Now before you go hopping about wondering why people would be insane enough to not just eat bird’s saliva but to pay insane prices for them too, here’s a few things to bear in mind about the Edible-nest swiftlets nest.
Facts about the nests:
- The saliva constructed nests that shape like little cuplets/bowls are very very expensive. I kid you not that a kilogram of white nest can cost up to $2,000 USD, and a kilogram of “red blood” nest can cost up to $10,000 USD.
- The little nests are only about the size of a human ear and come in the various “colours” of. white, golden, black, or red.
- white nests basically means the nests are very clean and contain pure saliva;
- black nests aren’t as pure and contain plant parts and feathers;
- red are said to be that colour due to the blood from the birds’ salivary glands,but who is to rule out the fact/possibility that the shades of colours of the saliva aren’t the result of the bird’s dinner (insects), or even the minerals leaching from the cave wall.
- Swiflets build their nests very high up (90m) in pitch dark caves making the harvesting process a very delicate (not to harm the birds or eggs) and life endangering one (traditionally, harvesters just use rattan ladders to climb the cave walls to get to the nests. The sensitivity of the birds and natural environment f the cave simply does not allow for much other choice.
- Death of harvesters as a result of falls during the harvest are not rare.
Prized commodity
You’d probably wish for the day when your own saliva and I do mean saliva in every literal sense of the word (the watery secretions from your salivary and oral mucous glands) could fetch you $10,000. But unless you can demonstrate and prove your saliva to have restorative and remedial properties with the specific ability to perform the following, your chances are slim to none:
1. Enhances the regeneration of cells and tissues (does wonders for preserving the skin and healing dodgy bits).
2. Improves the body’s immune system’s function (makes your body a better illness fighting machine)
3. Improves the body’s tolerance toward the damage caused by X-rays and other radioactive reagents (less radiation damage)
Next up tomorrow: Bird’s Nest- worth more than its weight in gold
