Bird's nest - is it really the secret to beautiful skin?
EDS Skin Care Forums Forum Index » Skin Care and Makeup Forum

free skin care · Fri Nov 17, 2006 7:52 am

Bird's nest soup (Traditional Chinese: 燕窩; pinyin: yàn wō, literally "swallow's nest") is a delicacy[1] in Chinese cuisine.

A few species of swift, namely cave swifts, are renowned for building the nests used to produce the soup's unique texture. Such edible bird's nests are among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans. The nests have been traditionally consumed in China for over four-hundred years, most often as Bird's Nest Soup.[2] When dissolved in water, the birds' nests have a gelatinous texture. Bird's nest soup can either be served as a savory soup or sweet, as tong sui.

The white nests and the “red blood” nests are supposedly rich in nutrients which are traditionally believed to provide health benefits, such as aiding digestion, raising libido, improving the voice, alleviating asthma, increasing concentration, and an overall benefit to the immune system.

There is no doubt that bird's nest is considered a delicacy in the Chinese culture. It is extremely expensive. A small bowl as dessert in a Chinese restaurant can easily cost C$50. It is usually slimy in texture and and the actual nest has no tastes or flavour. That is why it is usually served as a dessert in sweetened soup.

It is suppose to help with collagen production and help us maintain youthful skin.. It is also said that consistent consumption is key to reaping its full benefits.

I do treat myself to a bowl of it every now and then, but that's about it. However, I am considering going on a more regular and consistent regime. It'll cost me a fortune - but the things we are all willing to try for that flawless complexion!

Do any of you consume this regular? If so, what do you think are the main benefits? Do you buy the ready made drinks off the shelf, or make it from scratch yourself?

free skin care · Fri Nov 17, 2006 7:59 am

If you don't mind my asking, what is it about the bird's nest that maks it so good for the skin? I mean, isn't it just made of like, grass, twigs, etc?

Personally I think there are cheaper and easier ways to improve the skin internally. For example, drinking green tea. Not only is it loaded with antioxidants, it's also anti-inflammatory. Same with pomegranate juice. Both of them are cheaper, easier, and probably more effective than spending $50 per bowl on something that may or may not have any effect.

free skin care · Fri Nov 17, 2006 8:39 am

My aunt went back to Asia and she had this, but it did not suit her at all. She had a bad reaction and her skin just broke out all over with huge cyst. I guess for some it works for others it doesn't.

free skin care · Fri Nov 17, 2006 8:42 am

Edible bird's nest is actually constructed entirely from the saliva of a swiftlet.

It is suppose to be highly nutritious.. but I don't know enough about it to explain why it is so...

I think this is one type of food that is quite 'neutral' and can be consumed by anyone.

According to the Chinese, foods are usually divided by whether they are 'hot' or 'cool'.

Green tea, for example, is 'cool'. My mom says that prolonged consumption of green tea is not necessarily beneficial. If your body is 'cool' to begin with, it may actually be harmful.

free skin care · Fri Nov 17, 2006 6:39 pm

I know some Chinese ladies who will attest that bird's nest keeps them youthful.

However, a lot of cancer patients also eat bird's nest. I think it's because bird's nest is supposed to contain a lot of protein (not sure if this is correct). After eating bird's nest, they seem to perk up quite a bit.

free skin care · Fri Nov 17, 2006 7:15 pm

I have questions on how it is prepared ... it seems to me it would naturally be very unsanitary (has anyone ever had a pet bird before? Messy cages ring a bell?), but I'm sure they've got to do something to it to make it edible?

My minor at UCLA was in Anthropology and Dr. Jared Diamond (the man who wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning book "Guns, Germs & Steel" among several other books) was one of my professors. We studied basic elements of aboriginal societies, things dealing with language development and extinction, carrying capacity, gender roles, old age and death, etc., and one of the class components involved food and nutrition as that is a big element of his book GG&S. We were always fascinated with the concept of "who was the first person who thought that eating such-and-such as food was a good idea?" That was my first thought when I read this thread ... who was the first person who thought "Yeah, eating bird's nests is a GREAT idea!" Sounds yucky to me, AND expensive!

free skin care · Fri Nov 17, 2006 7:51 pm

The effectiveness of the nest is indeed the saliva from the swallow and has been used in China for thousands of years to "bu": which means to make up for what your body lacks. If you can obtain an authentic and high-quality swallow nest, it can be consumed in this soup form and is excellent for the human body. I have no idea why but it is some great nutrients from the saliva. However, the problem today is that it is very difficult to find a good quality sample Sad

free skin care · Fri Nov 17, 2006 9:36 pm

Birds nest soup ismade from birs nests which are usually located in a cave, they are hard to collect the nest is made from the saliva of the birdI have tasted it,I was at a relatives chinese wedding and ate the soup, I found out AFTERWARDS it was from the birds saliva,BTW it was very good. I am sorry but I dont think that keeps you young the Chinese have a lots of crazy notions,like right now they eat aborted fetuses because they think they keep you young,one chinese dr. boasted of eating 53 in 1 sitting....If you want to stay young keep your weight down, consume fewer calories, lead a stress free life(yeah right show ME how)drink lots of water,breathe clean air, eat healthy and exercise ,nothing in excess and maintain a good positive attitude.

free skin care · Sat Nov 18, 2006 12:51 am

i used to drink it until i read a national geographic article on it. people just dump the baby birds out and steal the nest. so terrible Sad

but to answer your question, i don't know if it did anything for my skin.

free skin care · Sat Nov 18, 2006 1:39 am

Quote:

Chinese have a lots of crazy notions,like right now they eat aborted fetuses because they think they keep you young,one chinese dr. boasted of eating 53 in 1 sitting....

Quote:

are you serious?!? there was a chinese movie about this a couple years ago i thought it was fake

free skin care · Sat Nov 18, 2006 2:46 am

Quote:

the Chinese have a lots of crazy notions,like right now they eat aborted fetuses

I believe this would be very much a minority habit even if it exists at all, which I doubt. Today's Chinese are getting quite finicky about their food just like westerners. Won't eat this. Won't eat that. I'm much more adventurous than the young Chinese in what I'll eat. I've eaten Bird's nest and the dessert was very nice, but I couldn't buy it in large quantities. I believe there are some unusual nutrients (amino acids maybe) from the nests which could well stimulate skin repair or act as anti-oxidants. You can buy a whole load of masks and creams with extract of birds nest in all the mainstream beauty shops. I'm sure it's not unhygienic they process the nest matter before it's cooked and eaten and it doesn't look like a standard nest - it's got very few twigs or feathers in its natural state just the spit stuff.

free skin care · Sat Nov 18, 2006 4:06 am

I'll do an experiment. Someone gave me a pack as a gift (a nice brand) - I will eat a jar everyday for the next week and tell you if there is any difference in my skin. Honestly I wouldn't believe all the claims - I'm sure it's good for you (all aspects) but you'll have to eat high quality bird's nest consistently for a period of time and that will seriously cost more than if you buy L'Elixir Glaciers every 3 months. I also think that making it with chicken soup (the chinese steaming way) will be more beneficial than eating it via the usual dessert. My mother makes bird's nest for us occasionally and I used to eat with with congee when I was little - don't really see my skin being nicer than if I didn't eat it - I'm still plagued with acne.

free skin care · Sat Nov 18, 2006 4:19 am

Quote:

I will eat a jar everyday for the next week and tell you if there is any difference in my skin.

Nice idea Sormuimui, but I think you should do it for 6 weeks at least. Laughing

free skin care · Sat Nov 18, 2006 5:31 am

I wish, unfortunately the box comes with 12 jars or something. I'll eat it until it's finished Laughing

6 weeks...wow...I'll need a lot of money to buy 6 weeks worth of bird's nest Rolling Eyes

free skin care · Sat Nov 18, 2006 7:00 am

ya know, like, sorry. I aint eating spit and aint putting it on my face Laughing

I have always found the bird's nests rather revolting (you can guess I am not very adventurous with the food thing..)

In the grand scheme of things I know it is no more gross than placenta creams and capsules... but it is a bit much for me. Unless of course there was hard evidence that I was going to look like a beauty queen following use or consumption. rofl

But hubby just offered to let me see if the whole spit thing worked - he offered to lick my face. gross. Laughing

free skin care · Sat Nov 18, 2006 7:18 am

sormuimui wrote:

I'll do an experiment. Someone gave me a pack as a gift (a nice brand) - I will eat a jar everyday for the next week and tell you if there is any difference in my skin. Honestly I wouldn't believe all the claims - I'm sure it's good for you (all aspects) but you'll have to eat high quality bird's nest consistently for a period of time and that will seriously cost more than if you buy L'Elixir Glaciers every 3 months. I also think that making it with chicken soup (the chinese steaming way) will be more beneficial than eating it via the usual dessert. My mother makes bird's nest for us occasionally and I used to eat with with congee when I was little - don't really see my skin being nicer than if I didn't eat it - I'm still plagued with acne.

Whoo hoo! Take one for the team, Sormuimui! Laughing

I've never heard of eating bird's nest (and I doubt I ever will), but I find these types of thoughts from different cultures very interesting. My mom's from Japan and every now and then she will state some sort of "myth" as fact. I don't know...who am *I* to say that these myths aren't true? I don't think this is any different from some of the products that I see at my local healthfood store...all sorts of interesting, different ideas of the Fountain of Youth.

I'll be following this with interest!

Marla

free skin care · Sat Nov 18, 2006 3:41 pm

lucyluc wrote:

the Chinese have a lots of crazy notions,like right now they eat aborted fetuses because they think they keep you young,one chinese dr. boasted of eating 53 in 1 sitting....If you want to stay young keep your weight down, consume fewer calories, lead a stress free life(yeah right show ME how)drink lots of water,breathe clean air, eat healthy and exercise ,nothing in excess and maintain a good positive attitude.

I half disagree and half agree. Sure, there is alot of Chinese culture, medicine especially that don't make sense to Western scientists, but a lot of them have undergone thousands of years of 'testing'. Perhaps not as rigorous as clinical testing in the Western world, but I think that if people have used something for thousands of years and have continued with it, there must be something behind it even if our current knowledge of science cannot explain it. How many times have there been when we CAN explain a certain mechanism behind a drug or nutritious food and decades later find out it is actually bad for you. So therefore, I personally trust something that has been used for thousands of years rather than new fads that have not been tested for enough years. And the placenta thing is a new weird thing that is repulsive to most Chinese people and cannot be compared on the same level as bird nest.

In terms of bird nest specifically, birds can live in high altitude places or by the ocean or waters and what they eat and bring to the nest is all natural things found in our environment that is amazing for the body. It is not a miracle skin supplement at all. However, it is definitely good for the body, but on top of that, you do need to eat properly, exercise, and take care of yourself.

free skin care · Sat Nov 18, 2006 8:58 pm

I do my best to avoid eating bird's nests and shark fins. I feel sorry for the animals there were injured/killed during the harvesting process.

After the bird's nest being taken away repeatedly, the poor bird starts to have bloody saliva and they can turn the nest a red tinge. The red nests are supposedly more expensive than the regular ones. Poor birdies Sad

Sat Nov 18, 2006 9:36 pm

Bird nests have a very special kind of protein in it and nothing else can replace that. The protein is very good for skin elasticity. Personally, it works and all my friends around would agree. Chinese is not the only people eating bird nest, actually, many Asian countries use them also. But Chinese people are the main rich population in Asia and that's why most people using them are Chinese.
Most of those come in jars do not really work because the quality is bad and the sugar content is very high.

free skin care · Sat Nov 18, 2006 9:40 pm

mtview wrote:

I do my best to avoid eating bird's nests and shark fins. I feel sorry for the animals there were injured/killed during the harvesting process.

After the bird's nest being taken away repeatedly, the poor bird starts to have bloody saliva and they can turn the nest a red tinge. The red nests are supposedly more expensive than the regular ones. Poor birdies Sad

mtview, I totally feel the same way. Actually, my DH is Chinese, and while he does eat some stuff that seems strange to me, he refuses to eat bird's nest and shark fin soup because of the high probability that there was some cruelty involved in procuring it. (Yet another reason I love my DH!!!!

)

free skin care · Sat Nov 18, 2006 11:41 pm

manslayerliz wrote:

mtview, I totally feel the same way. Actually, my DH is Chinese, and while he does eat some stuff that seems strange to me, he refuses to eat bird's nest and shark fin soup because of the high probability that there was some cruelty involved in procuring it. (Yet another reason I love my DH!!!!

)

I am glad someone feel the same way as me Very Happy

I remember reading about the sharks starved to death because the fishermen cut their fins off and dump them back into the ocean. They couldn't swim and catch any prey.

free skin care · Sun Nov 19, 2006 5:13 am

I'm with Skincareaddicted, Mtview and Manslayerliz in that I would be very interested to know how it is prepared. I did hear that they just toss out the birds and take the nest much like with another Chinese soup delicacy "Shark Fin soup" they just fish the sharks out of the water slash off their fins and throw them bleeding back into the water where they let them sink to the bottom and die. If you wonder why they die it is because sharks have to move in order to circulate oxygen through their lungs. Once their fins have been cut off they have no way to do this so they suffocate to death. China has an appalling record on animal (and human) rights so I wouldn't be surprised if this "Bird Nest soup" was any different. Until I get proof that it is made ethically I won't eat it, period. I encourage others to do the same.

free skin care · Sun Nov 19, 2006 7:02 am

Whoa!! I had no idea there was even a dish like this out there...let alone all the various opinions behind it.

I must have been living in cave...one without birds nest apparently. Laughing

I will be following this thread....

free skin care · Sun Nov 19, 2006 5:52 pm

I saw a documentary on Bird's Nest a few months ago (so I can't recall the information to its exact accuracy) but they talked about those who manufacture bird's nest. The bird's saliva is taken from their NESTS and not taken from the bird's themselves. They're expensive because their nests can only be harvested twice a year (from government sanctions to the preservation of these nests) - once before the eggs are laid and once after the swiftlets have left the nest. The documentary showed that they put tiny trackers on the live swiftlets then set them free so they can track whereabouts they set up their nest and also the environmental conditions that may affect the bird and the saliva. There are different stories to how blood's nest is produced. One is that in earlier days when bird's nest was harvested frequently the swiftlets lacked enough saliva to create new nests thus they became blood-stained. But this has become rare due to the new conservation sanctions by the government. The second possibility of the cause of blood's nest is that they are made from swiftlets that reside near rooftops. There are two types of swiftlets - those that reside near cliffs and those that reside near rooftops. Swiftlets in general live on isolated islands in parts of Indonesia and Western China and thus their food mainly consists of small fish and small insects in that area. Blood nest is supposedly caused by a combination of food intake and environmental factors. This seems more plausible to me. The blood's nest of the rooftop type is more expensive because they are softer and smoother - which makes sense because they live in houses where they have a shield from the environment. Why would swiftlets be living in houses? Chinese people believe that when a swiftlet makes a nest on your roof it signifies a good omen and thus they were willing to move out and give their residence to the birds. So I honestly don't see much cruelty in taking bird's nest because they don't actually catch birds to take their saliva. This is also the reason they're known as bird's NEST. Hope this clears some things up.

Sun Nov 19, 2006 5:53 pm

There are many different kinds of bird nest. Bascially, you need to make sure there's no tiny feather in them. Usually, those in medium price should be cleaned very well. Basically, you need to soak the bird nest for 3 to 4 hours (some may need longer time). I like to make it in the simplest way: Put the bird nest, Chinese crystal sugar, and water in a container with lid. Put the whole container to stand on a wire rack and steam for about 1 hour. I also like to pour some milk in when it's almost done.
There are many different ways to cook them. Some people also use them to make soap.

Automatic Message

If this is your first visit to the EDS Forums please take the time to register. Registration is required for you to post on the forums. Registration will also give you the ability to track messages of interest, send private messages to other users, participate in Gift Certificates draws and enjoy automatic discounts for shopping at our online store. Registration is free and takes just a few seconds to complete.

Click Here to join our community.

If you are already a registered member on the forums, please login to gain full access to the site.