Amazing Benefits of Eating Balut

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Balut is a Filipino delicacy that is mostly described as boiled FDE or fertilized duck egg.

Every culture has one of those odd, bizarre, head-scratcher dishes but few are as initially off-putting as a balut egg. It is one of Asia’s delicacies for countries like Cambodia, China and Vietnam but is most common and popular in Philippines.

These boiled fertilized duck eggs are an everyday street food in the Philippines.

The word “balut” (buh-loot) mainly means wrap, which perfectly describe this not so exotic food because it is wrapped and covered by a shell thus you need to eat it from the shell. 

Inside of the boiled balut eggs contain a nearly developed embryo of a duck surrounded by cooked yolk and the bottom of the balut egg is all white, hard as rubber. The embryo’s development differs from days, it could be 5 days, 10 days, 15 days, 17 days, 18 days or 21 days before it is then cooked and served. 

 

HOW TO COOK BALUT EGGS?

 

  • Choose eggs that have been allowed to age, depends on your preference, it could be 5 days or not more than 17 days so the duck fetus won’t have a developed beak, bones or feathers. The younger the egg, the less developed fetus in it.
  • Put the chosen balut eggs in a deep pot and cover them completely with water.
  • Let it boil for half or an hour depends the amount of eggs you’ve putted in the pot.
  •  Turn off the heat and drain the water from the pot. Covered again the pot and let the balut eggs sit for at least minutes. Balut eggs are best eaten fresh out of the cooking pot.

In many cases, some eat balut after being boiled but balut eggs have been also cooked in different dishes. 

HOW TO EAT BALUT EGGS?

  1. Scoop one or more balut eggs out from the pot or from the hot water and place it into a shallow bowl with a warm water.
  2. Crack the upper-side shell of the balut egg with the edge of the spoon or you can crack it into any hard material like in a table or chair or in the wall.
  3. Once cracked, you can sip or drink the broth.
  4. Commonly, after sipping the broth, you may sprinkle some salt or vinegar or a mixture of vinegar and chili oil into the top inside of the balut egg.
  5. Then, you eat it. You may eat it as whole or you may first eat the yolk before the fetus. But, best way to eat is by not looking what’s inside of it and just savor the taste.

 

There are many ways to eat balut eggs like the people in the Philippines who love to seasoned balut with a mixture of vinegar, garlic, salt, and chili. In Cambodia, they seasoned it with garnish made of ground pepper and lime juice and in Vietnam they used mint leaves, ground pepper, lemon juice, and salt to seasoned it.

If you fear eating freshly boiled balut eggs, then worry no more because balut eggs can be less of an ordeal if cooked in a different way. 

RECIPE TIPS FOR BALUT

Or you may also try this recipe…

You can also check out some Healthy Native Filipino Recipes that comes with a Panlasang Pinoy.

People don’t just love balut because of its strange tasty flavor but mostly because it also has some health benefits. 

CHECK OUT THE HEALTH BENEFITS YOU CAN GET IN EATING BALUT!

1. ENERGY BOOSTER

The calories present in balut served as an energy booster to your body by helping your body to work, cells to live and internal organs to function.

2. SUPPORTS IMMUNE SYSTEM

The vitamin C and beta carotene present in balut are both powerful antioxidants that helps clean free radicals from your blood stream thus create a big help in supporting your immune system. 

3. HAS APHRODISIAC PROPERTIES

Balut has been believed to have an aphrodisiac effect due to the result of consuming lots of calories, protein, calcium and cholesterol. Though, no scientific studies prove its authenticity yet. 

4. HIGH IN PROTEINS

Balut is an excellent source of proteins that is an important part of the human diet to help building blocks in repairing and building the tissues in your body like the bones, muscles, skin, blood and cartilages.

5. CONTAINS IRON 

Balut has great amount of iron that is helpful in your body’s blood circulation and will help your body last throughout the day.

6. CONTAINS CALCIUM

The calcium present in balut plays a big role in strengthening your bones and teeth thus helping you to prevent and protecting from osteoporosis and cancer.

(See also: Top 10 Cancer-Causing Foods)

7. FATTY ACIDS

Balut is rich in essential fatty acids that is helpful in playing some key roles in organ health and overall hormonal activity.

8. NIACIN, RIBOFLAVIN AND THIAMINE

These three compounds found in balut helps your body by metabolizing the energy.

9. CONTAINS STEM CELLS

Consuming balut may means you also consumed an embryonic stem cells that demonstrates a salubrious effect on overall health, energy and youthful appearance. 

(See also: The Rising Filipino Food)

The common flavor of balut eggs is a blend of duck and egg, with a few strange flavors. Most people find it unappetizing for it had a disgusting reputation to those who haven’t eaten it, but one should decide to eat and what it tastes like.

There’s a saying for balut that “Once tasted, always wanted”. How’s that? Go try!

This Filipino delicacy has many nutrients that are beneficial to the body but it also has its own downside. Unfortunately, balut eggs is rich in cholesterol.

(See also: Signs of Too Much Body Cholesterol)

While many believed that balut eggs are healthy in the body, indeed in some cases, scientist still need to crack the mysterious nutritional value of balut.

(Read next: The Origin Of Filipino Food Recipes)

DISCLAIMER:

Please be advised that all of the information on this website is based on research and is provided for informational purposes only. Visitor who either use this Site and rely on any information do so at their own risk.

 

References:

Fox News. Medicine Hunter. “Eating Balut: Going Too Far?”

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