The main active ingredients in bird's nest
are collagen and sialic acid,
of which the protein content
accounts for about 50% of the total nutrient content
So, pure bird's nests have a
special light protein flavor.
Most of the bird's nests that we can buy in the market
have been picked and cleaned,
and after unpacking
we will smell a faint fishy odor,
which is in fact the smell of protein.
As a protein condensation,
which contains a certain amount of water,
it should have a faint fishy odor by itself,
which is the basic flavor of bird's nest ingredients.
Different brands of bird's nests have different water content,
and the intensity of the fishy flavor also varies.
Bird's Nest Taste No.2: Slightly Ammonia Taste (or similar to Lime Taste, Musty Taste)
The raw material of Bird's Nest is the saliva of swiftlet,
Swiftlet is mainly distributed in Southeast Asia,
they like **, dark and hot environment,
Traditional Cave Bird's Nests are all in **, dark and gloomy environments,
So the taste of the raw material of bird's nest won't be any better. raw materials will not taste as good.
Even for house swiftlet,
it is in a swiftlet house with only windows for ventilation,
lime on all sides,
and the roof is built with timber,
which is made by swallows through a few months.
And the environment of cave swiftlet is even worse.
The interior environment of the swiftlet house is built according to the natural cave temperature,
light and darkness, dryness and humidity,
with an average temperature of 30℃,
air humidity of about 90%,
and the chicks used to live inside the nests.
When the nests are harvested in such an environment,
such contamination of ammonia odor is of course unavoidable.
Of course, each person has a different sense of smell,
some people think it is similar to the smell of lime,
similar to the smell of mold,
similar to the smell of feathers on the swallows.
But after soaking and picking the feathers
this particular smell will naturally diminish.
Bird's Nest Flavor No.3: Other Flavors of Bird's Nest
In the bird's nest processing process,
as the dehydration becomes more thorough,
the more faint the flavor can be smelled,
particularly the ammonia flavor formed in the swiftlet house environment,
the degree of attenuation is more thorough.
A pure bird's nest that is thoroughly dehydrated should
have a faint fishy odor.
If the bird's nests are kept
or even have a certain amount of extra water added to them,
the fishy and ammonia flavor of the bird's nests will be a bit stronger.
If other methods are used in the processing of bird's nests,
such as chemicals, edible gums, preservatives, etc.
The flavor of bird's nests will be affected by these as well,
so the exact flavor,
depends on the flavor of the added non-bird's nest substances themselves.
Bird's Nest Flavor No. 4: Bird's Nest is similar to egg white flavor after it is stewed