Bird's nest brands and products are rampant in our market today. How do you tell apart quality bird's nest from the others?
When choosing your raw bird's nest, here are some things to look out for:
Colour
While bird’s nest is commonly shown as white in pictures, they are actually translucent. If a bird’s nest is pure white or reflective, it is likely that they are bleached.
Shape
Bird’s nest are natural products made by swiftlets and as such no two bird’s nest would be exactly the same. If the bird’s nest you see happen to all be the same size and shape, they might be manufactured in a factory (and no supplier worth their salt would chip away or mould raw bird’s nest to achieve a uniform shape).
Smell
Bird's nest has a natural fragrance. Those that have no smell or smell like plastic are likely treated.
When buying cooked bird's nest, do also keep a look out for:
Ingredient label
Most bird's nest product in the market are actually filled with white fungus (which is much cheaper) instead of real bird's nest. They are often also very high in sugar with chemical additives or preservatives.
Strands
Quality bird's nest have thick strands when cooked, and should not be in bits and pieces. Bird's nests are after all, strands of salivary secretion woven together to form the nest of swiftlets. For products using the actual body of the nest, the strands will remain.
What you put in your body matters. Choose bird's nest that are of quality, with zero sugar and free of chemical additives.