it a unique texture.