Blood Birds Nest Beauty and Health Benefits

The ancient Chinese prepared Blood Birds Nest soup for its nutritional and also medicinal value. The Chinese are already using the Blood Birds Nest in their cooking since 1,200 years ago. It believed to provide the anti-aging and the anticancer benefits for the body.

Blood Birds Nest is high in protein and carbohydrates. It also has the essential amino acids, hormones, and lipids. Blood Birds Nest also contain collagen and calcium. It gives a lot of health and beauty benefits including regenerating new cells, strengthening the bones, improve immunity, good for respiratory system and inhibit influenza infections.
Eu Yun Sang is a health and wellness company that leading in the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) industry. This company is adopting modern and also scientific approaches to produce their Traditional Chinese Medicine and other wellness products. According to Eu Yun Sang, here are the health benefits of consuming Blood Birds Nest:

1. Tonic

It has a lot of nutrients that can improve your health. It should be consumed before meals or empty stomach so the body can absorbs its nutrients.

2. Good For Immunity

For the one who have low level of immunity, this is a good supplement for you. People in China consumed Blood Birds Nest to promote a very good immune system for their body. The Blood Birds Nest contains glycoprotein, neutral energetic property and other minerals and vitamins that help to boost your immune system.

Blood Birds Nest Beauty and Health Benefits

3. Beauty Care

Traditionally, Blood Birds Nest soup is a food that good for beauty and health. It improves the skin complexion and it has anti-aging properties as well. The women in China love to consume Blood Birds Nest soup because it is effectively maintain their youthfulness and giving them a very good skin. Blood Birds Nest has the properties called epidermal growth factor or EGF that help in repairing the tissue and promoting a very healthy skin by restoring it elasticity.

Good For All Ages

Someone who regularly consuming Blood Birds Nest soup will notice the health benefits such as stronger immunity and rarely having flu or colds, the skin appearance is radiant and younger, a speedy recovery to the wounds and scars, stronger bones and teeth, and their eye vision is getting better.
Blood Birds Nest soup is actually healthy for all ages. From the young ones to the adults, they can enjoy the Blood Birds Nest soup as their every day healthy supplement. Here are the summary of Blood Birds Nest goodness according to age and gender.
For The Children: Blood Birds Nest soup is one of the healthy foods that can improve the immune system of the kids. It will protect them from flu, cold, viral infections and it helps to alleviate asthma. It is great for the students as well because this food can give them the energy to reduce fatigue. They can improve their focus in studying at the same time.
For The Women: This is one of the healthy foods that improve the skin condition tremendously. It is rich in collagen, vitamins and protein that essential for the skin health. The skin will appear brighter, young and radiant. It can prevent the formation of wrinkles and aging signs.
For The Men: Blood Birds Nest soup is a good source for energy. It can reduce fatigue for men and give them energy at work. It is also good for their kidneys, lungs and heart because the Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) will contribute in promoting healthy cell for the organs.
For The Expecting Mothers: Pregnant women always have low immunity and Blood Birds Nest is a good supplement to strengthen their immunityduring pregnancy. It also a good source for calcium and help the mothers to have strong bones and teeth. It is also good for the fetus development because Blood Birds Nest has a lot of nutrients to offer. It also helps the mothers to recover after giving birth because this food provides energy and the EGF helps in recovering the body.
For The Elderly: This food improves eyesight and promotes a very healthy body for the elderly. It prevents the organ from any damages and prevents the cancer cell formations. It promotes a good digestion and provides energy for the elder to keep healthy and active. By consuming Blood Birds Nest soup regularly, it will improves their immunity against diseases as well.

House Farming of Blood Birds Nest

Due to the high economic value of Blood Birds Nest, swiftlets are being reared extensively in man- made houses in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand to increase the production of Blood Birds Nest. In recent years, the price of Blood Birds Nest increased drastically due to high consumer demand. This has led to Blood Birds Nest producers and the Malaysian government to’ make efforts for increasing the production of Blood Birds Nest through conservation and house farming. In several areas, the conservation of resources has been aided by the domestication of swiftlet species in bird houses.
House farming of swiftlets in Indonesia began in the 18005, and the industry has considerably developed since then. Blood Birds Nest is cultivated by cross fostering, where the eggs of the white bellied swiftlets are replaced with the eggs of Blood Birds Nest producing swiftlets, thus establishing a new population of Blood Birds Nest producing swiftlets. While populations of the cave Blood Birds Nest swiflets have been declining due to over exploitation of their nests, rapidly growing house farming of the Blood Birds Nest swiftlets has given them a sigh of relief.
The Government of Malaysia under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI, formerly known as Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment) together with the Wild Life Department of Malaysia (PERHILITAN) have recently begun encouraging the general public to venture into the very lucrative Blood Birds Nest industry.
Over the years, a lot of conservation workshops and laws have been implemented in Blood Birds Nest producing countries to raise the production of Blood Birds Nest. However, the research on the house-collected Blood Birds Nest is scarce as the previously researched samples have been mostly obtained from the caves in Indonesia.

Bird Premise or Blood Birds Nest Ranching

The most interesting thing about these swiftlets are their nests. They construct nests with glutinous strands of starch-like saliva produced by a pair of large, salivary glands and thereafter mate and breed their young ones.
It is the nest material that gives them an upper hand over the rest of the Blood Birds Nest in the world. The nest looks like a cupped hand or a crescent shaped bowl about 3-5 inches in diameter. The flat side is stuck to a wall (a cave wall in wild nest, or a wooden base in cultivated/house nest) and other side of the nest is a place for them to perch, and within the hollow of the nest are either their eggs or their chicks.
The Blood Birds Nest industry is a multi-million dollar enterprise from production, sorting, and cleaning to domestic and international trade. According to a survey in December 2001, approximately 1000 buildings/houses cultivating Blood Birds Nest in Malaysia were reported. The houses produced not less than 10 tons per year (cultivated white Blood Birds Nest/house nest) while the world demand is 200 tons per year. The demand is still growing but the supply is only able to fulfill half of the demand, which kept the price ever increasing.
Basically, a bird house is a building with artificially created conditions similar to a swiftlet dwelling cave. It is able to attract swiftlets so that they live and breed in it.
In designing a bird house, care should be taken of physical and behavioral needs of birds, human treatment and animal management, human safety, and government rules and regulations.

Physical and Behavioral Needs of Birds

Most of the bird farmers concentrate only on the bird house construction for attracting birds into the houses. This is by far the most important factor in controlling or affecting the bird population in the house. However, it would be better to give consideration to other factors as well prior to the selection of the bird house location. These factors include the swiftlet’s flight path, its population at the specific area, nearest source for food and water and environment assets.
The most important factor is whether the selected area has the particular specie of birds as part of ecosystem. If the area has any of the birds flying through, it would be good. However, if the selected area is quite far away from the bird’s habitat area, it may not be a good choice. Furthermore, the birds can be attracted to the bird house by using a special bird recording sound.
After a particular area is selected, surrounding factors also need a serious consideration. It is also important to find out if the environmental factors in the area under consideration are not supporting. If there is any factory or industry producing heavy toxic materials, smoke or even noise, it is better to avoid that area. Besides, it is quite beneficial to have the presence of supporting factors such as river, pond, forest reserve and open field nearby the selected area.

Human Treatment and Animal Management

Once the selection of the location is made, it is important to plan a bird house or convert a shop house into bird farming premises (bird house). At this stage, human treatment and animal management concerns are very crucial.
The information on building bird houses can be obtained through farming magazines, newspaper advertisements or bird farming association. Expert services are available which can provide guidance in building or converting the shop lot into bird house.
The expert credentials are being emphasized when the potential clients are shown a previously constructed successful bird house producing adequate amount of nests. However, most of the experts’ advice on account of their experiences without concrete finding, studies or research. The behavior of birds is scarcely studied as there are only a few publications on the bird’s behavior.
There are no records on how many birds were to return their house if they were to hatch. Also no data are available on how many times these birds fly back to their nest daily. Besides, the factor of importance is the bird’s willingness to stay back into the origin house or chose a new house for their nest building. However, people have been successfully attracting birds into a house and harvesting Blood Birds Nest.
Human beings must always treat birds as their companions without staying too close to them. Birds must be given privacy, secured environment and enough comfort to nest their next generation. Environmental guidelines should be followed while applying pesticides and treating the waste of birds. Besides, a great deal of efforts is often required in maintaining the integrity of the nests.
One of the most serious risks associated with bird’s life in the bird house is the theft of their nests. The thief breaks into the bird house and harvest the nests on behalf of the owners. It is a very cruel and off human act to steal nests from the house, as the thief never considers the life of the chicks and eggs in the nest and just drops them on the floor, making this helpless creature to die slowly and with a great deal of torture. Therefore, the bird house owners must consider the security structure and system to secure their wealth and also their wealth creating partners, the swiftlets.

Human Safety and Government Rules and Regulation

There has never been so much emphasis on human safety during nest cultivation. This has totally been a neglected fact in the pursuit for maximum profit. Although surveillance test conducted by the Department of Veterinary Services from the year 2000 have shown negative results for Newcastle Disease, Avian Influenza or Bird Flu H5N1, there is still risk of getting this viruses.
There is a misconception that these birds do not share the same water source with other birds or animals. In reality, they take water from ponds and rivers by flying low on the water surface and occasionally scoping up a sip of liquid. This is particularly true during hot weather and after a long draught. Therefore, it would be wise to take precautions while making entry and exit from the bird house by putting up safety devices to ensure such viruses and other pesticide do not enter or exit from the bird house. There should be contingency plans in the event of an outbreak to segregate people from the birds. However, till now, there is yet to find any example of this setup in any of the bird houses in Malaysia, Thailand, or Indonesia or anywhere else in the world.
The Malaysian government has not given any clear guidelines as to the setting-up of bird houses in Malaysia. Therefore, commercial shop houses have been converted into bird houses with people running restaurants downstairs. Some of the bird house have residents who live there to safeguard their asset. The establishment of bird houses in a residential area might have associated health risks. There are no guidelines and regulations available whether or not bird farming can be done in housing are or in the middle of the town centre. Care needs to be taken of the children who are sick and coughing when such premises are built around your area. However, the only guideline published by one of the government agencies has discussed noise pollution and the ugly structure leaving the township, an eyesore.
Swiftlets Eco Park by Bio Research Centre is the one particular development where specific areas and premises were selected to build and farm swiftlets. It is the first and the only one in Malaysia which the government has approved so far. This is an opportunity for all the potential bird farmers to buy one of these premises and start cultivating Blood Birds Nests without worrying about the rules and regulations and other annoying factors.

Economic Factors of a Bird House

To go into the nest business, choose a good location, build a house, install all necessary facilities to attract birds and start harvesting. All these processes need an investment ranging from RM 300,000-RM 500,000 depending on the location and size of the building. This investment will generate a good and progressive income over the years, while the owner maintains his full time job. This business can be done by everyone. Suppose by having a harvest of 110 to 130 nests that make up to l kg of the market price of RM 4,000-RM 6,000 every month after one or two years. The investment will increase by 30 to 100% where most of the cases are. That is why this is the business of what everyone is talking about.
The funny part in the whole business is how to grade a raw Blood Birds Nest. Normally, all the bird farmers sell to a middle man by evaluation through experience and making further negotiations on the price. They evaluate the size, color, impurity (bird’s feather) and shape (strait or angle), but have little concern on moisture, integrity, pesticide or heavy metal content. This is extremely unacceptable as Blood Birds Nest is considered as a tonic and most of the time it is consumed by elderly, youth and expecting mothers.

Future Development of a Bird House

Future development of bird houses depends upon the government moves. It is certain that this industry will not stop here. It is expected to continue its growth due to the lucrative returns. However, more stringent rules and regulations must be installed to reduce or nullify the degree of hazards brought about by this industry. Also, adding a system of taxation into this multi-million industry will be a positive move. The newly licensed bird houses will be in great demand due to two reasons. One of the reasons is that the shop houses converted into bird houses are off welcoming by the public, and the other is the stress of the fear that government may start demolishing the previously established shop houses sometime in the future.

The Nourishing Medicinal Benefits of Blood Birds Nest

Blood Birds Nest soups are prepared with nests of Swiftlets birds and are mostly consumed in Asia and several other parts of the world. But why exactly would anyone consider taking such soup? The answer is simple. The nests are nourishing and contain nutrients that act as medicines for general well-being.

Blood Birds Nest Soups are Nutritious

It has been scientifically proven that Blood Birds Nest is made up of several minerals. However, glycoproteins which contain a combination of carbohydrate and protein properties are the major nutrients it contains.
The nests contain all the important amino acids which are the primary building blocks of protein. Specifically, six different types of Amino acids are found in Blood Birds Nest which are amide, humin, arginine, cystine, histidine and lysine. The entire level of mono-amino acids found in it is about 6 percent.

The Nourishing Medicinal Benefits of Blood Birds Nest

The entire protein in the nest constitutes about 85 percent, and fat of 0.3 percent. Also, Blood Birds Nest contain 2.5 percent ash, nitrogen of 10.3 percent, and carbohydrate that is up to the level of 17.4 percent. Furthermore, it contain a significant level of vitamin B1, sulphur, arsenate and phosphorus.
During consumption, the energy value per 100g portion is placed at 345 kilocalories. Other minerals found in the nest are iron and calcium. Calcium can build strong bones and teeth in children and adults.

Natural Source of Food and Nutrition

Blood Birds Nest is an absolute source of unique food and nutrition and it is 100% natural. They are the nests of Swiftlets which are built mostly during breeding seasons to raise their young ones. The nests are made up of the bird's saliva which contains several nutrients that is beneficial to humans.
Swiftlefts nests are absolutely safe to eat for anyone: babies, kids, and teenagers, adults male or female, young and old. The soup is absolutely safe for pregnant women too.
Also, the soup is strongly recommended for those convalescing. The nutrients in the nests can speed up the recovery process and makes healing faster. Since the soup is a rich source of food and nutrition, it is important to carefully examine all the nutrients that it contains.

What Your Body Benefits When You Consume Blood Birds Nests

The following are some of the major benefits of consuming the soup:

Renews Cell

Several research findings have strongly indicated that it contain collagen (an active protein molecule). Collagen stimulates the renewal of cells in the epidermis. Also, collagen bolsters cells immunity and boost resistance of the body toward harms that are caused by exposure to X-rays. Collagen speed up the healing of wound, stimulates healthy hair growth, improves development of the brain and prevents bone diseases.
Improves Body Wellness: one of the first major benefits of the soup is that it improves general body wellness. It strengthens every aspect of the body, bones, tissue and cells. Regular consumption of the soup will make you feel absolutely healthier. It energizes the immune system and leaves you with lower risk of contracting any disease.
Also, the soup fortifies the entire human immune system, makes the weak and old stronger; improve respiratory system in children and adult. Also, it helps children and adult learn better and faster by boosting their level of concentration. Additionally, regular consumption of the soup boosts libido.
Balanced Diet: it contain major nutrients that can replenish the body as balanced diet. It contains water, carbohydrate, calcium, iron, fat, nitrogen, protein and all the major amino acid necessary for proper functioning of the body. As such, the soup are considered a balanced diet that can be eaten by anyone.
Builds Healthy Beautiful Skin: it stimulate healthy growth of the skin which results in a radiant and adorable skin. This was one of the first nutritional benefits of the nests that were discovered. The wives of ancient Chinese Emperors were known for consuming Blood Birds Nests soup in order to maintain their beauty and dazzling skin.
Several research findings have further revealed how the nutrients in Blood Birds Nests stimulate healthy skin growth and appearance. Blood Birds Nests prevent and treat premature skin aging. Blood Birds Nests incite cell division, build tissue, controls the endocrine system, clear off wrinkles and makes the skin glitter with beauty and youthfulness.
Reliable Source of Nutrients for Pregnant Women: it has been scientifically proven that Blood Birds Nest is a rich source of nutrients for pregnant women and their unborn children (fetus). During the pregnancy (pre-natal) period, eating the soup will replenish and strengthen the body of the pregnant woman.
Women that consume Blood Birds Nest during pregnancy always recover faster and better after childbirth. Such women experience lesser or no loss of hair, become stronger, and experience better sleep after childbirth.
As a rich source of calcium for pregnant women, Blood Birds Nest fortifies liver and lungs and enhances metabolism. The unborn child too also benefits from the soup the mother consumes. Pregnant women that eat the soup give birth to healthier babies with beautiful smooth skin
Aid Digestion: the soup is a strong solution for indigestion. The nest contains several nutrients one of which is enzymes. Enzymes can easily act on food in the stomach to quicken the digestion process. Digestion releases the nutrients in food so the body can absorb and benefit from such nutrient. Also, Blood Birds Nests accelerate the rate of metabolism.
Supplement to Other Food: it can be taken as supplement to other food mostly for children suffering of malnutrition. People placed on a particular diet for health reasons can consume Blood Birds Nests as a supplement to their recommended diets. The nutrients in Blood Birds Nest can supplement nutrients in other foods and replenish the body better and faster.

Source of Traditional Chinese Medicine

For many centuries, Blood Birds Nests have been a unique source of traditional Chinese medicine. It has been used for the treatment of several ailments, diseases and during convalesce. It is widely believed that the nest acts as anti-aging and anti-cancer properties.
Also, the Blood Birds Nest soup is strongly recommended for the treatment of asthma, cold, cough, influenza, weak blood, and cancer. Also, it has been found to be potent in boosting libido, enhancing physical strength, and absolutely effective as a health tonic. Also, the soup is taken in order to increase lifespan and for the treatment of cough and asthma.

Hidden Facts of Blood Birds Nest

Blood Birds Nest is hardened salivary material secreted by the male birds of several species of swiftlets  Blood Birds Nestduring nest building. The birds secrete saliva and use it as cementing material to bind feathers and vegetation together, and shape them into nests with attachment to the walls of inland or seaside caves. Often nest weighs 1-2 times the swiftlet’s body weight. It only supports the mother and the nestlings. The nest construction is completed in 35 days.

Traditionally, Blood Birds Nest is classified both before and after processing. The commonly used classification of Blood Birds Nest is based on the nest’ external morphological features such as size, shape, feathering, appearance and color. However, traditional classification of Blood Birds Nest did not include the species of Blood Birds Nest-producing swiftlet thus making the classification of Blood Birds Nest inadequate and confusing. Additionally, further classification is based on the location of collection and the country of origin.
On the basis of shape, Blood Birds Nest has been categorized into several types such as nest cup, nest cake and cracked pieces nest. Consideration of the size of nests gives rise to one more class of Blood Birds Nest, fingers grade (unprocessed nest). In terms of the aspects of feathering, Blood Birds Nest has been categorized into premium grade nest, second class grade nest and third class grade nest. On the basis of physical appearance, Blood Birds Nest has been classified into grass nest, feather nest, Blood Birds Nest. On the basis of colour, Blood Birds Nest has been classified into white nest, blood nest and Hua Yan. On the basis of location, Blood Birds Nest has been classified as Gomantong nest, cave nest, house nest and Sarawak nest. On the basis of country of origin, there are several classes – Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia nests.
Moreover, Blood Birds Nest can also be divided into cave nest and house nest. Cave nests are mainly harvested from natural caves, whereas house nests are made by swiftlets in the attic of countryside houses.

Collection of Nests

Cave nests are harvested by local people via a complex system of management and ownership. The nest harvesting process is often painful and risky. The use of nest harvesting techniques depends on several factor such as the cave site, cave height above the ground or water bed, and some other related factors. For the collection of nests in some caves in Kakus, Malaysia, 3 fishing net is placed across the stream in the cave to catch any fallen nest. For the collection of nests built high on cave walls, temporary frames made from locally collected bamboo or ironwood are used. In low lying caves in Baram, Malaysia, nests are usually collected by hands. The nest collection seasons in Niah and Sarawak, Malaysia, last for 30 to 60 days, while it lasts only two weeks in Baram, Malaysia.
Collection of house nests is a relatively easy task but care needs to be taken of the birds’ comfort, and also skilled and knowledgeable workers are generally involved.

Physical and Biochemical Analysis of Blood Birds Nest

Proximate and mineral analysis are some of the predominant methods of analysis for nutritional testing of foods. Proximate analysis represents the crude proteins, fats and fibres, moisture, ash and carbohydrate contents. Many of the food analysis methods in use today are procedures based on a system initially introduced almost 100 years ago. Proximate and mineral analysis is used for the analysis of animal feedstuffs. It involves the estimation of main components of a food using procedures that allow a reasonably rapid and acceptable measurement of various food ingredients without the need for sophisticated equipment or chemicals. Usually the analysed components are crude proteins, fats and fibres, moisture, ash and carbohydrates.

Physical Analysis

The physical analysis involves the determination of the contents of moisture, fibres and ash, and the protein profile of Blood Birds Nest.

Moisture

The vast majority of methods for the determination of moisture are based on oven drying techniques. Even though these procedures are widely varied, they do not accurately measure water content, and instead measure the volatile matter. The moisture content in Blood Birds Nest was 7.50 % as reported by Marcone. However, publicly available Blood Birds Nest moisture content usually varies from 10-50%. It has been observed that some unethical Blood Birds Nest sellers prefer to sell nests with higher moisture content in order to earn more profits. However, Blood Birds Nest with high moisture content will be subjected to the growth of bacteria and fungi, which causes damage and browning of nests. With moisture content controlled below 15%, the Blood Birds Nest shelf-life can be prolonged for a longer time even without refrigeration. It is noteworthy to state that it is impossible to maintain Blood Birds Nest at 0% moisture content in cup shape as it will be fragile to hold its shape.

Fibres

Fibres are polysaccharides and lignin, which are resistant to hydrolysis by enzymes in the human alimentary canal. As per this definition, the dietary fibre includes non—starch polysaccharides, resistant starch and lignin. It is important to note that no fibre content was found in Blood Birds Nest by Marcone, Saengkrajang et al. and Sarawak Museum Department.

Ash

Generally, the percentage of ash in food and food products is determined by weight loss after ignition at 525-550 °C. Some types of food matrices call for slightly higher temperatures and numerous sample preparation techniques are recommended for certain types of food products. Processed nests were found to have around 2.5-3.0 % of ash by the Sarawak Museum Department. The reports by Marcone indicated that Blood Birds Nest ash content was around 2.10%. 5.9-7.4% ash content was reported by Saengkrajang et al in several Blood Birds Nest samples from Thailand. Hamzah and co-workers reported 5.58-13.88% ash content in the Blood Birds Nest samples collected from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines.

Protein Profile

According to Goh et al, the molecular weight of Blood Birds Nest proteins is in the range of 14- 97 kDa. This means the size of Blood Birds Nest proteins is relatively small and the separation has to be carried out in a small pore medium. Basically, the pores of agarose gel are relatively large compared to polyacrylamide gels. In addition, many problems have been encountered with the use of agarose for gel electrophoresis. Agarose contains charged groups, principally sulphate and carboxylic acid groups. These groups interact with charged groups on the ionized macromolecules, especially proteins, and hinder their electrophoretic migration. Furthermore, the presence of anionic groups on the support medium leads to an electro- osmotic effect, which alters the electrophoretic mobility of migrating sample molecules. So agarose gel is less suitable for the protein profiling of Blood Birds Nest.
Some of the reports by Goh et al demonstrated the use of SDS polyacrylamide electrophoresis to identify lgE in Blood Birds Nest, which induces anaphylaxis. The authors also immunochemically characterized the Blood Birds Nest allergen. The protein profiles of commercially available and fresh Blood Birds Nest samples from Sarawak were different. The fresh unprocessed EBNs had more and distinct protein bands. These findings were an indication of the fact that commercial processing may have reduced the amount of intact protein originally present in the fresh nests.

Biochemical Analysis

The physical analysis of Blood Birds Nest involves the determination of the contents of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals and amino acids.

Proteins

Different protein contents of Blood Birds Nest have been reported. Du et al. [15] characterized the major allergens in Blood Birds Nest using the combined technologies of 2-DE, immunochemistry, N-terminal protein sequencing and MS. The immuno—staining of the Western blots of the Blood Birds Nest 2-DE separated proteins with the sera from allergic patients indicated the presence of a major allergen of 66 kDa. Initial searches of the MALDl—TOF-MS tryptic peptide masses of the allergen in the SWISS— PROT and NCBl non—redundant databases revealed that Blood Birds Nest protein was novel.
The average crude protein content in Blood Birds Nest has been reported by Su et al. [16] as 53.26 %, Marcone as 62- 63%, Kathan and Weeks as 32.3 %, Saengkrajang et al. as 61.0-66.9%, Hamzah et al. as 59.8-65.4/00, Norhayati et al. as 57.9-65.2/00 and more than 75-85.6% by Sarawak Museum Department. Several studies have been carried out in order to define the precise roles of oligosaccharide chains in the functionality of glycoprotein. Several glycoprotein functions have been identified but many are still under investigation. As Blood Birds Nest consists of mucin types of glycoproteins, it can serve as lubricant and protective agent.

Fats

Fats are considered a subclass of lipids. The US FDA food labelling regulations define fats as the sum of fatty acids expressed as triglyceride equivalents for nutrition labelling purposes. Saturated fats are fatty acids without double bonds. Blood Birds Nest has very little fat content. The average fat content value reported by Marcone was 0.14%, while Sarawak Museum Department proclaimed the fat content was between 02-03% by dry weight. Recently, the studies by Saengkrajang et al. on the Blood Birds Nest samples collected from different regions in Thailand indicated that fats formed 04-13% of the total composition. The fatty acid analysis by Marcone indicated that the Blood Birds Nest fat consisted of palmitic (316:0, stearic C18:0, linoleic C18:1 and linoleic C182 acids. The ratio between different fatty acids was dependent on the types of Blood Birds Nest.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are a very important class of compounds that are known to form essential food as well as structural components of living species. Carbohydrates are commonly classified into monosaccharides, oligosaccharides and polysaccharides. Phenol-sulphuric acid reaction for carbohydrate analysis of both white and red Blood Birds Nest was carried out by Marcone. The tests indicated that carbohydrates were the second highest occurring components (27.26%) in the entire nest with some differences. Additionally, it was reported that white Blood Birds Nest had slightly more total carbohydrate content than the red Blood Birds Nest. According to Kathan and Weeks, the carbohydrate component in Blood Birds Nest consists of 9% sialic acid, 7.2% galactosamine, 5.3% glucosamine, 16.9% galactose and 0.7% fructose. The sialic acid is believed to be N-acety1-4-O-acetylneuraminic acid. A new, sialic-acid-derived compound was isolated from the acid hydrolysate of Blood Birds Nest by IEC Combined use of MS, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy established that it is the 4,8—anhydr0 derivative of N-acetylneuraminic acid, and in solutions it exists in two tautomeric forms.
A GC detection method was developed to identify the composition of the oligosaccharide chain within the glycoprotein in Blood Birds Nest. This composition includes D—mannitose, D-galactose, N- acetyl-D-galactosamine, N—acetyl-D-glucosamine and N-acetyl neuraminate, which constituted the oligosaccharide chain. The peak-area ratios in GC spectrum for the five monoses were found to be fixed; therefore, the GC technique developed in this work was conveniently used to determine the various raw EBNs and their products both qualitatively and quantitatively. This method serves as a marker to distinguish between the fake and the genuine Blood Birds Nest rapidly.

Minerals and Metal Ions

For the studies of metal and mineral content in Blood Birds Nest, several characteristics unique to toxicants and nutrients need consideration. Therefore, a distinction must be made between necessary minimal intake and toxic overexposure in the Blood Birds Nest. There has been no evidence of any metal found in the Blood Birds Nest; studied for metal content. The presence of heavy metals in foods may be either due to agricultural processing or from contamination in the food chain.
Several metals have important biological roles within the human body and thus, are considered essential for good health. Such metals are frequently known as minerals. Fourteen minerals have been proved as essential to human health. These essential minerals include calcium, chromium, copper, fluorine, iodine, iron, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, sodium and zinc. Nevertheless, at threshold concentrations, a number of these essential metals become potentially toxic. Minerals are considered as micronutrients as they are needed in relatively small amounts and belong to two groups, the macro or bulk minerals; and the micro or trace minerals. Minerals are inorganic elements, and therefore, are not produced by plants and animals. Some of the minerals work as coenzymes, enabling chemical reactions to occur throughout the body.
Processed Blood Birds Nest contains reasonable amounts of calcium, iron, and riboflavin. Marcone also detected sodium (650 ppm), potassium (110 ppm), calcium (1298 ppm), magnesium (330 ppm), phosphorous (40 ppm) and iron (30 ppm) in Blood Birds Nest. White Blood Birds Nest was found to be richer in calcium than red Blood Birds Nest. All the red EBNs tested were found to have typically higher levels of iron. Some researchers believe that minerals found in Blood Birds Nest are leached from the cave substrate where the nests are built. The presence of natural minerals in cave nests and absence in farmed house nets enables the former to withstand longer hours of cooking, whereas the later disintegrates rapidly when cooked. However, there is little published research on the minerals levels in Blood Birds Nest.

Amino

Acids Amino acid analysis of Blood Birds Nest involves the identification and quantification of amino acids contained in a particular sample type. Since Blood Birds Nest is consumed as supplementary food, therefore, it is very important to study the protein quality of Blood Birds Nest, which is determined by the amino acid composition. Su et al. developed a capillary electrophoretic method for the determination of amino acid profile of Blood Birds Nest.
Eighteen types of amino acids were analyzed with identification of seventeen types including aspartic acid, threonine, serine, glutamic acid, glycine, alanine, valine, isoleucine, leucine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, lysine, proline, histidine, arginine, tryptophan and cysteine. Aspartic acid, histidine, proline, serine and glycine were found to be in relatively higher amounts than the other amino acids.
It was concluded by the authors that Blood Birds Nest does not contain hydroxyproline and methionine. Besides, the authors did not carry out the composition identification of glutamine and asparagine. Kathan and Weeks reached a similar conclusion stating that Blood Birds Nest is rich in amino acids. Seventeen types of amino acids were identified in Blood Birds Nest, namely, aspartic acid, threonine, serine, glutamic acid, proline, glycine, alanine, valine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, lysine, histidine, arginine and cysteine. Besides, serine, proline, glutamic acid, threonine and aspartic acid were found in relatively higher amounts. However, the identifications of tryptophan, glutamine and asparagine were not carried out.
Newman after some studies on the amino acid composition of Blood Birds Nest documented that Blood Birds Nest is deficient in three essential amino acids, namely lysine, methionine and tryptophan. However, Newman’s claims were proved incorrect later on. Marcone identified and quantitated seventeen types of amino acids including aspartic acid, asparagine, threonine, serine, glutamic acid, glutamine. glycine, alanine, valine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, lysine, histidine and arginine in Blood Birds Nest. The contents of serine, valine, isoleucine and tyrosine were found to be fairly higher compared to others. However, in his work, the analysis of proline, tryptophan and cysteine was not carried out. Furthermore, amino acid analysis revealed that white Blood Birds Nest protein was substantially rich in two specific aromatic amino acids which are phenylalanine and tyrosine.

Quality of Blood Birds Nest

Due to the fact that cave nests are made by free and naturally-living swiftlets, some people considered them to be more valuable than house nests, and, hence, fetch a higher price. However, in reality, cave nests generally contain more foreign materials and feathers than house nests. Cave nest are exposed to the risk contamination by heavy metals from the external environment. The texture of house nests is usually smoother as compared to that of cave nests. Besides, the house nests have less feathers and other contaminants in comparison to the cave nests.

High Quality Blood Birds Nest Sydney

There are various types of Blood Birds Nest products in the market. The current quality of Blood Birds Nest is not verifiable and its quality claims are totally dependent on the personal validation and rationale made by the manufacturers. Generally, Blood Birds Nest with feathers incorporated in the nest—cup is given lower grades. Good quality nests are distinguished by a comparatively large proportion of nest-cement with few feathers in the nest—cup. After personal observation of Blood Birds Nest trade practices in Malaysia, the colour of Blood Birds Nest is frequently used to grade Blood Birds Nest. Red coloured Blood Birds Nest, also known as red nest or red blood nest is thought to be of higher quality and thus, sells at a higher price. Unfortunately, due to this reason, the white EBNs have been treated with red pigments which are either partially or wholly water-soluble so as to give the false appearance of the red blood nest and hence command a higher price from consumers.
The ancient Chinese communities were traditionally of the belief that the red coloured EBNs were enriched by the blood of swiflets. It is due to this reason such nests are called “Blood Nests” and were considered to be more nutritious. However, it is also possible the area where the nest was built absorbed iron from its environment. Marcone was of the conception that the red tarracota colour of the blood nest is very similar to the colour of the purified ovotrasferrin in its iron complexed state whereas the white coloured nest is similar in colour to ovotransferrin in its iron non-complexed form.
Further, X-ray microanalysis reports revealed that the blood nests contained relatively higher levels of iron compared to the white EBNs. Thus, it is likely that the red coloured EBNs are produced via the oxidization of iron in EBNs. Mende suggested that the colour of the EBNs may be due to the nest positions. Besides the above mentioned reasons, it is thought that the colour of nests is affected by the food consumed by swiftlets, which makes the saliva become red naturally. Nonetheless, at this moment, the true reason and factors affecting the colour of the nests are still a mystery.
The quality of the nest has to be monitored from the moment the nests are cultured, sorted, processed and packaged. Judgment regarding the quality of nets merely through the appearance and location of the final nest product will surely be misleading for consumers. In order to produce better quality nests, the nest building or cave environment has to be very clean. Clean environment is very important due to EBN’s strong absorption capacities. The nests are often contaminated by lizards, cockroaches, Chick’s corpse, bird’s stool and heavy metals, man-made contamination such as pesticides, sodium alginate, starch re-shaping, paints and colours, dust, etc. and therefore, a lot of care needs to be taken.
Recently, there have been many reports of fake or adulterated Blood Birds Nest made by adding several materials including fish skin, mushroom, algae, karaya gum, red sea weed, Tremella fungus, pork skin, natural plant gum, jelly fungus and egg white. These materials are routinely incorporated during commercial processing prior to final sale. Generally, the weight of the nests is increased from 10-30 % to earn extra profits. This is a strong offense as it leads to several toxicities in Blood Birds Nest consumers.
The presence of nitrites in Malaysian Blood Birds Nest is another issue of concern regarding the safe consumption of nests. The export of EBNs from Malaysia was banned by China on account of the detection of high levels of nitrates in the exported EBNs. It is being estimated that the nitrite and nitrate contaminations in EBNs were contributed by the fermentation process of bird soil and guano. Besides, the contribution of natural environmental resources such as atmosphere, water, and soil was also thought responsible for the contamination of nests. Nitrites are very harmful to human beings as they react with secondary amines and amides in the alimentary canal to form carcinogenic N-nitrosamines. Hence, it is a great concern to authenticate the purity of Blood Birds Nest and regulate the law to inspect Blood Birds Nest sold in the market to combat adultération.

What You Need to Know about Swiftlets

Swiftlets are insectivorous birds classified within four genera viz. Aerodramus, Hydrochous, Schoutedenapus and Collocalia. They form the Collocaliini tribe within the swift family Apodiadate. There are around thirty species of swiftlets mostly confined to southern Asia, south Pacific islands and Northeastern Australia, both within the tropical and subtropical regions.

Generally, swiftlets have narrow wings for fast flight, in addition to a wide gape and small reduced beak surrounded by bristles for catching insects in flight. Nature has bestowed swiftlets with the ability to use a simple and effective echolocation to traverse in complete darkness through the crevasses and channels of caves where they stay at night and breed.
Swiftlets are very aerial species of birds and spend much part of their life spans on their wings. They often fly at high speeds which is assisted by the morphology of their sickle-shaped wings. They have very small feet as is suggested by their family name Apodidae (meaning “feetless”) and are therefore, unable to perch. However, their tail feathers are modified which helps them to land on move on vertical surfaces. The plumage of swiftlets is either dull black or brown, whereas white or grey patches are found in some species, in addition to brighter chest-reddish throats in some others.

What You Need to Know about Swiftlets

Scientifically, Blood Birds Nest refers to the nest of four species of swiftlets, namely Collocalia fuciphaga, Collocalia maxima, Collocalia germanis and Collocalia unicolor. Collocalioa Fuchiphaga and Collocalia germanis produce nests of pure saliva and thus called white nest swiftlets while the other two species produce nests with an admixture of feathers and vegetation, and are thus called black nest swiftlets.

Classification and Nomenclature

There has always been controversy regarding the taxonomy and phylogeny of swiftlets. Morphological and nest character in addition to the nature of prey, and echolocating ability have been used for the classification of swiftlets. All the swiftlets were placed into a single genus “Collocalia” by in 1840. Gray’s classification was used until the discovery of echolocation in swiftlets. Later on, Brooke split the genus Collocalia s.1 into three different genera, viz. non-echolocating Collocalia s.s., non-echolocating Hydrochous (comprised of the only giant swiftlet, Hydrochous gigas), and echolocating Aerodramus. However, in subsequent research works, different classification methods were used by different workers. All the above three genera were categorized into Collocalia s.1. By Chantler and Driessens and Salomonsen, whereas Chantler et al. And Sibley and Monroe divided swiftlets into two or three different genera. Most of the authors in the research papers on the investigations of the properties of Blood Birds Nest, did not disclose which swiftlet species were involved in nest building. The reason for non-disclosure of the identity of swiftlets is the inadequacy of the system of classification as none of the methods is distinctive without enough information to be reliable.
In order to remove the chaos about the taxonomy and phylogeny of swiftlets, several molecular biological studies have been carried out. Lee et al sequenced cytochrome-b DNA of swiftlets, however, it was only 506 bp portion and thus several questions remained unanswered. Later on, Thomassen et all sequenced the cytochrome-b gene completely. But, the position of Hydrochous was uncertain due to the high amount of variation in cytochrome-b. Two years later, Thomassen et all further added two sequences to their original dataset of cytochrome-b sequences for finding the solution to the problem. The two sequences included mitochondrial 12S rRNA (12S) and nuclear non-coding Fib 7. The two sequences were believed to evolve more conservatively than cytochrome-b. Besides, the authors also sequenced cytochrome-b and NADH dehydrogenase subunit-2 (ND2) mtDNA of two speciments of H. Gigas and found that H. Gigas is the sister-group of Aerodramnus, which supported monophyly of swiftlets. In the recent past, Lin et all extracted and sequenced DNA from Blood Birds Nest based on sequence of cytochrome-b gene in mtDNA. The authors successfully identified the genetic source of Blood Birds Nest and its products. It was observed that Aerodramus fuciphagus was the genetic source of Indonesian Blood Birds Nest. Despite the fact that advanced taxonomic methods have been developed, researchers often use the classification described in different times. More often EBNs are classified according to the place of origin. Until now, there are no standardized nomenclatures used for naming swiftlets as no consensus has been reached among the researchers on the issue.

Habitation and Geographic Range

Swiftlets are insectivorous birds that have a worldwide distribution except for the Arctic and Antartic regions. Swiftlets (Collocaliini tribe) are small swifts that are distributed over areas ranging from the Seychelles islands of the western Indian Ocean through southern continental Asia, Indonesia, Palawan in the Phillipines, northern Australia, New Guinea, and the islands in the south-west of Pacific. However, Blood Birds Nest producing swiftlets are only found in Southeast Asia, in the aves in Adamman and Nicobar Island, Phuket, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Indochina. The main commercial Blood Birds Nest producers include Indonesia (Sumatera, Java, Kalimantan and the Lesser Sunda Islands), Malaysia (including Sabah and Sarawak), Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar. Some Blood Birds Nest producing Blood Birds Nest colonies have also been found in Hainan Island in China and Andaman and Nicobar Island in the Indian Ocean. However, the produce of Blood Birds Nest in these regions is relatively very insignificant.
In eastern Malaysia, raw Blood Birds Nest is sourced from the caves of Madai and Gomantong in Sabah, the Niah Caves in Miri, the Jade Mountains of Baram and Dragon Mountains in Tatau and Bintulu. The population of the cave swiftlets in Sarawak and Sabah is estimated to be approximately 2 million birds. In western Malaysia, the main areas of Blood Birds Nest cultivation are Sitiawan, Teluk Intan, Kota Bahru, Kuala Terengganu, Parit Buntar, Bukit Mertajam, Nibong Tebal, Kuantan, Muar, Taiping and many other old townships. However, there is still lack of scientific approaches to precisely estimate the number of birds in Malaysia especially in Sabah and Sarawak.

Health Benefits of Blood Birds Nest

Blood Birds Nest has been an esteemed food tonic due to its highly evaluated function of being nutritious (water soluble protein, carbohydrate, iron, inorganic salt and fiber) and of medical benefit (anti-aging, anti-cancer and immunity-enhancing).

One of the major glyconutrients in Blood Birds Nest is sialic acid (9.0%). Sialic acids have beneficial effect on the neurological and intellectual of infants. As an excellent immune system moderator, sialic acid affects the flow resistance in mucus which in turn repels bacteria, viruses and other harmful microbes. In terms of nutritional contents, the main components of edible Blood Birds Nest includes water-soluble proteins, carbohydrate, trace elements such as calcium, phosphorus, iron, sodium and potassium and amino acid which play a vital role in promoting body health.

The health benefits of Blood Birds Nest can be summarised as follows:

1. Improves Skin Complexion

This is the best known fact about Blood Birds Nest consumption. It is reputed to maintain youthfulness and improve skin complexion. Someone who consume Blood Birds Nest on a regular basis often radiates a clean and clear facial complexion.

2. Improves Body Immunity System

If you consume Blood Birds Nest on a long term and regular basis, it helps to improve general body well being. It strengthens every aspect of the body: bones, tissue and cells. Naturally, you will feel healthier. It energises the immune system and leaves you with lower risk of contracting any disease. Blood Birds Nests fortify the entire human immune system, making the weak and old stronger and improving the respiratory system in children and adult. Studies have shown that Blood Birds Nest is rich in epidermal growth factor(EGF). This substance is responsible for skin and tissue repair.

3. As a health supplement for Pregnant Women

Blood Birds Nest provides a rich source of nutrients for Pregnant Women and their unborn children (fetus). During the pregnancy or pre-natal period, eating Blood Birds Nest will help to strengthen the body of the pregnant woman. Women that consume Blood Birds Nest during pregnancy always recover faster and better after childbirth. Such women experience lesser or no loss of hair, become stronger, and experience better sleep after childbirth. The unborn child too also benefits from the Blood Birds Nests the mother consumes. Pregnant women that eat Blood Birds Nests give birth to healthier babies with beautiful and smoother skin.

4. A good supplement for growing children.

Blood Birds Nest contains proteins, amino acids and minerals that are essential for the healthy development of growing children. Regular consumption helps prevent colds and flus. By improving the function of the Lungs and Kidneys, Blood Birds Nest helps boost the body’s immune system and increase resistance to external environmental factors.

5. As a treatment for ailments

For many centuries, Blood Birds Nest has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for treating certain ailments. It is strongly recommended for the treatment of asthma, cold, cough. It is widely believed that Blood Birds Nest has anti-aging and anti-cancer properties.

What is Blood Birds Nest, secret unveiled

Hi there, if you have never come into contact with Blood Birds Nest before, youmust be wondering what’s all this fuss about Blood Birds Nest. What is Blood Birds Nest, really ? What is so great about Blood Birds Nest and why is it so expensive.  Well, Blood Birds Nest or to be more exact Blood Birds Nests are actually nests woven by the secreted saliva of certain swiftlet species during their breeding seasons. It is widely consumed as a health food due to its high beneficial effects to human health and has been considered to be one of the most precious food items by the Chinese for thousands of years.  It is frequently being referred to as the “Caviar of the East” because  it fetches a premium price and regarded as an esteemed food product in the East.

History of Blood Birds Nest

There were many versions on the history of Blood Birds Nest, but the mostadmiral cheng ho
interesting one attributed the discovery of Blood Birds Nest to Admiral Cheng Ho of the Ming Dynasty. According to the legend, Admiral Cheng Ho encountered a big thunderstorm during one of his sailing expedition across the south east asian sea during the 15th century. He and his subordinates were stranded on a malay island and they were seriously short of food supplies. In their search for food, they found these Blood Birds Nests stuck to the side of the cliffs. As they were desperately in need of food and nourishment, they boiled these Blood Birds Nests in water and consumed them to fill their stomachs.
After consuming these Blood Birds Nest for a while, Admiral Cheng Ho realized that the soldiers were getting more energized, and some sick soldiers were even recovering faster from their illness. Some even gained healthier complexions. Realizing the health benefits of these newly found Blood Birds Nests, Admiral Cheng Ho brought some back to present to the Emperor. Since then, Blood Birds Nest became a food delicacy in the palace, serving primarily the royal families. The emperor’s wife and concubines will especially consume Blood Birds Nest regularly to maintain their beauty and youthful looks.

What is Blood Birds Nest, secret unveiled

White-Nest Swiftlet and Black-Nest Swiftlet

Not all nests produced by swiftlets are edible. The nests of the white-nest swiftlet (Aerodramus fuciphagus) and the black-nest swiftlet (Aerodramus maximus) are constructed from the saliva of the swiftlets and these specifies actually produce the Blood Birds Nests. There are other swiftlet species that construct their nests largely out of vegetation such as grass, feather and mud and these nests necessarily do not have any commercial values. In Malaysia, the nests of the white-nest swiftlet and the black-nest swiftlet are heavily harvested.

White-Nest Swiftlet

The white-nest swiftlet is a small bird of the swift family which can be white-nest swiftletfound in South East Asia. Its nest is made of solidified saliva and is harvested and used to make Blood Birds Nest. It is roughly about 11 to 12 cm long and weighs 15 to 18 grams. The plumage is blackish-brown above, paler on the under parts. The rump is slightly paler than the rest of the upper parts. The tail is slightly forked and the wings are long and narrow. It’s bill and feet are black.

Black-Nest Swiftlet

The black-nest swiftlet also makes it’s nest from solidified saliva. black-nest swiftletIt shares a lot of similarities with the white-nest swiftlet except for a few differences. A white-nest swiftlet has shorter wings, a deeper tail-notch, and a darker underpart compared to its close homolog, black-nest swiftlet.

Swiftlet life cycles

The life cycles and of swiftlets and their behaviours in various habitat conditions have been observed and studied in detail over a long period of time. Swiftlets are known to be monogamous and breed with high nest site fidelity (Viruhpintu et al., 2002). Swiftlets start to breed roughly at the age of one-year-old (Nguyen, Quang & Voisin, 2002). However, the breeding cycle and the associated breeding activities such as the nest-building, egg laying, egg incubation and young rearing may vary across different species and geological regions. These variations could be influenced by climatic factors such as the amount of rainfall, air humidity, and food availability (Langham, 1980).
Generally speaking, the breeding cycle of a swiftlet species is approximately 92–120 days with a clutch size of two eggs (Langham, 1980; Lim et al., 2002; Viruhpintu et al., 2002). Black-nest swiftlet produces a single egg clutch with an approximate egg size of 16-25 mm; while white-nest swiftlet normally lays two eggs per clutch with approximate egg size of 10-15mm. The incubation and fledging periods for both white-nest swiftlet and black-nest swiftlet were 23±3 days and 43±6 days, respectively (Langham, 1980; Lim et al., 2002; Medway, 1962). Swiftlets breed throughout the year but mostly from October to February (Langham, 1980). Swiftlets take approximately 30-45 days to complete a single nest during the breeding season and about 60-80 days in non-breeding season (Aowphol, Voris, Feldheim, Harnyuttanakorn & Thirakhupt, 2008). According to Marcone (2005), nests are built almost exclusively by male swiftlets in approximately 35 days; however Lim et al (2002) reported that both male and female participate in the nest building.

Cave Blood Birds Nest versus House Blood Birds Nest

Edible-nest swiftlets are aerial insectivores, which take prey like flies on
the wing. They roost and breed in caves. During the day they leave the caves to forage for food, and return to roost at night. They are monogamous and both partners take part in caring for the nestlings. Males perform aerial displays to attract females and mating occurs at the nest. The breeding season overlaps the wet season, which corresponds to an increased insect population. Basically Blood Birds Nest may be categorised as cave Blood Birds Nest or house Blood Birds Nest based on the habitat of the swiftlet.
Cave Blood Birds Nest
The cave Blood Birds Nest comes from the natural habitat of the edible-nest swiftlets. Swiftlet breed naturally on limestone caves anNiah Caved clings to the surface of the walls and ceilings of these caves. From research studies, it was found that swiftlets construct their nests at different areas of the cave wall to avoid interspecific competition for nestling space, and both the black-nest swiftlets and white nest swiftlets select their nestling areas by unique characteristics and not randomly. It was also found that the white nest is commonly distributed at low altitude natural cave up to 1280 m highland while black-nest swiflet normally roosts from sea level to a height of 1830 m (Lim et al., 2002). Researchers speculated that the black-nest swiftlet is able to fly and live at higher altitude due to its larger body and larger wings.
Most edible swiftlets live in the tropical Indo-Pacific region and do not migrate. These birds usually remain in one cave or other roosting/nesting site. Examples of cave sites include the Niah Caves and Gunung Mulu National Park, which are both located in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo.
The caves are also well known for the birds’ nest industry. They are also a popular tourist destination in Sarawak. Every section of the ceiling in the caves where there are birds roosting is privately owned and only the owner has the right to collect the nests. Collection is done half-yearly (usually in January and in June). The collector will climb up hundreds of feet on a single pole to the cave ceiling and scrapes off the nest in flickering candlelight.
House Blood Birds Nest
House Blood Birds Nests are basically Blood Birds Nest that are collected from Nesting Housethe man-made habitat of edible-nest swiftlets. With the escalation in demand for Blood Birds Nest, the natural sources of Blood Birds Nest from limestone caves have been supplanted since the late 1990s by purpose-built nesting houses.
In swiftlet farming industry, man created an artificial house that resembles the natural habitat for swiftlets to roost. Studies on swiftlet nesting behaviours in natural habitat provide important information to improve the breeding environment of swiftlet houses. Man-made swiftlet houses are cave-like environments that allow the swiftlets to construct nests. Swiftlet houses can be found all over Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand due to the active swiftlet farming industry of both white-nest and black-nest swiftlets. Generally, swiftlet houses are normally built close to the coast or far inland to create suitable conditions for swiftlet farming. Several elements such as light intensity, temperature, air velocity and humidity were controlled and optimised in order to replicate a suitable living environment for the swiftlets. The main entrance hole of a swiftlet house is usually designed near the top of the structure in order to avoid direct sunlight and to limit the light intensity of the structure (Sankaran, 2001). Normally, the building is constructed as a closed structure with only a limited number of ventilation holes. Air movement will cause evaporation to reduce the humidity level and air temperature inside the building. The temperature is controlled by the air ventilation while humidity is controlled by the installed humidifiers and the pools of water provided inside the structure. Temperature and humidity are important to ensure nestling success and produce good quality nests.
This has become an extraordinary industry, mainly based on a series of towns in the Indonesian province of North Sumatra, which have been completely transformed by the activity.
From there the nests are mostly exported to the markets in Hong Kong, which has become the centre of the world trade, though most of the final consumers are from mainland China.

Introduction to Blood Birds Nest

Blood Birds Nest is one of the commonly use health-modulating foods in Chinese populations. In traditional Chinese medicine, Blood Birds Nest is known for its beneficial effects in treating several ailments including consumptive disease, tuberculosis, asthma, dry coughs, stomach ulcers, gastric troubles and bronchial disorders. Due to food and medicinal values, Blood Birds Nest is quite an expensive animal bioproduct, and has thus created lucrative industry in Southeast Asia. It is one of the main contributors of gross domestic product in several Southeast Asian Countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and others.

Blood Birds Nest is the dried saliva of swallows / swiftlets commonly found in the Southeaast Asian Countries e.g. Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnamese. Swiftlets are tiny insectivorous birds that often keep on catching insects during flight from nearly first light until dark. Amongst the several swiftlet species in Collocalia genus, only the nests producted by Collocalia fuciphaga, Collocalia germannis, Collocalia maxima and Collocalia unicolor are commercially important due to their human consumptions.

Blood Birds Nest is called differently in different languages e.g. Yan Wo in Chinese, Sarang Wallet in Indonesian and Enso in Japanese. The saliva secreted from the sublingual salivary glands of swiftlets during nesting and breeding season is the main material used in building of the nests. Generally, the sublingual salivary glands of swiftlets increase in weight from 2.5 to 160mg, and reach their maximum secretory activity during nesting and breeding season. Nests are built using saliva as a cementing material for binding feathers and other vegetation together. It also ensures firm attachment to the vertical walls of inland or seaside caves.

Grading of Blood Birds Nest

The grading of EBNs is measured on account of their dry mass, the time spent by swiftlets in building nest, and finally the fat and protein content of hardened saliva. As an example, the white nests are almost entirely made from saliva, while the black ones are composed of almost 45-55% feathers and small dried leaves.
The bowl shaped Blood Birds Nest is the most popular one in the market compare to other shapes e.g. triangle (corner nest), broken pieces, etc.

History of Blood Birds Nest

The earliest history of Blood Birds Nest trade dates back to almost 1000 years ago in China, during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.). However, some researchers believe that the Blood Birds Nest trade can only be traced back to 1589 when Ming Dynasty ruled the ancient Chinese Empire. It is said that the Admiral Cheng Ho visited Southeast Asia and was given gift of Blood Birds Nest from Indonesia for the Ming Dynasty’s Emperor. This is assumed to be the initial stimulus for opening the trade of these valuable nests.
During the ancient Chinese civilization, only the families of the Emperor and his ministers were privileged with the right to consume the highly valued Blood Birds Nest. But, after the end of the monarchy system in China, the general population was introduced to Blood Birds Nest. Because of the delicious, nutritive and medicinal properties of Blood Birds Nest, its fame rose gradually and steadily among the general public.
Nowadays, Blood Birds Nest is reputed as one of the most popular delicacies among the Chinese communities. In addition to the consumption of Blood Birds Nest for health-promoting effects and nutritional components, most of the people consume it as mere delicious and nutritious food item.

Health Benefits and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

TCM has claimed a long time ago that Blood Birds Nest has highly encouraging effects for the cure and treatment of consumptive diseases, difficult breathing, dry coughs, alleviating asthma, tuberculosis, hemoptysis, asthenia, improving voice, stomach ulcers, relieving gastric troubles and general weakness of bronchial ailments. Besides, Blood Birds Nest is also famous for the proper and healthy nourishment of kidneys, heart, lungs and stomach. Additionally, it helps in raising libido, fortifying the immune system, promoting growth, improving concentration, improving skin complexion, slowing down the aging processes, increasing energy and metabolism, and regulating circulation.
The regular consumption of Blood Birds Nest has been associated with healthy effects such as high-spirited physical and mental strength, and youthfulness restoration. Proteins are the main ingredients of Blood Birds Nest. They are generally used for the building and repair of body cells and tissues, and driving other metabolic functions. Carbohydrates are another major ingredients of Blood Birds Nest. Sialic acid is one of the major carbohydrates found in Blood Birds Nest, which mediates the distribution and structure of gangliosides in brain. The essential trace elements such a calcium, phosphorus, iron, sodium, potassium, iodine and some essential amino acids are the other main and major ingredients in Blood Birds Nest.
In the view of these facts, Blood Birds Nest is highly nutritive and restorative food with sweet and calm character appropriate for consumption by all age groups of all genders. Recent studies have demonstrated Blood Birds Nest as a potent medicinal substrate with a wide range of medicinal properties including antiviral, anticancer, eye care, bone strength, neuroprotective and anti-oxidant effects. Besides, Blood Birds Nest has been found to potentiate the proliferation of HASCc. In addition, epidermal growth factor like activity has been documented for Blood Birds Nest in several experiments.
Although Blood Birds Nest has been traditionally prescribed to cure diseases for many generations the actual characteristics and properties of Blood Birds Nest have not been studied in detail.

Target Market

At present, the main target market for Blood Birds Nest is the Chinese community all over the world. However, Hong Kong, Mainland China and Taiwan stand out as the top consumers of this product followed by Singapore, U.S.A. and Middle East countries among others. Blood Birds Nest is regarded as an esteemed cuisine by upper class Chinese families and highly appreciated for its health benefits. At diners in expensive Hong Kong restaurants, each bowl of the highest quality Blood Birds Nest costs almost USD $30 – $100. There is a stable demand for Blood Birds Nest from the restaurants. However, the demands are at peak during the Chinese New Year period. Blood Birds Nest is usually given as a gift during this period as it symbolizes good health and longevity wishes for the recipient.
In addition, it is a symbol of status in society. Blood Birds Nest has been a core part of Chinese tradition and culture for hundreds of years now. The increase of wealth in the Asian region, along with a big increase in the price of bowl of Blood Birds Nest has made Blood Birds Nest “the Caviar of the East”
Blood Birds Nest is highly expensive animal bioproduct. The trade of Blood Birds Nest in the global market has been on the rise for decades. It is expected that the demands of the Blood Birds Nest will continue to increase irrespective of their low production.

What is Edible Blood Birds Nest

How are Blood Birds Nest’s Made?

These nests are made from swiftlets / swallow birds utilizing saliva that have been solidified and prepared so they’re edible. These Blood Birds Nests are treasured in Chinese cuisine as they are rare, delicious and have high nutritional content. These Blood Birds Nests have different grading / types, and this is determined by the size and the cleanliness of the Blood Birds Nest.
Colors vary, with white being one of the most coveted as it is softer than the other colors and provides many health benefits including promoting smooth skin. While these nests are just becoming popular in the West, they have been part of Chinese culture and cuisine for over four centuries, often as Blood Birds Nest.

What is Edible Blood Birds Nest

Blood Birds Nest and Other Dishes

While these nests can be used in different ways, they are best known as Blood Birds Nest. As the nest dissipates in water, they become gelatinous and then used as an ingredient in soup.
In Chinese cuisine it is called the sweet soup or savoury. There are many ways to prepare the dish, and as per the Suiyuan shidan, the gastronomy guide of the Qing Dynasty, the nest should not be prepared with anything oily or other powerful ingredients as it is delicate. The dish is also prepared in generous quantities in order to best appreciate its taste.
Aside from its exquisite taste, Blood Birds Nests can also be turned into ingredients in other foods and dishes. This nest for instance, can be used for the preparation of Blood Birds Nest boiled rice, Blood Birds Nest congee and prepared with rice. These nests can also be used as ingredients for desserts such as Blood Birds Nest jelly. Blood Birds Nest jelly is made when the nest is placed in a ceramic jar with a bit of water and salt or sugar, after which it is steamed.

Harvesting of the Nests

Various types of Blood Birds Nests can be harvested, with the most in demand being the Aerodramus maximus (black nest swiftlet) and the Aerodramus fuciphagus (white nest swiftlet). Both white and red nests are renowned throughout China and the rest of the world not just because of their taste but a lot of people say they have benefited health wise.
The majority of these nests are made when the breeding season arrives. These nests are created by the male swiftlet and have the appearance of a light cup embedded to a wall. These nests are made from various salivary cement strands, and it is this mixture that provides the nest with plenty of magnesium, potassium, iron and calcium.
Back in the days these nests were harvested directly in the caves, in particular the caves at Niah and those in Gomantong in Borneo. Because of the high demand for these nests beginning in the 1990s, special structures have been used in their stead. To make harvesting easier, these nests are situated close to the sea as that is where birds are most likely to be found.

Supply and Demand

The United States and Hong Kong are among the biggest consumers of Blood Birds Nests, and Blood Birds Nests are very much in demand and can fetch a high price. Blood Birds Nests are weighed in kilograms, with red nests usually costing more than the white ones because they are rarer.
White colored nests are dyed red by many manufacturers, but experts have a way of determining if the nests are genuine red. Real red cave nests are hard to find, with most located in limestone caves in an island off Thailand. Premium Nest only supply the natural red Blood Birds Nest which is harvested from the high-rise buildings / houses.
Due to the high demand for white Blood Birds Nests, counterfeiters have tried to take advantage of the situation. To combat this threat, authorities in various countries have started using RFID technology, using microchips on the nests with details about transport, packaging, harvesting and so on.
The huge demand for Blood Birds Nests has led to a thriving industry in particular the Indonesian province of North Sumatra. The many bird’s nets harvested and prepared there are exported to countries around the world including Hong Kong and the United States. However, the majority of consumers are still in China.
The best Blood Birds Nests are handled and processed in special facilities to ensure consistency of quality, with effects analysis and failure mode among the techniques used to verify the authenticity of an Blood Birds Nest.
There was a time when this delicacy was reserved for emperors and royalty, but now it is available for everyone. Demand for these nests is greater than ever, to the point that it makes up 0.5% of the GDP of Indonesia. Globally it is now a $5 billion industry.

Blood Birds Nest Drink - Is it really healthy?

Also known as Blood Birds Nest Drink, I recently got some from family, who bought it from Costco. It's by Golden Nest and claims to have 100% genuine swallow Blood Birds Nest. I tried a pre-chilled bottle and it tasted fine with some soft chunks of what I assumed to be the actual Blood Birds Nest. Regarding the drink itself, I felt it was a bit sweet, and there is 14 grams of sugar.

I've heard a lot about Blood Birds Nest drinks, especially the supposed health benefits. But I've never really done my own research, so here's everything that I've read and learned so far:

What is it?

• It's the saliva of the nest of the swiflets.
• Male swiftlets build the nest with the saliva, which forms a type of salivary glue (imagine a cement) for their nest.
• Different varieties and grades of Blood Birds Nest are available.
• Harvested Blood Birds Nest can be cooked into a soup or drink.
Harvesting and Cleaning Process:
• Traditionally harvested in limestone caves by climbing up tall ladders... quite dangerous!
• Cleaned by removing twigs and feathers that are also part of the Blood Birds Nest.
• The popularity has created "farms" of concrete builds designed to breed and harvest Blood Birds Nest.
• Popularity has attracted counterfeits: even China has banned some imports of Blood Birds Nest.
• Cleaning fresh Blood Birds Nest is best done with cold water, as opposed chemicals that deplete nutritional value.
• Not considered (by me) to be unethical to swallow because it's harvested after the bird's leave and abandon the nest.

Pricing:

• Blood Birds Nest can cost up to $4,500/lb.
• Costco Sells Blood Birds Nest Drink: 8 x 8oz bottles for $20.
• Different grades of Blood Birds Nest can fetch different prices.

Reasons for Blood Birds Nest

• Health benefit reasons, discussed in more details below.
• A sign of luxury, similar to shark fin soup.
• At a restaurant during a business meeting, Blood Birds Nest is ordered a sign of good faith.

At Home Preparation and Consumption:

• Suggested best time to consume is on an empty stomach: either in the morning or right before bedtime.
• Experts recommend 3 grams for those between 1 to 12 years. 5-10 grams for everyone else.
• Don't cook over 100C, which would destroy nutritional value.
• Soup should be prepared in a double boiler for 20 minutes max.
• Can be prepared with rock sugar, ginseng, red dried dates, dried longans, fresh ginger, egg white, pandan leaves.
• Soak dried Blood Birds Nest overnight in cold water to soften and expand.
Health Benefits:
• Little research has been performed on biological function of Blood Birds Nest.
• Saliva has high levels of calcium, iron, potassium, and magnesium.
• High in Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF), beneficial for skin.
• Has all the essential amino acids
• Used in traditional Chinese medicine
• Believed to have anti-aging (remove wrinkles) and anti-cancer properties
• Believed to improve concentration and raise libido.
• Good for Pregnant Women: helps with stretch marks due to collagen, can help reduce risk of pre-eclampsia.

Risks:

• Not recommended for pregnant women during the first trimester.
• Some people have negative reactions: anaphylaxic.
• Try a small amount first, to test for allergies!

How To Cook Blood Birds Nest Dishes And Blood Birds Nest Soups

Buying Blood Birds Nests in Singapore? And eating Blood Birds Nests on a regular basis? How about learning new ways to cook Blood Birds Nests from Chef George!

How To Cook Steam Egg Blood Birds Nests

Steam Egg Blood Birds Nests. A really simple and homely dish. Mmmm……who says Blood Birds Nests can’t be savoury?
Recipe for 4 to 6 servings
• 1 piece of dried Blood Birds Nest about 8gm (soaked)
• 2 eggs
• 250ml chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons chinese rice wine
• A dash of pepper
• Follow instructions in video above, steam for about 8 to 10 mins.

How To Cook Pumpkin Scallop Blood Birds Nests Porridge

Think Autumn Harvest And Sweet Golden Pumpkins Come To Mind. Gifts Of Love From Mother Earth.
This Autumn, our featured dish is a pot of wholesome, nutritious, tasty and rich Pumpkin Scallop Blood Birds Nests Porridge. Warms the heart and soul. A simple yet healthy meal for all in your family!
Ingredients for 4 portions
• 5gm of dried Blood Birds Nests (or, half of a large whole nest), soaked, drained and loosened
• 5 medium to large size hokkaido dried scallops, soaked and peeled into shreds
• 200gm pumpkin, washed and chopped into small cubes
• half cup white rice, washed and drained
• 1 litre of water
Recipe:
• Prior preparation time (before cooking) includes soaking the Blood Birds Nests in water (about 2 hours),soaking the dried scallops in water (about 2 hours), chopping the pumpkin (5 mins).
• Place water, rice, pumpkin and dried scallops in a pot and bring to boil on an open stove.
• Lower the heat and cook for about 30mins, or until the soft porridge is cooked, stirring occasionally.
• Once porridge is soft, add in the softened Blood Birds Nests and cook for about 5 mins, stirring occasionally, or until the Blood Birds Nests turn soft and gelatin.

Tips:
• Using an electric cooker for porridge will do too.
• Hokkaido scallops are rich in flavors and there is no need to add salt to taste.
• If you are using Japanese pumpkins, they are harder and takes a little more time to soften.
• Pumpkins are sweet and rich in flavor too, and makes the porridge creamy.
Enjoy cooking your pot of Golden Pumpkin Porridge for your family!

How To Cook Soft Brown Rice Blood Birds Nest Porridge

TeoChew Porridge?
Looks like it, but with a twist!
Healthy plain Blood Birds Nest porridge, cooked using soft brown rice. Warm and nutritious.The special soft brown rice from Cambodia is rich in nutrients, magnesium,selenium, and various vitamins B. The premium white house Blood Birds Nests are from Indonesia, full of proteins and amino acids. Combined and cooked into a nice warm pot of porridge.
A wholesome meal for all in the family. Great for breakfast or lunch! Enjoy the Blood Birds Nest porridge with simple side dishes like stir-fried vegetables, stewed pork, steamed fish or eggs.
Interested in FREE soup cooking demo and tasting at your home? Or what about having your own Blood Birds Nest party? Learn more here.

How to prepare dried Blood Birds Nest for cooking

1 whole nest is sufficient to prepare 4 rice/dessert bowls of thick Blood Birds Nest soup as illustrated in the recipe below.
Soak dried nests in a bowl of clear tap water for at least 4 hours.
Once softened, strained from bowl and are ready for cooking.
Strands can be loosened individually if preferred finer and smoother texture.
Step 1: Pandan flavoured soup
Boil a small pot of water using approximately 4 rice bowls of water. This portion is for thick soup using 2 whole nests, use more water if diluted soup is preferred. Generally, use 2 rice bowls of water for 1 whole Blood Birds Nest.
Add in pandan leaves and boil for about 3 minutes until water turn light green and the aroma of pandan fragrance comes out.
Remove pandan leaves.
Step 2: Double Boil softened dried Blood Birds Nests in soup
Place the softened dried Blood Birds Nests into the pandan soup.
Double boil for about 15 to 20 minutes for best chewy, jelly soft texture. Avoid boiling too long as nests would become too soft.
Add desired amount of crystal rock sugar to taste.
Step 3: Serve your soup
Based on the above portions of Blood Birds Nests and water, this pot of warm cooked soup can serve 4 rice/dessert bowls of thick Blood Birds Nest soup.

How To Cook Blood Birds Nest Dishes And Blood Birds Nest Soups

Tips on cooking and consuming Blood Birds Nests

Tip 1: For fast and best results, use a double boiler for cooking Blood Birds Nest soup.
Tip 2: Blood Birds Nests are best consumed at night (between 10pm to 11pm) before bedtime, or early in the morning on an empty stomach as these are the optimum periods when the body readily repairs itself or absorb nutrients.
Tip 3: Anti-aging effects and smooth youthful looking skin come with long term regular consumption of Blood Birds Nests. Consume about 50ml on a daily basis. A single piece of Blood Birds Nest ($30) can be used to cook a small pot of 500ml soup. 50ml of soup is only $3! That’s $3 a day!
Tip 4: Although Blood Birds Nest soup are best consumed when freshly cooked, it can be stored in closed containers in fridge for up to 10 days, and consumed over a period.
Tip 5: Blood Birds Nest soup can be drank warm or cold! Blood Birds Nest dishes can be sweet or savoury!

The Amazing Blood Birds Nest Soup

Blood Birds Nest soup is not only delicious, but also according to traditional Chinese medicine, Blood Birds Nest soup is known for the various health benefits such as immune system booster, help with digestion, anti-aging, increase libido, good source of protein, & to support the internal organs such as lungs & kidney. The ‘Epidermal growth factor’ inside the nest also believed to be able to help with skin regrow and remove wrinkles.

The Amazing Blood Birds Nest Soup

Eating swiftlet Blood Birds Nest soup is regarded as a privilege in China. It’s a luxury like shark fin. In ancient times only the emperor and nobles have access to it. So it’s a symbol of good taste.
Unlike other Chinese health foods which contains many types of herbs in one compound, the Blood Birds Nest is actually created by swiftlet bird using its gummy saliva which hardens when exposed to air, usually in the caves or empty buildings. It may sound disgusting to some people but because of the health benefits and its scarcity, the demand for Blood Birds Nests often outweigh the supply of the Blood Birds Nests itself.

Processing the raw Blood Birds Nest is a tedious task which requires skills and patience, it could take up to 1-2 hours to clean 30-40 grams of the Blood Birds Nest before it is ready for consumption.
Blood Birds Nest soup is also a delicacy in many countries other than Asia, such as US & Australia. The demand in these countries are increasing rapidly because of Asian’s influence but there are only a few dozens of restaurants actually served Blood Birds Nest in these countries.
Most Americans and Australians, don’t eat it, it is mainly a dish they prepare for curious tourists who have heard about the benefits of Blood Birds Nest.

How to store Blood Birds Nest?

Blood Birds Nests are best stored in a cool dry place and sealed in the original packaging if not used. To get the best out of the Blood Birds Nest soup, it is recommended to soak the Blood Birds Nest in cold water overnight before they are mixed with the ingredients you are preparing. The Blood Birds Nest itself doesn’t really have a lot of smell or taste, the texture is like soften gelatine and jelly. Many people usually cook Blood Birds Nest with rock sugar and serve as a sweet dessert soup.
Have a look at our Blood Birds Nest recipes page for some amazing Blood Birds Nest soup recipes.