Sunday, April 8, 2012

Bird's Nest in a Bottle


I've been having a bottle of these almost every morning for the past few weeks.

Since her retirement last December, my family has benefiting from plenty of home cooked food.

My mum have been making lots of bird's nest for me. She'd make a batch of four to five servings and then put them into little jam bottles so that I can refrigerate them. Then, I'd have one every morning for breakfast.

Bird's nest (燕窝) literally translates to "swallow's nest". These are harvested from swifts' nests - which are made of their saliva and whilst it sounds really gross, bird's nest is a delicacy highly valued by Chinese. It is often cooked as a kind of sweet dessert and has a gelatinous texture.

Bird's nest is believed to be useful in maintaining youthfulness and enhancing complexion. It also supposedly stimulates the appetite and aids in digestion, and is supposedly high in proteins and nutrients to help speed up recovery from chronic illnesses.  It is considered a very good tonic for women.

I usually do not like tonics of any sort. But my mum's version of bird's nest is slightly sweet and is a dessert I like a lot. Tonic or not, this is something I don't mind having it often.

And of course, I don't mind anything that supposedly helps with my complexion too!

7 comments:

WendyinKK said...

Oooo.. bird's nest for breakfast.
I won't mind having that!

petite nyonya said...

Wow, you are so lucky :))!! I love bird's nest! Yummy! But so expensive to buy.

Wen-ai said...

Wah... lucky you! So envious! ;)

Malar said...

I have seen a documentary on bird nest long time ago! Very healthy drinks!

Open Kitchen Concept said...

Heheh, thanks all! Yes, I feel very lucky to have these so nicely made by my mum! :)

My Sinfonia said...

oh you lucky one!

Open Kitchen Concept said...

Hehe, Sinfonia. ;) I feel lucky too. Although nowadays you can buy them in a bottle, I still feel mum's ones are the best...