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Balut ( , ; also spelled as balot) is a fertilized developing egg
embryo An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male spe ...
that is boiled or steamed and eaten from the shell. It is commonly sold as street food in South China and
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
n countries, notably the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
,
Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
( km, ពងទាកូន, ) and
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
( vi, trứng vịt lộn). The term comes from the
Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
language. The length of incubation before the egg is cooked is a matter of local preference, but generally ranges between 14 and 21 days.


Description

A balut is a fertilized bird egg (usually a duck) which is incubated for a period of 30 to 53 days, depending on the local culture, and then steamed. The contents are eaten directly from the shell. Balut that is incubated for longer periods have a well-developed embryo and the features of the duckling are recognizable. The partially-developed embryo bones are soft enough to chew and swallow as a whole. The
mallard The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Arge ...
duck (''Anas platyrhynchus''), also known as the "Pateros duck", is often used to make balut. Balut is common street food in the Philippines and other localities, and is also sold in stores and malls. It is a relatively cheap source of protein and calcium. Balut was introduced to the Philippines by the Chinese in 1565 or around 1885 and since then, balut has been included as a traditional part of the culture. Wherever
Filipinos Filipinos ( tl, Mga Pilipino) are the people who are citizens of or native to the Philippines. The majority of Filipinos today come from various Austronesian ethnolinguistic groups, all typically speaking either Filipino, English and/or othe ...
migrated for work, a large market for balut would develop. Controversies arose as knowledge of the food spread around the Southeast Asian countries and then globally. People questioned the ethics of eating balut.


Preparation

Traditionally, the fertilized
eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...
are incubated in the sun or buried in sand, and stored in baskets to retain warmth. In order for the embryo to develop normally, it must be exposed to heat for the correct period of time, while ensuring that the temperature is not too hot to harm the eggs or too cold to permit growth.R. Ehrlich, Paul. "Incubation: Heating Egg." Incubation: Heating Egg. Web. February 29, 2016. The embryo is very sensitive to high temperatures, and is easily killed upon cooking in the sun. After nine days, the eggs are held to a light, in a process called
candling Candling is a method used in embryology to study the growth and development of an embryo inside an egg. The method uses a bright light source behind the egg to show details through the shell, and is so called because the original sources of li ...
, to reveal the embryo inside. The production of balut depends on egg maturation cycles, where the egg begins developing and changes in texture. Throughout these various maturation periods, different temperatures are required to accentuate the specific egg and embryo characteristics. Within the first few stages of maturation, balut is known as "balut sa puti" ("wrapped in white") when it is white; the embryo inside is insufficiently developed to show a beak, feathers or claws, and the bones are undeveloped. These are made from very specific egg types, less than five days old and with no visible surface cracks. The duration of egg incubation is a matter of local preference. In the Philippines, balut is generally incubated for 14 to 18 days before being boiled for consumption. At about 14 to 16 days of incubation, the embryo floats on top of the egg white and yolk, and the balut is called "mamatong". For most balut makers, the ideal incubation is said to be 17 days old. There are other versions of balut. In the Cambodian version, ''pong tea khon'', the egg is incubated for 18 to 20 days. In the Vietnamese version, ''trứng vịt lộn'', the egg is incubated for 19 to 21 days, when the embryo is old enough to be recognizable as a baby duck and has
bone A bone is a Stiffness, rigid Organ (biology), organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red blood cell, red and white blood cells, store minerals, provid ...
s that will be firm but tender when cooked. Some men prefer to eat an embryo that is much more developed, "...so that it looks gross, because that is a way to prove your manhood."


Chemistry of cooking

During the cooking process, changes occur in the
food chemistry Food chemistry is the study of chemical processes and interactions of all biological and non-biological components of foods. The biological substances include such items as meat, poultry, lettuce, beer, milk as examples. It is similar to biochemist ...
of balut, such as the sol dispersion of water molecules within the embryonic fluid. This liquid becomes the broth for the solid which are parts of the duck within the egg. Although balut mainly consists of protein, fat is present and is emulsified within the fertilized embryo. After cooking, it can be considered a protein gel (depending on the length of time it was cooked). Heating high-protein food such as balut can cause the chemical changes to take place and fully or partially denature proteins, causing the surface to become thick and causing an irreversible gel protein to form. Temperature has a significant impact on the final taste and texture of the cooked balut. Warm temperatures of change the taste and texture of the yolk by making it more grainy. This can be attributed to the changes in proteins, and their partial denaturation, during the heating and incubation process. When boiling or cooking eggs, the white of the egg tends to solidify because the proteins are denatured in an irreversible reaction and turn from transparent to an opaque white. Physical and chemical changes in the final balut product can also be attributed to microbial infections and the rate that microbes infect the balut at various stages. There are many chemical changes that occur inside the duck egg as it is being processed, which can vary depending on how or what it is cooked with. While boiling, added salt can contribute to a number of chemical changes; it seems to increase the proportional weight of egg white within the shell, which can be due to the weight differences between the embryo and the egg white itself.Kaewmanee, Thammarat. "Changes in Chemical Composition, Physical Properties and Microstructure of Duck Egg as Influenced by Salting." Research Gate. N.p., June 11, 2008. Web. February 29, 2016. Added salt can also increase the hardness of the egg yolk and affect the overall texture of the final balut product. Other chemical changes observed in nutrient content of the duck egg as it is processed are a slight decrease in the amount of available amino acids, water-soluble vitamins and minerals after the processing is complete.


Nutrition

The Balut nutrition specifications between chicken and duck have minor differences, but both eggs have around 14 grams of crude protein, 188 calories each, and around 100 milligrams of calcium. A duck egg might have a higher value of nutrition than a chicken egg but overall, both chicken and duck balut have approximately the same nutritional value. In folk medicine, according to popular Vietnamese belief, these eggs are a nutritious and restorative food for pregnant or delivering women. File:Balut eggs.jpg, Balut eggs File:Balut eggs nutrients.jpg, Nutrition specifications for egg-type chicken (balut) File:Egg minerlas.jpg, Nutrition specifications for egg-type duck (balut)


Dishes and vending

Balut eggs are savored for their balance of textures and flavors. The broth surrounding the embryo is sipped from the egg before the shell is peeled, and the
yolk Among animals which produce eggs, the yolk (; also known as the vitellus) is the nutrient-bearing portion of the egg whose primary function is to supply food for the development of the embryo. Some types of egg contain no yolk, for example bec ...
and young chick inside can be eaten. All of the contents of the egg may be consumed, although the white albumen may remain uneaten depending on the age of the fertilized egg. This white albumen may have an unappetizing cartilaginous taste and is tough and rubbery in texture. In the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
, balut have recently entered ''
haute cuisine ''Haute cuisine'' (; ) or ''grande cuisine'' is the cuisine of "high-level" establishments, gourmet restaurants, and luxury hotels. ''Haute cuisine'' is characterized by the meticulous preparation and careful presentation of food at a high pri ...
'' by being served as appetizers in restaurants, cooked
adobo or (Spanish: marinade, sauce, or seasoning) is the immersion of cooked food in a stock (or sauce) composed variously of paprika, oregano, salt, garlic, and vinegar to preserve and enhance its flavor. The Portuguese variant is known as . ...
style, fried in
omelette In cuisine, an omelette (also spelled omelet) is a dish made from beaten eggs, fried with butter or oil in a frying pan (without stirring as in scrambled egg). It is quite common for the omelette to be folded around fillings such as chives, ve ...
s, or even used as filling in baked
pastries Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening (solid fats, including butter or lard) that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bakers' confectionery''. The word "pastries" suggests ...
. In Vietnam, balut is eaten with a pinch of pepper salt with lime/kumquat or ginger and rau răm (also known as
laksa leaf ''Persicaria odorata'', with common names Vietnamese coriander, rau răm, laksa leaf, Vietnamese cilantro, phak phai, praew leaf, hot mint and Cambodian mint, is an herb with aromatic leaves, used in Southeast Asian and Northeast Indian cooking. ...
). In Cambodia, balut is eaten while still warm in the shell and served with nothing more than a little garnish, which is usually a mixture of lime juice and ground pepper. A similar preparation is known in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
as ''maodan'' (), ''modan'' (), ''wangjidan'' () or ''huozhuzi'' (). Chinese traders and migrants are said to have brought the idea of eating fertilized duck eggs to the Philippines. However, the knowledge and craft of balut-making has been localized by the balut-makers (''magbabalut''). Today, balut production has not been mechanized in favor of the traditional production by hand. Vendors sell cooked balut from buckets of
sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...
(used to retain warmth) accompanied by small packets of salt. Uncooked balut are rarely sold in Southeast Asia. In the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
markets occasionally carry uncooked balut eggs. Alternatively, they can be ordered by mail. The cooking process is identical to that of hard-boiled chicken eggs, and baluts are eaten while still warm. Duck eggs that are not properly developed after nine to twelve days are sold as ''penoy'', which look, smell and taste similar to a regular hard-boiled
egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...
. In
Filipino cuisine Filipino cuisine ( fil, lutong Pilipino/pagkaing Pilipino) is composed of the cuisines of more than a hundred distinct ethnolinguistic groups found throughout the Philippine archipelago. A majority of mainstream Filipino dishes that compose Fi ...
, these are occasionally beaten and fried, similar to
scrambled eggs Scrambled eggs is a dish made from eggs (usually chicken eggs) stirred, whipped or beaten together while being gently heated, typically with salt, butter, oil and sometimes other ingredients. Preparation Only eggs are necessary to make scrambled ...
, and served with a
vinegar Vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains 5–8% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting simple sugars to et ...
dip. File:15DayBalutEgg.png, Fifteen-day-old balut egg dipped in a mixture of
hot sauce Hot sauce is a type of condiment, seasoning, or salsa made from chili peppers and other ingredients. Many commercial varieties of mass-produced hot sauce exist. History Humans have used chili peppers and other hot spices for thousands of years ...
and
vinegar Vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains 5–8% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting simple sugars to et ...
File:Chinese Balut sold in Nanjing 20100115.jpg, Shelled and fried balut File:Balut Egg.jpg, Balut File:BALUT.jpg, Underaged balut with visible chick


Consumption and uses


Locations of balut consumption

Balut is consumed in high amounts within countries in Southeast Asia, including Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines. Pateros is a first-class municipality in Metro Manila, Philippines that is famous for its duck-raising industry and balut production. The Pateros municipality was actually named for its duck farmers by speakers of Spanish. Balut is recognized as a national food of the Philippines. It is commonly sold as a street food and served as an appetizer in restaurants. The taste of balut is similar to chicken soup. It has an unusual texture. Balut is found in some countries and locations of North America. While it cannot be found in every store in North America, specialty stores such as T&T, and, in particular, Filipino stores in the Greater Vancouver area, often sell balut. In the United States, growers such as Metzer Farms specialize in balut production, spreading the knowledge of balut and its awareness. A reason it may not be found or consumed as frequently in North America is that the majority of people outside of Southeast Asia still recognize balut as a novel and taboo food and often are anxious about trying it.


Consumption

In the Philippines, balut is often eaten with salt or a chili, garlic and vinegar (white or coconut sap) mixture to season, depending on personal preference. Balut can be served in many ways and may be cooked, boiled, and fried. It may be cooked adobo-style, fried in omelets, and used as filling in pastries. Although balut is globally recognized as a Filipino food, it is being consumed less and less in the Philippines. This is partly due to increasingly Western tastes, but also because balut is often associated with poverty. Some countries and locations will serve balut raw, although this is not a common practice. "Raw," in this sense, could mean the balut was lightly boiled or cooked very briefly. This is potentially dangerous since it increases the risk of spoiling and of ingesting harmful microorganisms. In Saigon, Vietnam, balut can be found in the streets where vendors operate on the back of motorbikes in alleys. Balut is served as quail eggs. First it is steamed and then served with salt, chili and pepper.


Incubation and storage

Balut is considered to be a street food, and as with many street foods, balut should be eaten as soon as it is prepared. Sources suggest that at most, the shelf-life of a cooked balut is one day, but can be kept in the refrigerator for up to one week. According to the FDA Food Code, balut can perish over time or due to temperature changes. After being cooked, balut should be handled either at and above, or kept at or below . While most countries have specific regulations and standards for food, Canada has certain egg regulations pertaining to what products can be labelled as an egg. Balut eggs are not subjected to the egg regulations in Canada under the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, meaning they do not require the specific labeling requirements and rules of the traditional chicken egg.


Religious prohibitions

Eating balut is forbidden for some religious groups. Both Judaism and Islam have strict prohibitions on consuming food that is prepared in manners incompatible with religiously prescribed dietary laws. In
Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
, the embryo of a chick inside an egg of a bird, even a kosher bird, is forbidden for consumption. The
Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
forbids consumption of meat if the animal has not been slaughtered properly, making the animal or animal-product "maytah". Because balut is an egg containing a partly-developed embryo, this makes it "
haram ''Haram'' (; ar, حَرَام, , ) is an Arabic term meaning 'Forbidden'. This may refer to either something sacred to which access is not allowed to the people who are not in a state of purity or who are not initiated into the sacred knowle ...
", or "forbidden". In
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
, the
Members Church of God International Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...
forbids their members to eat "balut" for it is written in Acts 15:20, "But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and ''from'' fornication, and ''from'' things strangled, and ''from'' blood." According to them, the word "strangled" refers to those animals who died without pouring their blood upon the ground as written in Deut. 15:23. "Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water."


Animal welfare

Information relating to whether boiling a partially-developed embryo is ethically acceptable or not can be found in the legislation relating to the euthanasia and treatment of research animals. Bird embryos that have reached greater than 50% of their incubation have developed a
neural tube In the developing chordate (including vertebrates), the neural tube is the embryonic precursor to the central nervous system, which is made up of the brain and spinal cord. The neural groove gradually deepens as the neural fold become elevated, a ...
sufficient for pain perception; therefore, they should be euthanized by similar methods used in avian neonates such as anesthetic overdose, decapitation, or prolonged exposure to
carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...
. Similarly, in the UK, embryonic birds are "protected animals" once they have reached the last third of their incubation period. There are specified methods of humanely killing protected animals used in research, but boiling is not one of these. Depending on the species of duck, some eggs used for balut would be boiled within the last half or third of embryo development. Duck embryos are often taken off incubation in order to stunt the growth process; the embryos no longer develop, and become readily available for purchasing. The
RSPCA Australia RSPCA Australia (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) is an Australian peak organisation established in 1981 to promote animal welfare. Each state and territory of Australia has an RSPCA organisation that predates and is a ...
recommends against boiling the duck embryo from the 18th day of incubation onwards due to the potential for suffering beyond that point, and notes that it is "an area that is yet to be further researched". Several groups wish to ban balut. A petition has been raised to get 5,000 signatures to have balut labeled "fertilized duck egg with embryo" and taken off the menu in the Maharlika restaurant, New York. , the restaurant was selling balut for $5 each. As a response to this petition, Filipino New Yorkers have created a counter petition asking to leave the food item alone.


Health

The incubation temperatures and environment required for the proper development of balut during processing are ideal growth conditions for many bacteria including ''
Salmonella enteritidis ''Salmonella enterica'' subsp. ''enterica'' is a subspecies of ''Salmonella enterica'', the rod-shaped, flagellated, aerobic, Gram-negative bacterium. Many of the pathogenic serovars of the ''S. enterica'' species are in this subspecies, includi ...
''. In addition, faecal
pathogen In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ ...
s can be deposited on the egg shell surface during laying. Balut is therefore labelled as a "Hazardous Food" in Canada. Warnings have been published to obtain balut only from safe, well-known producers.


Outside Southeast Asia

Outside of Southeast Asia, balut has been featured on reality television shows, such as in season 1 of ''
Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern Bizarre may refer to: *Bizarre (rapper) (born 1976), an American rapper and member of hip hop group D12 * Bizarre (band), a Spanish rock band * ''Bizarre'' (TV series), a Canadian sketch comedy television series * ''Bizarre'' (magazine), a siste ...
'', or as part of eating challenges, such as on ''
Fear Factor ''Fear Factor'' is an American stunt/ dare game show that first aired on NBC from 2001 to 2006 and was initially hosted by comedian and UFC commentator Joe Rogan. The show was adapted by Endemol USA from the original Dutch series titled ''Now or ...
'' in 2002, ''
Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the eas ...
'' in 2013, ''
The Amazing Race Asia 2 ''The Amazing Race Asia 2'' is the second season of ''The Amazing Race Asia'', a reality television game show based on the American series ''The Amazing Race''. The second season of the show features ten teams of two with a pre-existing relations ...
'', '' The Amazing Race Australia 2'', '' The Amazing Race Ukraine'', '' Survivor: Palau'', '' Survivor: China'', '' Survivor: Caramoan'', and '' Survivor: Cambodia''. In the United States, eggs are sold at Asian markets. However, to get the right age eggs and to ensure freshness, it is recommended that they be purchased from a professional or an egg vendor at Asian farmers markets.


Guinness World Record

On April 10, 2015, former Pateros mayor Jaime C. Medina collaborated with Center for Culinary Arts (CCA, Manila) and the
History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...
to attempt to set the record for the world's largest serving of balut. The CCA chefs, headed by Tristan Encarnacion, prepared 1,000 pieces of balut into an adobo dish that was recorded to have weighed 117.5 kilograms. The resulting dish was enjoyed by the townsfolk in a symbolic
boodle fight Kamayan ( Tagalog for " atingwith the hands"), also known as kinamot or kinamut in Visayan languages, is the traditional Filipino method of eating with the bare hands. It is also used to describe the Filipino communal feast (also called a sal ...
, with tables topped with banana leaves stretching along B. Morcilla Street. The record was later awarded to
Pateros Pateros, officially the Municipality of Pateros ( tgl, Bayan ng Pateros), is the lone municipality of Metro Manila, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 63,643 people. This municipality is famous for its duck-rai ...
, Metro Manila and to this date, the record still stands.


See also

* * * * * * * * * * *


References


Further reading

* *


External links


How to make the Hawaiian version of Balut

Balut: the ugly duckling embryo
The balut in Filipino culture
Eating Balut: Going Too Far?





How To Eat Balut -- The Strangest Food You Can Buy In New York City
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Balut , The filipino food delicacy, a fertilized duck egg
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What is balut in Vietnam
{{Eggs Chinese cuisine Egg dishes Philippine cuisine Tagalog words and phrases Thai cuisine Vietnamese cuisine Street food in the Philippines