In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), bird's nest is considered to have neutral energetic properties (neither hot nor cold) with special properties on the lungs, kidneys and stomach. It is known that swallow's nest is good for the lungs, has the ability to reduce phlegm.
Swallow's nest is a superior health food in many ways. The protein found in swallow's nest, which is easy to digest, can be used for recovery (recovery from serious illness) patients. It is also widely consumed during the pre and postpartum period. For beauty care, it has been used to reduce or remove liver spots in the elderly, improve skin and manage skin irritation in infants and adults.
Swallow's
nest is one of the most expensive foods, found in tropical climates, which can
only be found by swallow birds.
Swallow's nest is made from swallow's saliva which is rich in minerals and nutrients that are good for the body.
How to distinguish and choose a quality swallow's nest? Check out the following tips so you can choose a good swallow's nest.
Tips for choosing a good quality swallow nest:
1. Has the aroma of raw eggs
You will get a slight smell of raw egg smell from swallow's nest. This is normal because the smell of real swallow's nest does have characteristics such as the smell of raw eggs.
2. There is no swallow feathers
Through
a good cleaning process, the bird's nest should ideally be freed from most of
the bird's feathers. When we see it with the naked eye, the feathers of the
swallow are not visible and the bird's nest looks clean.
Gloria Bird Nest uses drinking water during the process of cleaning feathers and droppings from the bird's nest. And we don't use chemicals or other coloring agents, so the color of the bird's nest is natural. This results in a bird's nest that is clean, ready to cook and safe for consumption.
3. The color of the bird's nest
Swallow's
nest has various characteristic colors from white to yellow-yellow to light
brown. However, this white color category is not pure white, it tends to be
ivory. And because the bird's nest is a natural product, the color of the
bird's nest differs slightly from one another.
When immersed in water, the bird's nest will later change to a lighter / lighter color because it absorbs water and becomes more transparent.
4. Condition
A dry bird's nest looks like it is dry and breaks easily, while a wet bird's nest is easier to bend and does not break easily.
5. Size, shape and nutritional content
The shape of the bird's nest does not affect its nutritional value and content. The bowl swallow's nest is more expensive because of the size alone. The larger the size, the rarer it can be obtained because of the amount of saliva needed to form a bowl swallow nest. You can study the article on the type and size of swallow's nest for more information.
6. Purity
The drinking water used for the cleaning process and soaking the swallow's nest should remain transparent. If the bird's nest turns white and shiny, it is possible that the bird's nest has undergone a bleaching process during the cleaning process
7. Development
Swallow's nest expands during immersion in water to about 3 times its original size while still dry.
How to Distinguish Between Real Swallow Nests and Fake Swallow Nests
Here are 7 of the most reliable methods to find out if you have purchased a real or fake bird's nest.
1. Transparency
Real bird's nest looks semi-transparent whereas fake bird's nest will not be transparent at all, some may even appear to have a reflective surface from the chemical applied to it.
2. Fragility
Real bird's nest is very fragile and breaks into small specks or pieces the size of dust if dropped. The fake bird's nest will break into large pieces.
3. Shape and appearance
Real bird's nest does not have a distinctive shape, sometimes you can also find small feathers stuck in the fibers. While best for fake bird's nest, it has a bumpy, uniform-looking surface and sometimes with a hint of medicinal aroma.
4. Absorption
It is common practice to soak bird's nest for several hours before cooking it. A real bird's nest will swell to about twice its original size whereas a fake bird's nest will not show significant size growth. There may even be foreign particles that appear after soaking a fake swallow's nest.
5. Color
After soaking the bird's nest, the real bird's nest will have clear water during the immersion process, while the fake swallow's nest will show signs of loosening into the water due to the artificial coloring.
6. Foam
Place the bird's nest in a bowl of water and stir, a real bird's nest will cause foam to appear on the surface of the water while the water remains clear. Fake swallow's nest will not show foam on the surface of the water, the water will instead become cloudy and cloudy.
7. Structural Observation Under the Microscope
Use
a microscope if you have one to see patterns of bird's nest fibers. Real bird's
nest will look unevenly structured while fake bird's nest will look roughly
distributed and transparent (tidier fibers).
