How to distinguish real and fake bird's nest

According to Dr. Truong Hong Son, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Applied Medicine, bird's nest has high nutritional content and is good for health. This food strengthens bones and brain health, improves the digestive system, and strengthens the immune system.

Normally, consumers find it difficult to distinguish between real and fake bird's nests through observation. This can lead to buying fake, poor quality products. Fake bird's nests can be made from agar powder, starch, egg whites, vermicelli and some compounds of unknown origin.

Using fake bird's nest not only does not benefit the body but also affects overall health, even causing some unwanted effects.

Edible bird's nests have high nutritional content and are good for health. (Illustration photo)

How to distinguish real and fake bird's nest

We can rely on some of the criteria below to help distinguish real bird's nest from fake, poor quality bird's nest.

Color, bird's nest fiber

There are 3 types of real bird's nest on the market: white bird's nest (opaque white), pink bird's nest (light pink or can turn yellow, orange), blood bird's nest (characteristic red). Fake bird's nest is bright white, if held up to light, the bird's nest can be seen to be transparent. In addition, when observing real bird's nest, it is easy to see the nest fibers intertwined.

Taste

The way to check real and fake bird's nest that many people apply is to taste it. Accordingly, you take a small strand of bird's nest and taste it, if it is not too sweet, it feels like egg white, then it is real bird's nest. If it is sweet, you may have bought a poor quality bird's nest because it is often mixed with sugar to create stickiness.

Elasticity of bird's nest

You can check if the bird’s nest is real or fake by gently squeezing it. If it feels crispy and easily broken, it is a sign of real bird’s nest. Fake bird’s nest is mixed with many other substances so it is often softer and more elastic.

Soak in water

This is a simple and highly accurate method to identify real and fake bird's nest. Soaked in water, real bird's nest will gradually expand, still retain its original color, and smell fishy like egg white. If the bird's nest is dissolved in water, and at the same time changes color, has a strange smell from additives, it is fake and poor quality.

Notes when using bird's nest

Experts recommend that bird's nest is a dish that helps increase the body's resistance, but using the wrong dosage or using it incorrectly can be counterproductive. For healthy people, eating bird's nest regularly may not affect their health too much. However, the elderly, children, and sick people who eat too much bird's nest will have a negative impact on their digestive system in particular and their health in general. The reason is that 45-55% of bird's nest is protein, eating too much protein is not good for the body.

Therefore, the elderly and sick people should only eat bird's nest 2-3 times/week, about 3g each time. In addition, experts recommend eating bird's nest regularly and long-term. Children under one year old should not eat bird's nest in any form because their digestive system is not fully developed. Children cannot absorb all the nutrients from bird's nest.

Children aged 1-3 can practice eating bird's nest or drinking bird's nest water. However, because bird's nest is a nutritious and high-protein food, parents need to pay attention to the child's dosage to avoid taking in too many nutrients at one time, which is not good for the body. At this stage, parents can let their children get used to and eat bird's nest about 1-2 grams each time, 3 times a week.

Children aged 3-10 begin the stage of brain and physical development, which is the most suitable age to eat bird's nest. Bird's nest provides enough energy and nutrients for children, so they can eat 2-3 grams each time, 3 times a week.

Nhu Loan

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/cach-phan-biet-yen-that-gia-ar909635.html