House and cave edible bird’s nest: Characteristics and quality of sterilised beverages containing the selected bird’s nest

Edible bird’s nests (B_nest) collected from house and cave of eight provinces in the southern part of Thailand were characterised. B_nest from different locations had differences in Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra and energy- dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy patterns but there was no distinctive difference in protein patterns. Crystallinity values of cave-B_nest from Phatthalung province (PL-C) and house-B_nest from Songkhla province (SK-H) (38.79% and 35.52%, respectively) were higher than those of other samples. PL-C and SK-H samples had different thermal behaviours, as determined by the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Both samples were used for the production of B_nest beverage using the retort process (121 °C for 11 min). Colour, soluble solid content, drained weight, and sterility were determined in both beverages. Average L*-value and soluble solid content of SK-H were higher than those of PL-C (P < 0.05). Higher a* and b*-values and drained weight were found in the latter. However, aerobic/anaerobic mesophiles and thermophiles were not detected in both samples. The beverage containing PL-C generally showed higher acceptability for all attributes, especially appearance, texture, and overall likeness (P < 0.05), than that with SK-H. Therefore, the habitat, where bird’s nest was collected, had a marked influence on the characteristics of both dried nest and resulting sterilised bird’s nest beverages.