I got a chance to see what a real bird’s nest looks and taste like. Of course, this is not a photographic opportunity to be missed! Especially since this handful of bird’s nest already cost us RM50!
This handful of bird's nest (only two nests) costs RM50!
We got it at a relative bargain price, when each kilo can fetch a few thousand ringgits! That’s because my in-law’s neighbour in Sagil rears swiftlets in their shophouse; the neighbour just plucked some loose pieces for us.
If you look at it closely, you’ll notice that there are a lot of feathers still attached to it. These nests are still very raw, unprocessed. The cleaning process involves using a pair of tweezers to extract out the tiny feathers one by one!
Feathers still attached
The nests are graded according to their amount of dirt and cleanliness. As you can see from my specimen, this is clearly a B-grade nest!
Quite dirty hor?
Here’s how they look like after they are cooked in traditional chinese herbs soup.
Bird's nest soup
So how do they taste like?
Looks expensive right?
I am no expert in bird’s nest, nor can I taste the difference between an authentic bird’s nest and a fake one. All I can say is that they are very soft and smooth in texture, and you can’t really contain them in your mouth long enough to saviour its full flavour, because they glide into your throat too easily!
Give me a fake bird’s nest anytime!