Fertilized Duck Egg "Balut"

Balut is a popular Filipino street snack usually eaten with salt or vinegar on it. It is considered among the more controversial food, like Monkey brain which is a delicacy in Asia. The origin of this balut is said to be from the Chinese "Maodan" or "feathered egg" in English. The Cambodia, Indochinese and Thaïs also have something similar to Balut. However, it is the Filipinos who have made this infamous dish popular. Balut is also known as an energizer for those who need strength. It is highly regarded as an aphrodisiac by the Filipino men. Aphrodisiac or not, balut is enjoyed by millions of Filipinos. 

Balut is a boiled and fertilized three-week-old duck egg, with an embryo in it. The embryos are formed with all the normal appendages that you would find on a young duckling or chick, like the pink little limbs, eyes, partially gray feathered wings, complete with the beak as well! The partially formed skeleton of the embryos is what gives the Balut its unique crunchy and slightly sweet taste.

This is peddled every evening by "balut" vendors everywhere, cycling or pushing their carts around the subdivision or the streets crying out their wares in a sing song chant of “baluuut, baluuut!” Usually, vendors would stay in one place where a crowd would stay so that their sales would go up. The balut wrapped in swaddling clothes, and nestled in an old wicker basket; the vendor would carefully unwrap the rolled-up blanket that kept the eggs warm, give you a thimbleful of salt in a twist of recycled graphing paper or in a small plastic bag, and count their money in the light of the candle or in the shadows of a street light.

How do you eat Balut? To savor the Balut, first you need to tap the pointy tip of the egg's shell and created a tiny hole large enough to suck the broth out of the egg. Once you have managed to slurp down the amniotic fluid without throwing up, the next step is to remove the shell and season the egg with little salt.  Deciding whether to wolf down the balut in just two bites or less, so as not to visually encounter the duck fetus imbedded in the whites with a random feather jutting out, or to nibble on the egg and eat it section by section, being extra cozy with the partially formed duck. 

Bet you haven't tasted this interesting dish, The Philippine Balut.

 " Looks can be deceiving " redefined by balut.