Harvesting Edible Bird's Nests in Caves

The Gomantong Caves in Sabah, Malaysia, are renowned for being one of the primary locations for harvesting edible bird nests. These nests, often used in soups, are created by swiftlets from their saliva. During the cooking process, the nests dissolve, imparting a gel-like texture to the soup. Bird's nests can be either black (containing impurities) or white (clean).

While the production of bird's nests became more industrialized in the 1990s, with the construction of multi-story buildings for swiftlets, the Gomantong Caves still adhere to traditional harvesting methods.

Advertisement