Amberris: very rare and sought-after “amber fat” (6 photos)

The sea washes up all sorts of strange things, from dead animals to fossils to sunken ships. But none of its gifts are as valuable as ambergris, a hard, resinous substance with a light gray or yellow tint and a pleasant aroma.





Amber has been used in perfumery for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians burned the substance as incense. Ambergris was also used to flavor food and drink. Rumor has it that King Charles II of England's favorite dish was scrambled eggs with ambergris. Ambergris is also used as a flavoring in Turkish coffee, and 18th-century Europeans drank it with hot chocolate. In the Middle Ages, ambergris was used as a cure for headaches, colds, epilepsy, and other ailments.



Despite its widespread use, for many centuries no one knew where this rare waxy substance came from, except that it washed up on beaches. The ancient Chinese believed it was dragon saliva. Others believed it was the droppings of seabirds or some kind of marine fungus. One Englishman confidently claimed that it was nothing more than honeycombs that bees make on large stones on the seashore. It wasn't until 1724 that Boston physician Zabdiel Boylston finally discovered the truth. Ambergris is a substance produced in the digestive tract of sperm whales.





Because whales consume large quantities of squid and cuttlefish with hard, sharp beaks, it has been suggested that the whale secretes a protective fatty substance that coats the hard, indigestible parts to prevent damage to their organs. This substance is then excreted.



When ambergris first comes out of the intestines, it is pale white, soft and greasy, with a strong unpleasant odor. Under the influence of sun and salt water, the mass floats to the surface of the ocean, where it gradually hardens, acquiring a dark gray or black color, a crust and a waxy texture, as well as a specific smell, sweetish, earthy, marine and animal at the same time. The longer ambergris remains in the sea, the more it absorbs sea aromas.



Rather than wait for a piece to wash up on the beach, many collectors look for whale carcasses. Ambergris usually comes in small chunks weighing between 15 grams and 50 kilograms, but one piece found in the Dutch East Indies weighed about 635 kilograms. Ambergris is quite difficult to identify. One test is to prick it with a hot needle, and a liquid should flow out that gives off a musky smell. It is this smell that has captivated perfumers. But even that is hard to describe. It is a strange bouquet of old wood, earth, compost, manure and the sea.

The shortage of ambergris and its variable quality have led to a search for an alternative. Since the 1940s, chemists have synthesized compounds such as ambrox and cetallox that mimic natural ambergris. In 2012, researchers at the University of British Columbia discovered a gene in balsam fir trees that produces a compound that smells similar to ambergris.



Many major perfume houses still buy real ambergris. But the supply chain is too unreliable for the big companies to rely on it.

In 2021, a team of 35 fishermen off the coast of Yemen caught a specimen weighing almost 130 kilograms, which they sold to a buyer in the United Arab Emirates for $1.5 million and split the profits equally. Several members of the team bought new homes, cars and yachts with the proceeds.