The biggest question in every foodie’s mind is that What is the most expensive food? Well ever thought that human beings might be consuming bird’s nest. Yes, you heard that right, bird’s nest and that too made of bird’s saliva! sounds tacky right? Like How can we eat bird’s saliva? But the fact is that it is the most expensive food in the world.
Aerodramus, one of the four genera of swiftlets birds who uses their gooey saliva to build a nest and very astonishingly we eat this nest. More specifically the saliva is solidified saliva although other materials such as vegetation or feathers may also be utilized but in comparatively very less amount.
This soup has high nutritional value with rich in calcium, iron, and magnesium. This palatable soup is rare due to which it is among one of the most expensive animal products consumed by human. These nests are sold at prices up to about US $2000 per kilogram. Edible birds nest soup is consumed for over 1000 years from now.
It can be used as an ingredient in many other dishes as well such as cooked with rice to produce rice porridge or just bird’s nest boiled rice. A bird’s nest jelly is also commercially available. It can also be added to egg tarts and desserts. They are hard initially but form a jelly like consistency when boiled. It has a exquisite flavor and differs in color from white to dark brown. Like the shark fin soup, it is also considered as the delicate ingredient.
Birds Saliva: Details
It is indeed very shocking that the answer to the question What is the most expensive food is a bird’s nest and that to made of saliva. The bird’s nest is taken from two Aerodramus species one from the white nest swiflet Aerodramus (fuciphagus) and the black nest swiflet Aerodramus (maximus). The white nest and the red nests are rich in nutrients which provide health benefits such as: aiding digestion, improving the voice, alleviating asthma,enhances body metabolism, improving focus, and an overall benefit to the immune system. It is good for skin too. Chinese believes it promotes good health . The material is also used in Traditional Chinese Medicine and in Traditional Vietnamese Medicine. Bird’s nest can promote reproduction and regeneration of human cells.
The nest takes 25-35 days to build. It has a shallow cup-like shape. Also, now it is very popular throughout Asia. A single bowl of it can cost between $30 and $100. The price may differ according to the grading of bird’s nest as well as a diet of the bird.
Red Cave nests are found in limestone caves in a birds nest concession island in Thailand. Ko Lao Liang Tai island, in southern Thailand, where bird nests are collected. Birds that are distributed from the Indian Ocean, through Southeast Asia including Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia and North Australia to the Pacific. These birds are nurtured there. Hence, from these places the nests are mostly exported to Hong Kong, which has become the centre of the world trade, though most of the final consumers are from China itself. When we hear the question that What is the most expensive food ,the most likely answers would be some sort of pizza or burger or some other dish but the truth is that it is bird’s saliva and that is surely hard to believe.
What is the most expensive food in the world? Bird’s saliva. Interesting! Hope this information was helpful.
Stay tuned for more such interesting facts and worthy knowledge.
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