Things You Need To Know Before Buying Edible Birds Spit Soup

Our parents or relatives have probably fed us Birds Spit Soup at some point, and we’ve consumed it at their behest, willingly or not.

But if there’s one thing that’s clear as day, it’s that the folks seem to have an unfaltering love for the delicacy. From meeting your in-laws to family reunions, if you’re searching for that one-size-fits-all gift that’s bound to impress - it’s Birds Spit Soup. But this quick fix doesn’t come cheap; so it’s important to know exactly what you’re consuming, and how to make sure you’re getting the biggest bang for your buck.

1. How is Birds Spit Soup produced?

After the eggs have been laid and hatched, the baby swiftlets will remain in the nest until it is able to fly away independently. The Birds Spit Soup becomes abandoned and will never be re-used. If not harvested, scavengers such as ants, lizards and cockroaches will consume the Birds Spit Soup.
Birds Spit Soup is produced by Swiftlets (Collocalia species). They use a glutinous secretion, also known as “nest cement” to bind together materials for nest building, or construct a whole nest with it. The nest cement is secreted from a pair of sublingual glands located beneath the tongue of the swiftlet.
A Swiftlet Edible Birds Spit Soup is built primarily for laying eggs and housing the baby Swiftlets.
After the eggs have been laid and hatched, the baby swiftlets will remain in the nest until it is able to fly away independently. The Birds Spit Soup becomes abandoned and will never be re-used. If not harvested, scavengers such as ants, lizards and cockroaches will consume the Birds Spit Soup.

Things You Need To Know Before Buying Edible Birds Spit Soup

2. How often to eat Birds Spit Soup ?

So how often to eat Birds Spit Soup ? We recommend 5 g of dried Birds Spit Soup (60-80 ml of Birds Spit Soup) a day. A small amount of Birds Spit Soup goes a long way towards preserving your health and beauty.
How often to eat Birds Spit Soup
Scientifically, proteins which make up 60-70% of Birds Spit Soup are eliminated within hours by enzymes in the body.
Furthermore, not all this proteins can be absorbed by the body. This means small and frequent dose of Birds Spit Soup is much more effective, since excess Birds Spit Soup generally gets eliminated and removed from the body.
Continuous dose is desirable to give you the sustained effect.
So how often to eat Birds Spit Soup ? We recommend 5 g of dried Birds Spit Soup (60-80 ml of Birds Spit Soup) a day. A small amount of Birds Spit Soup goes a long way towards preserving your health and beauty.

3. How to identify the genuine Birds Spit Soup?

Birds Spit Soup is an expensive and nutritious product. Thus, it is important to distinguish a genuine piece of Birds Spit Soup. In the market, there are many unethical businessmen who would increase the weight of Birds Spit Soup by adding additives like white fungus, jelly and animal skin.
Appearance: Good and genuine nests consist of two main types of filaments:
The outer layer that has longer and bigger filaments whereas the inner part has finer, shorter filaments.
After Cooking: When double boiled for 1-2 hours the Birds Spit Soup inner filaments become water-soluble.
The outer filaments contain mainly minerals; it is less soluble but gives Birds Spit Soup its signature fibrous taste and appearance.
Odour: During double boiling a fine scent of near albumin smell will occur.
Much like the smell of faint cooked egg white.

4. How to cook Birds Spit Soup in slow cooker (or double boiler)

Add 2 tablespoon of rock sugar and further cook for another 5-10 minutes. Buying Birds Spit Soup from Hello Nest, they will give free rock sugar or special dried lotus.
1) Soak the Birds Spit Soup until soft in tap water. This may take up to an hour.
I usually consume one whole piece, which is actually quite alot. Is even sufficient for 2 people.
2) Add the softened Birds Spit Soup, together with about 250mL of water. Using slow cooker or the double-boil method, no lost of water volume.
3) Switch on and turn to high. For my cooker, it takes about 45 mins if I started out with room temperature water. But it is much faster if I use hot water.
4) Add 2 tablespoon of rock sugar and further cook for another 5-10 minutes. Buying Birds Spit Soup from Hello Nest, they will give free rock sugar or special dried lotus.
5) Serve warm or chilled. Wala!

5. How to cook Birds Spit Soup with rock sugar in a double boiler (simple Birds Spit Soup recipe)

You can also cook Birds Spit Soup with rock sugar using a slow cooker like above method.
- Prepare a double-boiler and fill the external pot with water that covers almost half the internal pot.
- Place the drained Birds Spit Soup in the internal boiler and add 1 - 2 bowls of water depending of the pieces cooked.
- Cover both the internal and external pots and start boiling the pot.
- Once it's boiling, turn to low flame to continue to boil for another 2 - 3 hours.
- When the Birds Spit Soup is cooked to desired texture, stir in rock sugar to taste and cover for about 5 minutes to allow the sugar to dissolve fully
- Do remember to check the water in the external pot is not dried up and sufficient throughout the boil. Once cooked you can have your Birds Spit Soup served hot or cold in a bowl depends on your preference.
You can also cook Birds Spit Soup with rock sugar using a slow cooker like above method.

6. What are the health benefits of eating Birds Spit Soup?

Many clinical trials of using Birds Spit Soup as an anti-cancer food is now currently being conducted.
From the chemical analysis report of pure Birds Spit Soup, we can identify soluble amino acids that will help to repair body cells and generate new cells. The antioxidant helps to eradicate free radicals in the body.
Birds Spit Soup also contains EGF(epidermal growth factor) which produces an anti aging effect, making regular Birds Spit Soup consumers young and radiant looking.
Many clinical trials of using Birds Spit Soup as an anti-cancer food is now currently being conducted.

7. How do you store uncooked Birds Spit Soup?

Dried Birds Spit Soup can be kept for 6 months to 1 year, preferably in an air tight container in a cool and dry room or in the refrigerator. So, it is very easy to keep the Birds Spit Soup and you can get your bulk purchase now to enjoy our cheaper bulk price!
You need to ensure that the Birds Spit Soup is dry. When you detect some moisture in your Birds Spit Soup, you can dry it in front of a fan in an air conditioned room for a couple of hours. DON’T dry the nests under direct sun as it might damage the protein. Dried Birds Spit Soup can be kept for 6 months to 1 year, preferably in an air tight container in a cool and dry room or in the refrigerator. So, it is very easy to keep the Birds Spit Soup and you can get your bulk purchase now to enjoy our cheaper bulk price!

8. How to cook Birds Spit Soup for pregnancy:

I think the home-made Birds Spit Soup tastes more natural and possesses a pretty strong 'egg-like' smell than instant or bottled Birds Spit Soup drink bought from supermarkets or TCMshops. Nevertheless, the plain home-made Birds Spit Soup is still bearable to drink.
How to cook Birds Spit Soup for pregnancy: here are easy steps for you
Ingredients:
1pc Dry Birds Spit Soup
1 cup Hot water
1 cup Drinking water or boiled then cooled water, for soaking
5-6 pcs Rock/Lump sugar
Methods:
Step 1. Soak the dry Birds Spit Soup in a bowl of water for about 30 minutes. Use drinking water or water that has been boiled and cooled down to soak the Birds Spit Soup. After 30 minutes, carefully strain the Birds Spit Soup and throw the water away.
Step 2. Put the soaked Birds Spit Soup and pour 1 cup of hot water into a slow cooker. If you prefer thinner soup, you may add more hot water into the slow cooker. Cook the soaked Birds Spit Soup and water in the slow cooker for about 2 hours.
Step 3. Once the Birds Spit Soup is soft and cooked, add the rock sugar into the Birds Spit Soup in the slow cooker and stir gently. You may add more rock sugar into the soup if you wish for sweeter Birds Spit Soup. Turn the slow cooker off.
Step 4. Consume the Birds Spit Soup when it is cooled.
I think the home-made Birds Spit Soup tastes more natural and possesses a pretty strong 'egg-like' smell than instant or bottled Birds Spit Soup drink bought from supermarkets or TCMshops. Nevertheless, the plain home-made Birds Spit Soup is still bearable to drink.
I found this article that may be useful in preparing Birds Spit Soup and alternatives in cooking home-made Birds Spit Soup to make it more delectable by adding pandan leaves, dried red dates, dried longan, etc..

9. Why do Birds Spit Soups come in different colors?

Thus it is a common misconception that blood nest is formed when the swiftlet vomits blood. Another misconception is that the swiftlet’s different diets give rise to different colour of nests.
When Birds Spit Soup is first formed by the swiftlets, they are white in colour; thus it is fair to say that white Birds Spit Soup (Bai Yan) is the purest form of Birds Spit Soup. As the Birds Spit Soup spend more time in the house, natural fermentation of the nest gradually takes place and the nest absorbs minerals such as iron from the walls and water, slowly changing its color from white to yellow (Jin Si Yan) and then orange and finally red (Blood nest). Thus it is a common misconception that blood nest is formed when the swiftlet vomits blood. Another misconception is that the swiftlet’s different diets give rise to different colour of nests.

Tips for Birds Spit Soup

Storage of Birds Spit Soup

Birds Spit Soup is an expensive commodity and it should be stored carefully to avoid molding due to dampness. You can store Birds Spit Soup in clean plastic boxes lined with desiccating materials and airtight cover in a dry place. It is particularly important to keep the Birds Spit Soup dry while storing. In case you find that the nest has become moist because of humidity, you need to blow dry it first. You can proceed to cooking and store the remaining Birds Spit Soup in an airtight container in a cool and dry place.
However, there is one thing that should be taken care of. You should not store the Birds Spit Soup in refrigerator. Putting it in the fridge causes condensation since the temperature of the container varies from that of the refrigerator. The nest may become even moister. Therefore, this is not an appropriate method of storage for Birds Spit Soups. Some people still keep it in the fridge. However, the nest lasts for about a week if you store it like that.
If you are not going to cook the nest directly after cleaning, you must squeeze dry it and put it in a clean and dry container. For storing it for longer time, you must store it at room temperature.

Fake Birds Spit Soup

In Asian market, numerous fake edible Birds Spit Soup can be found. This is because the demand for the product is very high and supply is relatively very low. There are several methods used by businesspersons to create fake Birds Spit Soups:
Dyeing: The white nest is dyed with red or yellow color and sold as red nest or yellow nest.
Coating: The nest is coated with products like fish powder, egg, flour, etc. to enhance the brightness of surface. This also increases weight and thickness.
Faking: Products such as bleached seaweed or resin is used to create imitations of edible Birds Spit Soup.

Birds Spit Soup Recipe

Birds Spit Soup is made by the swiftlet bird using its saliva. The saliva hardens when it is exposed to open air. The Birds Spit Soup is edible and contains extremely high nutrition value. Here, we are presenting a simple recipe to make Birds Spit Soup, which is one of the major staple foods of China. It is a dessert, which contains high amount of proteins. It enhances the quality of cells in our body and regenerates new cells as well. This Birds Spit Soup recipe strengthens the immune system of our body.
If this dessert soup is consumed regularly by women, it promotes skin health and gives smooth complexion to the face. Cooking this soup with Ginseng boosts great health. Let us see how to cook Birds Spit Soup:
• Cooking time焖炖: 120 minutes分钟
• Preparation time准备: 5 minutes分钟
• Total time总共: 2 hours and 5 minutes 2小时5分钟
Ingredients原料:
• Birds Spit Soup 3 pieces 燕窝3片
• Ginseng 10 grams 人参10公克
• Rock sugar 3 large pieces冰糖
• Hot water 2 large bowls热水
Method方法:
• Rinse the swiftlet’s nest. Soak it in cold water overnight or for 3-4 hours. 冲洗燕窝，浸泡在冷水中过夜或3-4小时。
• Take the nest out and pick any free feathers if any.如必要再挑出羽毛
• Rinse Ginseng.洗净人参
• Pour water in a pot and boil it. 锅里倒入水，煮沸。
• Put Birds Spit Soups and Ginseng in a pot and pour 2 hot water bowls in it. 把燕窝和人参在一个锅里和倒2热水碗。
• Place a large tablecloth in the large pot containing water.用大桌布盖好
• Now, place this smaller pot in the large pot over the cloth.把这个小壶在大锅里过布。
• Simmer and let the ingredients cook for 1.5 hours.让食材焖炖1.5小时。
• Add rock sugar and cook for another 30 minutes.加冰糖再煮30分钟。
• Serve hot.趁热享用