Friday, September 14, 2012

Swiftlet's Nest and It's Shape


Very few people know that swiftlet's nest have another shape besides the bowl type, this happens
because it is the most common one. So not every store can supply you with another shape besides bowl type.
There are 4 types of swiftlet's nest: bowl, triangle, strips and powder. Some people claim that difference shape means difference in nutrition and difference in taste. They said the bowl type is the most nutritious and delicious.
I never taste them all, so I can't comment on it. But if any of you have, please let me know.

1. Bowl shape
 This is the most usual shape of swiftlet nest.
The bowl shape came because the swiftlet build their nest on the beams in a swiftlet house.






2. Triangle shape

There are only a few triangle shape because the nest is built in the corner of two adjacent walls.
Because of it's shape, the bottom one have the most the highest concentration of swiflet saliva especially
because their triangle shape that help focused their saliva. Higher concentration of saliva also means
higher density. Because of this, they require longer soaking time (six to eight hours) and bird's nest corners are normally separated from whole piece bird's nests and soaked separately.  The bird's nest corners are usually torn into smaller pieces prior to soaking so that they expand more easily. They expand more compared to whole piece bird's nests and are more crispy.

3. Strips shape
Usually happen because the bowl type get damaged during transportation or during harvest. Although they are not attractive, but they have the same taste as the bowl type. Very few people said, they tastes less delicious than the bowl type. Still, only a few one can distinguish it. Personally, I can't taste the difference. You can prepare it the same as the bowl type.


4. Broken shape
Broken shape swiftlet's nest are also a broken of a bowl shape nest. But because it's broken too badly,
There are no more spesific shape. Usually a broken shape swiftlet's nest will be grinding to powder and combined with another product. For example, it can be made to a biscuit or used at a beauty product.

No comments:

Post a Comment