Nutritional Composition and Solubility of Edible Bird Nest (Aerodramus fuchiphagus).

Edible bird nest (EBN) produced by certain swiftlet species mainly, Aerodromus fuciphagus. The objectives of this study were to determine and compare the proximate and amino acid composition of EBN obtained from two regions in Peninsular Malaysia (Pahang-A & Terengganu-B). The solubility of edible bird nest with varying pH, temperature and time was also investigated in this study. The results showed that, the EBN contained crude protein accounted to 58.55% (A) and 55.48% (B), carbohydrate at 22.28% (A) & 25.79% (B), moisture content 15.90% (A) & 15.87% (B), fat, 0.67% (A) & and 0.29% (B) and ash contents 2.60% (A) & 2.57% (B) respectively. The major amino acids found in edible bird nest EBN were Glutamic acid (9.61%), Aspartic acid (6.34%), Lysine (5.44 %) and also Leucine (5.30%). The total solubility of EBN was also found to be increased when the temperature was increased increase with distilled water yielding the highest total solubility of EBN compared to others buffer (different pH) solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]