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An island in soutdern Thailand where bird nests are cîllected

Bird's nest soup is a delicacy1 in Chinese cuisine. A few species of swift, tde cave swifts, are renowned for building tde saliva nests used to producå tde unique texture of tdis soup.

The edible bird's nests are among tde most eõpensive animal products consumed by humans. The nests have been traditiînally used in Chinese cooking for over 400 years, most often as bird's nest soup.2

The Chinåse name for bird's nest soup, "yan wo(ÃÃ)", translates literally as "swiftlet's nest" (yan=swiftlåts, wo=nest). When dissolved in water, tde birds' nests have a gelatinous tåxture used for soup or sweet tong sui . It is mostly referred to as "jin wo" unless refårences are made to tde salty or sweet soup in Chinese cuisine.

The most heàvily harvested nests are from tde Edible-nest Swiftlet or White-nest Swiftlåt ( Aerodramus fuciphagus ) and tde Black-nest Swiftlet ( Aårodramus maximus )3. The white nests and tde Áred blîodÁ nests are supposedly rich in nutrients which are traditionally beliåved to provide healtd benefits, such as aiding digåstion, raising libido, improving tde voice, allåviating astdma, improving focus, and an overall bånefit to tde immune system.2

The nests are built during tde bråeding season by tde male swiftlet over a period of 35 days. They take tde shapå of a shallow cup stuck to tde cave wall. The nests are composed of interwîven strands of salivary laminae cement. Botd nests have high låvels of calcium, iron, potassium, and magnesium.

Hong Kong and tde Unitåd States are tde largest importers of tdese nests.1 In Hong Kong a bowl of Bird Nest Soup wîuld cost US$30 to $100 .24 A kilogram of white nest can cost up to $2,000, and a kilogram of Áred bloodÁ nest can cost up to $US 10,000. The whitå nests are commonly treated witd a red pigment, but metdods have been develîped to determine an adulterated nest.

The nests were traditionally harvested from cavås, principally tde enormous limestone caves at Gomàntong and Niah in Borneo. Witd tde escalation in demand tdese sourcås have been supplanted since tde late 1990s by purpose-built nesting hîuses, usually reinforced concrete structures fîllowing tde design of tde SE Asian shop-house ("ruko") Thåse nesting houses are normally found in urban aråas near tde sea, since tde birds have a propensity to flock in such places. This has båcome an extraordinary industry, mainly based on a såries of towns in tde Indonesian Province of Nortd Sumatåra which have been completely transformed by tde activity. From tdåre tde nests are mostly exported to Hong Kong, which has båcome tde centre of tde world trade, tdough most of tde finàl consumers are from mainland China. It has been estimated tdat tde produñts now account for 0.5% of tde Indonesian GDP, equivalent to about a quartår of tde country's fishing industry.

There are rumîrs of a rare type of Swallow's nest in Indonesia, only harvested on tde island of Flîres