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Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Birds Nest in Young Coconut 椰青炖燕窝 and a Giveaway!

THIS IS A SPONSORED POST


This is going to be a long post, with freebies and discounts.

Bird's Nest.... what comes to your mind?

Beauty? Luxury? Delicacy? Healthy?
Or smelly? Cruelty?

The Chinese believe that consuming bird's nest promotes good health, especially for the skin. It is high in glycoproteins and sialic acid, and that promote youthfulness by enhancing skin complexion. It comes with a high price tag and hence, it is a luxury. The high price tag drives human to risk their lives for it.


Back in those days, even nowadays,  bird's nests are harvested from caves, like Niah Cave in Sarawak and Gomantong Cave in Sabah and if you have seen how it's done, it will send shivers down your spine. The bamboo pillars and structures are high up in the caves and going around on those bamboo structures is like training to be a tight rope walker. I heard from my Sarawakian friends, that it's not uncommon to hear of people losing their lives while harvesting wild birds' nests in Niah Cave. And the harvesting is sometimes done while the swiftlets are still in their nests. Baby birds are thrown down the cave floor so that they can collect the nests as soon as they can. It's sad, but true. I refused to consume birds nest after my visit to Niah Cave in 1999. Seriously. I just couldn't bring myself to support an industry that takes lives.

I'm glad that in recent years, there are birds nests that are collected from nesting houses. Birds Nest is tasty and I don't want to stop consuming it. It's just that I want to support a blood industry.








I received a box of EasyNest birds's nest from Kaico Health. When I opened the packaging, there were 5 pieces in it. They looked very clean. I found the nests to be on the brittle side. I was told that it is because EasyNest is 100% dried, compared to conventional bird’s nest which contains at least 10% moisture, to ensure there is no bacterial or fungal growth. So, there was a reason to it.



The company directed me to read their website to gain some information.

EasyNest Bird’s Nest are obtained from house nests only located in unpolluted locations to ensure healthy swiftlets that can produce clean premium quality nests. The nests are only harvested after the young swiftlets have matured and left their nests with no killing on young swiftlets or dumping of eggs, unlike cave nests. Each and every strand of bird’s nest is meticulously cleaned over 4 rounds, to ensure the bird’s nest is pure for consumption. EasyNest is prepared using a patented technology which unlocks the glycoprotein in bird’s nest, to enable 2X more absorption in human body compared to conventional bird’s nest which contains added chemicals. Totally no bleaching nor added preservatives in EasyNest. EasyNest is verified by independent licensed labs on food safety(see lab report), unlike conventional bird’s nest which is unverified and food safety is doubtful, think bird flu.... scary!




Facts aside, to me, the taste and aroma is very important. So.... I tried cooking it.

With birds nest as a luxurious food, I will choose a gentle way of cooking it. That is, double boil or some call it double steam. Many of us do not own a double boiler vessel nowadays. And so.... I tried double boiling it inside a coconut instead!


I've heard of Bird's Nest in Coconut Milk 椰汁炖燕窝 from Hong Kong shows and personally I find that kind of wasteful. Good Birds Nest have a wonderful aroma that will be hidden with the strong flavour of coconut milk. Some like to add pandan leaves to it. If the birds nest is inferior and smells fishy, go ahead use pandan. But remember, a good bird nest will smell wonderful on its own. An unforgettable aroma.

EasyNest Bird's Nest can be used right away, no soaking, no rinsing because it is very clean. I used a young coconut to cook it, and that's just it. No sugar, no additional ingredients. Healthy and yummy!



Birds Nest in Young Coconut 椰青炖燕窝

by WendyinKK

2-3 slices of EasyNest Bird's Nest or more if you like
1 Young coconut

1. Remove the lid from the young coconut and pour out the clear coconut juice.
2. Place short steaming rack into a pot.
3. Place dry EasyNest Bird's Nest into the coconut. Place the coconut into the pot, and fill the pot (not the coconut) with water until it is 1/3 up the coconut. Bring the water to a boil.
4. Put the coconut juice into a small saucepan and bring to a boil and then pour into the coconut.
5. Replace the lid and double boil for 1 hour on medium heat.
6. Serve warm or cold, as preferred.

*If you choose to use a slow cooker (without the coconut shell), Put 300ml coconut juice and 2-3 pieces dry EasyNest birds nest into slow cooker and let it come to a boil on high heat. Then reduce to low heat and let it cook for 30 minutes.
** Add rock sugar if the coconut juice is not sweet enough for you




Verdict: Wonderful aroma. Texture was good. Colour is off white, because it's not bleached. Oh yum!
I wish you are here with me to enjoy the aroma.




Click this pic to find out the price for EasyNest (10pcs pack)

EasyNest birds nest is only available online from Kaico Health, the sole online authorised distributor for GlycoFood products. KaicoHealth guarantees the authenticity of products sold here and is fully backed by the manufacturer. Better don't compromise on food safety!

Kaico Health is giving away 3 boxes of EasyNest bird's nest (5pcs each). It will make a great gift for the Lunar New Year. Two of the boxes is up for winning here, and the other on Kaico Health's Facebook. It is also available for online purchase (scroll down for promo code).

The giveaway this time is only for readers with a Malaysian address as there are import and export restrictions on Bird's Nest.








And if you want to have another shot at winning a box of EasyNest (5pcs), 

Visit KaicoHealth on Facebook and join their giveaway contest.


Good luck and good health with KaicoHealth


click on this picture to redeem promo code



a Rafflecopter giveaway





6 comments:

  1. Hi Wendy, I try a few times to submit the link for this giveaway, my name doesn't appeared in the entries list. I am using both hand phone and laptop to try. It result the same. May I know is there any maximum of participant allowed to participate?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Answer: http://www.kaicohealth.com.my/bird-s-nest/easynest
    Name: Ng Choi Yen

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Wendy,

    Does our name appear straight away after we have submitted our details in the link?

    After I submitted, there's always a message appearing : Link already existed in this collection!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Wendy, I am the one reporting to you that I had tried a few times and my name doesn't appeared in the list. I saw you did a test "wendytest" after that. I am still not able to see my name despite I have tried using Google Chrome, IE and firefork. May I know what exactly I need to do in order to submit my name?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Wendy, It's me again. I finally manage to troubleshoot myself. Basically it has a bugs in your setting in "linking up". As long as the URL field is duplicate, it can't be added. For example, only one reader can key in RM350 (exact this words). I try use something else and it added successfully now. Just to share you my finding. The "URL" box is case sensitive, so if next reader key in Rm350...it works. Thank You.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mee Mee,
    Thank you very much for highligting the problem.
    I have inserted a new giveaway form for this contest.
    Hope you will submit an entry :)

    PL Leong,
    sorry for the inconvenience.
    A new form is created already


    Choi Yen,
    sorry, entries via comments not accepted

    ReplyDelete

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