Bird's nest as the name suggests is indeed what it literally means, a nest of swallows. Bird's nests that can be called bird's nests are actually nests made by some of the rainbirds and swiftlets with well-developed salivary glands, by mixing downy feathers and other substances with the saliva they secrete.

The salivary glands of these swallows secrete a gelatinous saliva, which acts like a glue to hold the down feathers and other materials in place, and ultimately makes the nest shape. The swallow nests made in this way will become translucent after molding under the action of the gum, possessing great toughness and will be very comfortable to live in.

Regular bird's nest manufacturers obtain bird's nests either by "harvesting" them from the wild, or by artificially constructing swiftlet houses to "breed" swiftlets and provide them with a comfortable living environment through artificial means, so that they can make swiftlet nests in their houses. The swiftlet houses are built to provide a comfortable living environment for the swiftlets to make their nests, and then they are uniformly "harvested" after the nests are ready.

The freshly "picked" bird's nests contain a lot of velvet feathers and other impurities. Therefore, it requires a very complex set of procedures, including steaming, soaking, and removing impurities, etc. In particular, this step requires the removal of impurities, which is a very important part of the process. Especially for the de-hybridization, this step needs to be done in a very delicate way, which is very difficult to be done by machines, and therefore can only be done by hand a little bit. This is one of the reasons why bird's nest is so expensive.

The key points for identifying genuine and fake bird's nest

1, Look: Bird's nest should be filamentous in structure, and it is not a genuine bird's nest if it consists of pieces of structure; pure bird's nest, no matter when it is soaked in water or viewed under the light, is not completely transparent, but translucent.

2. Smell: Bird's nest has a unique fragrance, but no strong odor. Those with peculiar odor, fishy or greasy taste are fakes.

3, touch: Bird's nest has a certain degree of elasticity, take a small piece of bird's nest to soak in water, soften it and then take the silk strip and pull it, the elasticity is poor, and the one that breaks when you pull it is a fake; rub it with your fingers, and there is no elasticity that can be rubbed into a paste-like shape, which is also a fake.

4. Burn: Use fire to ignite the dried bird's nest pieces, if it is real bird's nest, it will never produce any violent sound of sparks.