The price of bird's nest depends on the purchase channel.
Bird's nest has been favored by many royal families and nobles since ancient times, and even madly sought after. So what are the factors that determine the market of bird's nest? Beauty, nourishing yin and moisturizing lungs are the initial understanding of the efficacy of bird's nest by the public. Of course, the high market price of bird's nest is also a price that people put on bird's nest. But with the rapid development of the economy, more and more people can afford to eat bird's nest, and bird's nest has entered the homes of many ordinary people. What should be the reasonable price of bird's nest in general? The price of bird's nest is a topic that everyone is very concerned about:
Swiftlets belong to the family Ornithidae, Swiftlet. They are migratory birds that fly from Siberia and other places to the natural caves on the tropical coast from December to March each year to breed. Swiftlets are smaller than the swallows we usually see, with gray-brown back feathers with golden luster, long pointed wings, and four toes growing forward. The larynx of this swallow has well-developed mucus glands, and the saliva secreted can be solidified in the air, which is the main material for their nesting. Swiftlets lay eggs in March and April every year. Before spawning, they fly over the sea and high in the sky every day, sometimes up to thousands of meters, through clouds and fog, sucking rain and dew, feeding on insects, seaweed, whitebait and other things. After digestion, it burrows into steep, shady, high-altitude cliff crevices and deep caves, and spits to build a nest. It takes about 20 days to build. The bird's nest is half-moon-shaped, shaped like a human ear, with a diameter of 6-7 cm, a thick base and a thin profile, weighing about 10-15 grams. The outside of the nest is neat, and the inside is rough, like a loofah network. The whole bird's nest is white, crystal clear, elastic, and attached to the rocky cliffs. It has always been known as "rare and famous medicine" and "Oriental treasure". Bird's nest recognized by medicine for its medicinal value of nourishing yin and nourishing beauty, relieving cough and treating asthma, nourishing kidneys and nourishing qi is produced in Indonesia and Malaysia, the two top producing areas. In terms of brands, the two bird's nest brands with the best reputation among domestic consumers are Beijing Tong Ren Tang and Fulinmen. After the bird's nest is picked, it has to go through complex processing such as steaming, soaking, removing impurities, picking hairs, and drying to make a finished bird's nest, including bird's nest, bird strips, swallow cakes, and bird's silk. Among them, the bird's nest is a large and high-quality bird's nest that retains its original shape after removing impurities, and the price is particularly expensive. Looking at the price of bird's nest in the national market, prices range from 3 yuan per gram to more than 100 yuan per gram. Sometimes, as a consumer, I don't know what to do! Is the expensive bird's nest better, or is the cheap one more affordable? There is a saying: cheap things are not necessarily good, and expensive things are not necessarily bad. The prices of bird's nests on the market vary widely, which is mainly determined by different purchase channels and quality grades.
The factors that determine the price of bird's nest
1. Bird's nest prices are classified according to grades. House swallows do not have dragon tooth lamps or 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A or the like in some origins such as Indonesia. This division is the necessary classification of Hong Kong traders and marine traders according to the market. The division of origin is limited to triangles and bowls. Therefore, many friends who have been to Indonesia or have bought bird's nest in first-class retailers are unlikely to hear dragon tooth lamps in their mouths. Generally go to Indonesia to purchase, and the other party only prices according to the width of a few fingers. How much is a gram of bird's nest. Such as 4 fingers, 3 fingers, 2.5 fingers, etc. ( According to the definition of most merchants in the current market, the dragon tooth lamp should be the swallow lamp with bird's horn surpassing, which is more similar to the goose lamp). The above claims are all finished bird's nests, and before the bird's nest is picked, many traders buy the original lamp first. Mao Yan is basically divided into light hair, medium light hair, medium hair, medium heavy hair, heavy hair, and swallow horn according to the number of impurities (swallow horn is not as nutritious as many merchants say, but everyone says so, so it has become a constant statement)
2. Bird's nest prices are divided according to the picking season: in the place of origin, bird's nest does not have a head period or the like. It is only divided into the rainy season and the rainy season. Bird's nest in the rainy season is cleaner than the dry season. The price of bird's nest of this quality is also higher. Light-haired bird's nest is in the rainy season, and the dry season has relatively more bird's nest hair.
3. The price of bird's nest depends on the origin of the bird's nest: 80% of the world's bird's nest raw materials are produced in Indonesia, and the bird's nest in Indonesia is mainly house swallow. Since house swallows are golden swallows nesting in artificially built swallow houses, the attachment surface of the bird's nest is a wooden board, and there is no metal element exceeding the standard or containing heavy metal elements and other food safety hazards. And it is cleaned all year round, and the picking cycle is fixed. The bird's nest itself is the least contaminated, and there is no need to bleach and deodorize, and there is no danger of chemical residues. House swallow swallows are whiter in color, less impurities, and softer in taste than other inferior raw materials. They are the best delicacy in bird's nest.
How to Choose Bird's Nest
Because bird's nest is a rare and scarce ingredient, the price is expensive, and the huge benefits drive some outlaws to make and sell fake bird's nest, or shoddy it. And consumers often find it difficult to distinguish the real from the fake because they rarely come into contact with bird's nest, and they are likely to be deceived. Here are the basic methods for choosing bird's nest:
First, look. Pure bird's nest should be a filamentous structure, whether it is soaked or viewed under light, it is not completely transparent, but translucent, with a yellowish color and luster.
Second, smell. High-quality bird's nest is rich in natural protein, so it has a faint natural egg white smell. Third, burn. Light the dried bird's nest slices with fire. If it is a real bird's nest, it will never produce any loud splashes.
Fourth, soaking. After soaking the bird's nest in water for 3 to 4 hours, it can be 5 to 6 times larger on average, and the high-quality bird's nest can even be 7 to 8 times larger. It is inevitable that the bird's nest picked by hand has a little fluff and impurities. If the bird's nest has no impurities at all, it means that the bird's nest is processed and cleaned with hydrogen peroxide. The processing of bird's nest with hydrogen peroxide may cause the loss of nutrients in the bird's nest and also damage human health.
How to maintain (store) bird's nest
1. Bird's nest can be placed in the fresh-keeping compartment of the refrigerator, or dried with a fan and extractor on the day of purchase (but do not dry it directly in the sun, as it will affect the quality of the bird's nest itself), and then put it in the fresh-keeping box for a long time.
2. If the bird's nest is found to be slightly moldy due to improper handling, you can wipe it with a toothbrush and add a little water to air dry it.
3. If the bird's nest has become moldy to black, it can no longer be eaten, because the bird's nest has been eroded by bacteria and the nutrients in it have been lost. Bird's nest is a very precious food and must be well preserved.
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