1. Yan Guan: After Zheng He went to the Western Ocean in the Ming Dynasty, he brought back the bird's nest and presented it to the imperial court. This tribute-level bird's nest has become a treasure of gifts between officialdom, so it is called "official swallow", also known as "Gong Yan" and "Bai Yan". The bird's nest, which can be called official swallow, is of good quality and small quantity, and is the top bird's nest. The official swallow was built in Jin Siyan. Its nest is white and smooth, and it is cup-shaped or half bowl-shaped. The average nest body is 30-50 mm thick, 5-65438 00 cm long and 4-8 cm wide, each weighing about 7-65438 02 g.. The official swallow is big, and the high-quality official swallow can reach 8- 10 times.
2. Mao Yan: It is a swallow that mixes its feathers with saliva to build a nest, so there are many impurities such as the feathers of beans.
3. Grass swallows: Grass swallows are swallows that can survive and nest in various environments. They use grass clippings mixed with saliva to build their nests. Grass swallows are cheaper, and most of the ready-to-eat bird's nests on the market are made of grass swallows.
According to the color of bird's nest, it can be divided into Bai Yan, Huangyan and Xueyan.
1. Jin Siyan eats different foods, and the bird's nest made of its saliva has different colors. According to color, it can be divided into Bai Yan, Huangyan and Xueyan.
2. Bai Yan: The off-white bird's nest is called Bai Yan. White bird's nest is not fire-resistant and can't be stewed for too long, otherwise it will melt. Domestic swallows are different from cave swallows in terms of fire resistance. The texture of cave swallows is relatively solid and their hair is relatively large. The stewed top-grade Dongyan is fragrant, smooth and refreshing.
3. Huangyan: Huangyan is generally grayish yellow or yellowish brown, because the saliva spit by swallows has a strong gel and is pale yellow after air oxidation. Illegal merchants will dye bird's nest with liquid medicine or turn yellow in the sun to pretend to be Huang Yan.
4. Blood Swallow: Blood Swallow comes from a nest built on the rock wall of a cave in Jin Siyan. There are three main reasons for the color of the nest: First, Jin Siyan eats algae, insects and flying ants in the mountains along the coast, so its saliva contains more minerals, and the nest is easily oxidized to red; Second, the minerals contained in the rock wall of Wannian gradually penetrated into the Bird's Nest through the contact surface between the bird's nest and the rock wall, and the natural minerals in the cave fell into the Bird's Nest, resulting in color changes; Third, the air in the cave is very stuffy, and the deeper it goes, the hotter it gets. The bird's nest containing minerals is oxidized by the hot air and becomes grayish red or orange red. Note that the blood swallow is not bright red, but orange red or gray red. Now the bright red blood swallows on the market are all smoked. Natural blood swallows are not so bright red, but they are reddish brown when they are dry. The blood swallow Huangyan can only come from Dongyan, and can only come from caves in Sabah, Indonesia and caves in Borneo. At present, there is still no new technology to make domestic swallows produce blood swallows. Many locals use wood soaked in potions to build their nests in their own yan houses, and the nests built on this wood quickly turn red due to chemical reactions.
According to the nesting site, bird's nest can be divided into cave swallow and house swallow.
1. Dongyan: Dongyan is a natural bird's nest collected from stone walls, caves, caves and cliffs. Affected by the natural climate and environment, Dongyan has a solid texture, dark color, mostly beige or yellowish brown, unattractive appearance and more hair, especially absorbing more minerals, with a large amount of hair, and being soaked for a long time, which is relatively refreshing.
2. Domestic swallow: Domestic swallow is a nest built by swallows raised at home. The swallow was picked at home. Jin Siyan is still wild. It goes out for food in the morning and comes back at night. Because the habitat environment is better, the bird's nest has less impurities and a relatively complete shape.
3. Domestic swallows are characterized by high quality, little hair, smooth taste, and large swelling when exposed to water (commonly known as hair tail), with an average of five to seven hair tails. The white swallow lamp is slippery, but it is not fire-resistant. It can be eaten after stewing for 30 to 45 minutes. If the stew takes too long (more than one or two hours, the bird's nest will dissolve in water and disappear).
Cave swallows were picked in caves, but now they are gradually replaced by domestic swallows because of the scarcity of production and the growing voice of environmental protection. The swallow was picked at home. Jin Siyan is still wild. It goes out for food in the morning and comes back at night.
The texture and appearance of bird's nest can be divided into bird's nest cup, bird's nest strip, bird's nest slice, bird's nest cake and bird's nest horn.
Zhan Yan has the best nutritional value, taste, quality, hairstyle and appearance, with few magazines and cleanliness. Swallow cups are naturally taken out, so their shapes and sizes will be different. And there are many impurities and feathers in harmony, or they need to be scattered to remove feathers and impurities, so they will be made into strips or blocks of Yan for sale, or made into Yan cakes of different shapes. The nutritional value of these strips, lumps and cakes is not as high as that of Zhan Yan. Yanjiao is the hardest part at both ends of Zhan Yan, that is, the base that Jin Siyan stuck to the wall when nesting. The taste is fragrant and refreshing, and the soaking time is relatively long (six to eight hours). Normally, Yanjiao is cut off and soaked from Zhan Yan respectively.
Bird's nest quality grade
The picking period of bird's nest is usually three months. The nest built in the first stage is the first stage, from 1 month to April every year, and then it is called the second and third stages. The first stage of the bird's nest is suitable for the reproduction of tiny animals and plants because of abundant rain. Jin Siyan has plenty of food, a particularly strong body, a particularly developed saliva secretion, little impurities, a large lamp shape and a thick body, and the most and most precious hair. As for the second phase, it was the second time that swallows built nests, and the local area began to enter the dry season. Jin Siyan's food sources are reduced, the nests are sparse, the lines are not so thin and dense, and the shapes of lights and hairs are not as good as the first phase. In the third stage, it has entered the severe drought season. Jin Siyan's saliva secretion is slow, feathers are easy to fall off, impurities will be more, cups will be smaller, and hair will be worse. The first swallow is better than the second swallow, and the second swallow is better than the third swallow.