How to recognize faked bird's nest (Yan Wo)

a. Swiftlets build edible nests from their saliva, which are formed into strands. These strands can be detached into layers when soaked in plain water. As a result, these strands will be of different lengths and sizes. Fake strands are too perfect to even tell a white lie.

b. Genuine bird’s nests will not melt in water easily when boiled for over 2 hours. Take seaweed or flour or any other substance that is traditionally used to pass off as genuine bird’s nests - only will they melt but evaporate in even less than an hour.

c. Genuine high quality bird’s nests should be able to expand to double its normal size after being soaked and cooked.

d. Genuine bird’s nests contain natural protein that emits a unique aroma of its own after being cooked unlike the typical aroma from normal food essence.

e. Fake red-nests or yellowish-nests have even-shining colour that can be the result of dye addictives. These dye addictives can easily dissolve when the bird’s nests are cooked.



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The steps involved in processing edible birds nests

  • Soak the raw bird’s nests in plain water for 2—48hrs until they expand, then separate them into individual strands.
  • Remove all the feathers from the edible nest-cement contents with a pair of forceps. This step is repeated until all the feathers are detached from the entire nest-cement.
  • The nest-cement strands are then arranged into a mold.
  • Step 4. Finally, put the molded strands in drying oven to dry.



Good nest should be of natural color, containing no mud and other impurities. The color of the white nest is an actual ivory. The yellow nest and the blood-red nest are colored yellowish gold and red respectively. The variations and intensity in the color are due to the difference in the mineral contents of the food the swiftlet eats. Regardless of their colors, swallow nests expand when soaked in water, but in different degrees. The coloration of the swallow nest will fade a bit upon soaking; however, the water used for soaking should remain colorless. If a nest looks extraordinarily white, it may have been bleached. The nutritional value of bleached nest is obviously affected; it could also be harmful to health.