Crystal Pear Stewed with Bird's Nest

Ingredients:
- 6g white Nest
- 1 Crystal Pear
- 10 pcs Fructus lycii
- 4g Rock sugar
- 180g water.

Method:
1. Soak the bird's nest for 45 minutes until it becomes loose.
2. Cleanse and get rid of any foreign matter, strain dry.
3. Soak the Fructus Lycii to soften them.
4. Cut off the top of the Crystal Pear and remove the core.
5. Boil the rock sugar in the water until the rock sugar dissolves completely.
6. Add in the Fructus Lycii before covering with the top of the pear which has been removed.
7. Add in the bird's nest.
8. Stew it for 15 minutes.

Bird's Nest Milk Porridge

Ingredients:
- 20g Blood bird's nest
- 100g rice
- 500g milk, sugar and salt.

Method:
1. Remove any foreign matter in the rice before washing.
2. Place the pot over the fire and add in the rice and water.
3. Cook over strong fire but switch to slow cooking mode after about 30 minutes.
4. When the rice begins to expand, pour in the milk and stir.
5. Add in the pre-stewed red bird's nest (red bird’s nest should be soaked for 3 hours and stewed for 2 hours).
6. Continue cooking over slow fire for 20-30 minutes until the rice boils.

Young pigeon Stewed with Bird's Nest

Ingredients:
- 20g bird's nest
- 1 young pigeon
- 2pcs red dates
- 10pcs Fructus lycii
- some onion slices
- suitable amount of rock sugar

Method:    
1. Soak the bird's nest in water for 2-4 hours.
2. Remove any foreign matter and stew it for 15 minutes.
3. Cleanse the young pigeon before placing it into a pot of water.
4. Cook with strong heat and switch to low heat after it has boiled.
5. Continue cooking until the pigeon meat is fully cooked.
6. Add the red dates, Fructus lycii, the onion slices and the sugar and stew it for 3 minutes.
7. Add the bird's nest and  stew it for another 10 minutes.

Papaya with Bird's Nest

Ingredients:
- 10g bird's nest
- 1 papaya
- 70g fresh milk
- some honey and rock sugar.

Method:
1. Wash the papaya to clean it before cutting it into halves.
2. Remove the pulp.
3. Add fresh milk into cavity of the papaya together with the bird's nest (pre-soaked and stewed for 3      minutes), honey and rock sugar.
4. Cover the papaya with the other half and stew it for another 10-15 minutes.

Bird's nest with Scallop, Lotus Root and Sweet Peas

Ingredients:
- 10g bird's nest
- 2 garlic (minced)
- 3 sections of lotus root
- 100g sweet peas
- 4 pieces scallop (dried)
- salt and suitable amount of oil

Method:
1. Soak the bird's nest for 45 minutes, and remove any foreign matter and cleanse it.
2. Fry the minced garlic in oil till it turns golden brown.
3. Add in the cut lotus roots and fry it.
4. Add in the sweet peas, suitable amount of salt and tapioca powder and stew it for 3 minutes.
5. Add in the cleansed scallops which has been soaked together with suitable amount of water into pot and fry.
6. Add in the bird's nest and stew it for another 3 minutes.

Bird's Nest Stewed with Pearl Powder

Ingredients:
- 45g bird's nest
- 30g Tremella
- 20g pearl powder infusion
- 10g rock sugar syrup
- 10g coconut milk

Method:
1. Place the soaked bird's nest and Tremella into the pot.
2. Add in rock sugar syrup and coconut milk.
3. Stew it for 15 minutes.
4. Add in the pearl powder into the pot.
5. Stew it for another 5 minutes.

Stewed Bird's Nest with Mushroom and Chicken Feet

Ingredients:
- 10g bird's nest
- 10 pieces chicken feet
- 5 mushrooms
- 2 garlic (minced)
- cooking wine
- 4 slices of old ginger
- tapioca flour and suitable amount of oil
- oyster sauce, salt and sugar

Method:
1. Cleanse chicken feet using hot water before straining.
2. Add some oyster sauce, salt and sugar for flavouring and marinate it for 2 hours.
3. Add some sugar to the mushrooms before cleansing and soaking it with water.
4. Soak bird’s nest (for approximately 45 minutes).
5. Fry the minced garlic in oil before adding in the ginger slices.
6. Fry the marinated chicken feet and mushrooms over a slow fire.
7. Add suitable amount of water, tapioca flour and cooking wine and stew it for one hour.
8. Add in the bird's nest and stew it for another 10 minutes.

Official bird's Nest in a Coconut

Ingredients:
- 50g bird's nest
- 1 coconut
- 100g egg white
- 100g fresh milk
- 20 coconut milk
- 30g sugar
- 15g vinegar.

Method:
1. Blend the egg white, fresh milk and sugar in a bowl.
2. Pour the blend into the coconut and seal it with polyethylene paper.
3. Steam it for 15 minutes before removing it.
4. Add the coconut milk into the coconut together with the bird's nest and steam it for 30 minutes.
5. Place the coconut on its base and it is ready for serving.

Swiftlet's nest with Ham and Mushroom

Ingredients
- 15 g swiftlet's nest
- 2 dried black mushrooms
- Suitable amounts of egg yolk shreds
- Suitable amounts of ham shreds
- Few pieces edamame

Method
1. Wash swiftlet's nest.
2. Soak until tender, then tear and wash it.
3. Drain the water.
4. Put it into a large bowl.
5. Soak mushrooms until tender.
6. Wash it and cut it into shreds.
7. Arrange mushroom shreds, ham shreds, and egg shreds on top of the swiftlet's nest.
8. Stewed the bowl with boiling water for 40 minutes.

Swiftlet's Nest with Pumpkin

Ingredients
- 113 g swiftlet's nest
- 300 g pumpkin (flesh only)
- Chinese parsley
- 3 cups stock
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp caltrop starch
- 3 tbsp stock

Method
1. Bring 1 cup of stock to the boil.
2. Add swiftlet's nest and wait until it became tender.
3. Drain it.
4. Cut pumpkin into pieces and steam it until it became tender.
5. Put into a blender and wait until the mixture is smooth.
6. Pour pumpkin mixture into a pot.
7. Add stock and swiftlet's nest, salt and caltrop starch.

Swiftlet's Nest with Rock Sugar

Ingredients
- 113 g soaked swiftlet's nest
- 113 g rock sugar
- 3 1/2 cups of water

Method
1. Wash rock sugar.
2. Boil the 3 /12 cups of water and add the rock sugar.
3. Wait until it melted, then add syrup.
4. Stewed it for 20 minutes.
5. Add the swiftlet's nest and stewed it for another 10 minutes.

Swiftlet Nest with Crab Meat and Winter Melon Soup

Ingredients
- 113 g soaked swiftlet's nest
-  450 g winter melon
- 38 crab meat
- 2 cups stock
- 1 egg white
- 1 slice ginger
- 1/3 tbsp salt
- 1 tsp caltrop starch
- 2 tbsp stock

Method
1. Wash the swfitlet's nest and remove peel from winter melon.
2. Remove pith and cut it into pieces.
3. Bring stock to the boil.
4. Add ginger slice and melon.
5. Stew it for 10 minutes.
6. Cover for 10 minutes then discard the ginger slice.
7. Add winter melon to the blender and process it into winter melon puree.
8. Add swiftlet's nest to the winter melon puree and bring to the boil.
9. Add crab meat, salt, caltrop starch, stock and egg white.

Swiftlet's Nest with Gingkoes Syrup

Ingredients
- 113 g soaked swiftlet's nest
- 75 g gingkoes
- 2 red dates
- 94 g rock sugar
- 4 cups of water

Method
1. Remove shells from gingkoes and soak in boiling water for a while.
2. Remove membrane and stalks.
3. Wash red dates and remove pits.
4. Put red dates and gingkoes into a pot.
5. Add 4 cups of water and stew it for 30 minutes.
6. Rinse rock sugar, and add it to the pot.
7. Cook it until rock sugar melted completely.
8. Add the swiftlet's nest and stew it for another 10 minutes.

Swiftlet's Nest with Fresh Fruit

Ingredients
- 113 g soaked swiftlet's nest
- 94 rock sugar
- suitable amount of melon balls
- suitable amount of honey-dew melon balls
- 2 cups of water

Method
1. Crushed rock sugar and put it to a pot.
2. Add 2 cups of water, and cook it until the rock sugar has dissolved.
3. Pour syrup into a steaming pot.
4. Add swiftlet's nest and stewed it for 30 minutes.
5. When swiftlet's nest and syrup cooled down, add fruit balls.

Swiftlet House Thief

Security is one of our main concern in everyday life. We must feel safe before we can do anything else. Can you work if you know your building can collapse at any moment or your house doors broken and you live in dangerous neighborhood? We can't concentrate working,right? Now,the real question is how about swiftlet?

Swiftlet is like human, they must feel safe before they build their nest. Their nest is a place where they leave their children, so swiftlet choose the place very carefully. If you want to know about swiftlet natural enemies, you can read about it in HERE.

What I want to talk about is your swiftlet house security. Let's not even mention how many dollars you will lose if a thief visit your swiftlet house but how your swiftlet feels. Thiefs will not tried to take it peacefully, they will take it roughly and as they pleased. Not only that, because thief usually came in night where your swiftlet sleeping. The only way for them to rob you is to take the nest while waking up your swiftlet.

This will stressed your swiftlet greatly. Picture this, you got home and you found out that your house has been robbed or you got home and then someone came with a gun taking everything you have while you can only watch. Which is more traumatic? I think it will be the later. There are many stories about a swiftlet house got robbed and then the swiftlet left the house never came back.

Beware, a crime did not happen just because there are a motive but it also can happen because someone saw an opportunity.

To prevent thief from entering swiftlet house you can build a higher wall surrounding your swiftlet house with approximately 4 m height and use barbed wire, glass shards and eletricity. This will keep your swiftlet house safe for most thief.

A very determined thief will tried to dig tunnel to your swiftlet house. Yep, you didn't read wrong. There are some cases where the thief dig a tunnel to your swiftlet house, with this he can get past your wall. To counter this, some people use stone and cement to solidify the floor, others use more extreme measure which using steel plates all over the floor.

But the best defense is your neighborhood. Every time you harvest your swiftlet nest, use some of that money for your community. Build something or host something, anything to show that you are grateful to them for their help making you success. With this, they will help you guard your swiftlet house in case of thief because they will lose something too if you get robbed.

Swiftlet's Nest Soup

Ingredients :
- 2 ounces of Bird’s nest
- 6 tablespoons of crushed rock sugar
- 2 cups of water

Optional Ingredients:
1 small Ginsengs
3-5 Cordyceps sinensis
1 Luo Han Guo

Method :
1. Soak the swiftlet’s nest overnight until it softens.
2. Pick the loose feathers and dirt found in the nest and rinse well.
3.  Bring a pot of water to boil and simmer the swiftlet's nests for about 5 minutes.
4.  Again rinse well and squeeze dry.
5. Place the swiftlet's nest in the pot and add 2 cups of water.
6. Bring to a boil and simmer until the swiftlet's nest are quite soft.
7. Add the rock sugar, stirring to dissolve.
8. Add the optional ingredients.
9. Cook for 2.5 hours with small heat.
10. After it cooked, let it cool for 5-10 mins.

Swiftlet's Nest Benefit Myth or Not?

In the chinese history, it is said only the king and it's nobles can eat swiftlet's nest. The reason is because it can help enhancing your health, treat various diseases, increase your regeneration after sickness and even prolong your life.

After a little research, I can't find a complete report regarding the use of swiftlet's nest in medicine (if you find one, hope you can be kindful and share it with us). So, I tried to read other's people article and hope they can provide me with more insight.

Anyway, there's a rumour in Indonesia (which supply 70% demand of swiftlet's nest in the world) that in recent research in USA, French, and Japan using bio modern technology or whatever state of the art you are using for checking something biologically.

The research state that there are only common vitamins, proteins in swiftet's nest. Not only that, in fact
you can find the same nutritions in fish. I already tried to find the real report, but so far i can't found it so I can't say it's only a rumor or a true research.

From another source, they said the swiftlet's nest contain the Epidermal Growth Factor or EGF proven by a German chemist, Emilfischer.

EGF is able to stimulate the fission and propagation of various cells, promote cell divison, repair skin damage speedily and bring about the healing of wounds caused by surgery and injuries. It affects the fineness and ageing of human skin and it motivates ageing skin, rejuvenating it and bringing back for it's luster and elacity.

And from HERE, also said almost the same thing. That the swiftlet's nest contain a EGF that used for ageing resistance.  He even post that swiftlet's nest contains aspartic aicd, glutamic acid, praline, threonine and valine that can facilitate normal body functions such as cell repair and promote immunity.
But he also said that it's still not yet to be conclusively proven and need furthere studies.

Don't know which one is true, i mean i will looks like an idiot if i eat a swiftlet's nest only to found out i can have the same nutritions if i buy a fish. But it looks like the part that swiftlet's nest contains EGF is true.

What do you think? Will you eat a swiftlet's nest or just go buy a bunch of fish?

source:
http://birdnest.my/bird_06.htm
http://www.business-in-asia.com/industries/birdnest_for_health.html

Swiftlet’s Nest soup with Mushroom

Ingredients :
- 8 oz. of swiflet's nests.
- 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp. fresh ginger root, chopped
- 4 oz. of cooked chicken, cubed
- 4 oz. button mushrooms, quartered
- 8 oz. canned quail eggs, drained
- 7 ½ cups chicken stock

Method : 

1. Soak the swiftlet' nest in water for 5 minutes, then drain.
2. Heat the oil in a saucepan.
3. Add the ginger and fry for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
4. Stir in the chicken, mushrooms, eggs and stock and bring to boil.
5. Reduce the heat to low and add swiftlet's nests/ Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Serve at once in bowls.

Swiftlet Enemies

Swiftlet needs a safe and comfortable environment to make their nest. Let's think like this,
will you buy a house in a high criminality neighbourhood or in a very dirty neighbourhood?
Swiftlet also think like this.

They will not built their nest in a place where their natural enemies
can be found. So, for swiftlet's farmer, you better watch out if you met these animals in your swiftlet's house.

1) Rats

This type of enemies eat swiftlet eegs, their children even their nest. Not only that, rats also make noises that disturb swiftlet. Their pee and feces also made the environment uncomfortable for swiftlet.

To prevent this from happenning, you must do 3 thing:
- Close all holes you can find.
- Throw away all trash you can find and always keep it clean.
- Pay more attention to unused wood, never forget to throw it away because rats like to make their nest there.

2) Ants

Ants, especially fire ants will bit and try to eat swiftlet's children.
Not only that they will also disturb swiftlet when it laying their egg.
If you found ants in your swiftlet's house, you better kill it fast.
One of the method to do it is by using bait.

Use raw meat to attract the ants so that when the ants swarming the bait,
Pour hot water to the bait. It will kill all the ants. And for insurance,
you can try to find their nest and pour hot water to there too.

3) Cockroach

This type of insect can be found at almost every house. Even though in any house they
are quite harmless, in swiftlet's house they are quite a problem. Cockroach will eat
swiftlet's nest and make it damaged.

To solve this kind of problem, you better spray some insecticide and remember to
always cleaning your swiftlet's house. Throw away all the junk you have to make sure
that there are no hiding place in the house so that no cockroach can evade your insecticide.

4) Lizard and Gecko.

This animals not only eat swiftlet's egg but also their nest. Lizard can even eat
swiftlet's children. Not only that, their feces can polute the room and increase room
temperature and as a result disturb swiftlet tranquility.

For this type of enemies, you can only tried to capture every lizard and gecko you fidn
and throw them outside. After that make sure that there are a net on every drainage to
make sure that only water can get in or get out.

Cricle your swiftlet's house and close every
hole you can find that you didn't use. Also make sure the outside wall is slippery so no lizard
or gecko can climb their way in.

Stewed Swiftlet's nest with American Ginseng

Ingredients
- 75 g soaked swiftlet's nest.
- 8 g sliced american ginseng.
- 1 tbsp rock sugar.
- 2 cups boiling water.

Method
1. Wash the american ginseng and put it into a steaming pot.
2. Crushed the rock sugar and add it with 2 cups of boiling water to the pot.
3. Stewed it for 50 minutes.
4. Add the swiftlet's nest and stewed it for another 10 minutes.
5. Refrigerate it before serving.