How to differentiate GENUINE and FAKE Bird Nest?

Genuine Bird Nest

Genuine Bird Nest has a natural creamy colour with fibre-like strands. The traces of feathers or dirt specks in genuine Bird Nest cannot be 100% clean.
Genuine Bird Nest gives out a unique egg white or fishy smell on its own and after being cooked, every piece of genuine Bird Nest is different in its colour, shape and weight.
Genuine Bird Nest is very fragile and easy to break into fine pieces and is 99% dry. It takes about 15-30 minutes to soak them into water, and then it will expand four to seven times bigger than its normal size. You can find some tiny feathers or tiny black specks on the Bird Nest. Traces of feathers or impurity are one proof and guarantee of its authenticity.

How to differentiate GENUINE and FAKE Bird Nest?

Fake or Chemically Treated Bird Nest

Dear Bird Nest lovers, it is time to stop being cheated by rogue businessmen.
Bird nest is a high value healthy food. Yet, some rogue businessmen started exploiting the Bird Nest trade by selling fake or chemically treated Bird Nest for fast money. The majority of Bird Nest lovers are unaware of how to differentiate between genuine and chemical treated Bird Nest.

Different Ways of Chemically Treated Bird Nest:

Strong bleaching agent - to get rid of tiny feathers and impurity or black specks. The Bird Nest look very white or clean. Every pieces looked the same. It has a chemical smell or sour smell or no smell of egg white or fishy smell.
Industrial colouring - dye the Bird Nest into red, orange, and yellow colour. Every pieces looked the same. Industrial colouring (dye) is very poisonous and can cause a cancer or death if consumed regularly.
Added with seaweeds (agar agar) - to make the Bird Nest heavier to cheat on its weight. It has a smell of seaweed or chemical.
Industrial glue - to glue the Bird Nest together and make it heavier. It has a smell of chemical or sour smell. The Bird Nest looked more solid and not so fragile.
The effective way to test the Bird Nest is to smell the dried Bird Nest, place a piece of wet Bird Nest into a plastic bag, and tie the bag tightly. Then, you either can open the plastic bag after 10 minutes or place a piece of wet Bird Nest into the fridge for one hour before smelling the content. If you can smell chemical or unpleasant smell, the Bird Nest is not pure.
Some rogue businessmen can even spray the Bird Nest with water to cheat you on the weight. You can tell blending the Bird Nest. If it can be blended, the Bird Nest contains 20 to 30% water. Chemical treated Bird Nest takes more then one hour or longer to expand when soaked in water. If a trader claimed that their Bird Nest is 100% clean, be careful.
Cave nest contains more impurities due to the minerals and metals that are present in the cave. It is impossible to manually clean them, therefore 99% of cave nest is being cleaned by a strong bleaching agent.
Blood nest is not being created by the Bird Nest itself but by the mineral and metal content and the impurity of the wet surface in the cave. 99% of blood nest in the market is made by drying the white Bird Nest with industrial colouring or smoke the Bird Nest with Bird Nest dropping for a few weeks.

Confinement tradition: Taking Bird Nest

Is it a good idea to take Bird Nest during confinement and while you’re nursing? You may have heard many differing things about this. Some mums swear by Bird Nest for its ability to rejuvenate and energize them during confinement. Others feel that it is not suitable for confinement for a variety of reasons.

What is Bird Nest?

Bird Nest soup is a traditional Chinese delicacy first cultivated and eaten by royalty during the Tang Dynasty. It is made from the white gelatinous strands from a Bird Nest, produced from the swallow’s saliva to bond the nest together, which are thought to be full of nutrients.
Bird Nest is harvested from the swallows’ natural habitat in deep caves and high places, although many now farm Bird Nests commercially for this purpose. After collection, the nest has to be cleaned by soaking and thorough cleaning to remove leaves, twigs, feathers and dirt before it can be cooked and consumed.

What are the supposed benefits of Bird Nest?

Bird Nest is renowned for its anti-aging ability and its immunity benefits. Women swear by its ability to help them retain youthfulness, skin moisture, elasticity and a wrinkle-free complexion. In addition, they claim that Bird Nest helps their bodies rejuvenate more quickly and slim downback to their original figures.
Drinking it not only improves Mum’s complexion, which is great for banishing that pregnancy acne, but also gives baby a smooth and white complexion through nursing. It is apparently also thought to improve appetite and digestion in babies and young children. There seems to be some truth to at least some of these claims as studies into Bird Nest has found that it is rich in antioxidants, collagen and amino acids.

Why avoid Bird Nest then?

You may be surprised to hear that not everyone advocates drinking Bird Nest during pregnancy, confinement and nursing. Some feel that eating too much Bird Nest can be too cooling for the body when one should eat heaty foods instead. It is thought that too much cooling results in the baby developing asthma later on.
Bird Nest has also been known to trigger allergies. Some mums have discovered that eating a lot of Bird Nest while pregnant or nursing actually resulted in their children developing allergies to Bird Nest.
But the biggest reason to be wary of Bird Nest is where the majority of Bird Nest comes from today. Most commercially sold Bird Nest today is inferior quality nest cleaned chemically and bleached for the “clean and white” look. Some are outright fakes made to look like Bird Nest. You don’t want to consume these chemical-laden products or feed them to your child.

What brands of Bird Nest are reliable?

Commercially bottled Bird Nest are popular among Singaporeans and frequently given to new mums as gifts. Known brands are generally trusted to use genuine Bird Nest and safe manufacturing processes. Bottled Bird Nest also requires no brewing and is convenient to consume.
However, that said, most people consider bottled Bird Nest inferior to homemade Bird Nest brewed from the nest itself, sourced from independent vendors who sell Bird Nests farmed in neighbouring countries like Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Those wishing to buy their own Bird Nests however should study with someone experienced how to choose quality Bird Nest from look, touch and smell.
All in all, don’t consume Bird Nest just because someone says it’s good, but do your own research first on whether you’re comfortable with it.