Usually ambergris comes from the intestines, probably created to aid in passing of sharp squid beaks (their main food)and is a biliary secretion. It USED to be used as a perfume base, but no longer as use of synthetics took over. I'm not so sure of it being used for cooking, at least not since Charles II. The scent is said to be similar to musk, when used for perfume bases. If too large to pass, whales can regurgitate.
He is right. The vomit comment is just the media's way of getting attention to the story. Calling him a moron does not make it so... it just makes you look foolish. By the way... they are called sperm whales because the white fluid in their heads, highly valued in the 19th century, is white and and looks like sperm, hence they named the whales the spermacetti.
You are exactly right. Ambergris has been used for centuries in the manufacture of perfumes among other uses, and was highly prized in antiquity! As far as I know, only sperm whales create this, and typically this stuff floats on the surface of the ocean being acted upon by sunlight and salt water to transform this into ambergris. Best of luck to the finder!
Actually, NO. Why would ambergris be something of common knowledge? I study a lot of things, have many varied interests, I'm always doing research on something or other... and this is the first time I've heard of ambergris. And I even watch the Cooking Channel frequently. :)
So... this was an interesting article. And I would definitely like to find some ambergris on a rocky shore around here. Which isn't very likely apparently. I just with they had shown a photo of the whale vomit.
Vomit might be good for a headline but not that accurate, if it was just whale stomach content it would not be so rare. Then again this is news, accuracy not that important.
I wonder how these people would react to watching Sausage or any processed meat being made. (Hotdog sales would plummet until common sense finally regained control.)
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Most people know what ambergris is. Using the layman's terms is just the tabloidization of the modern media, serving the dumbing down of the readers.
So... this was an interesting article. And I would definitely like to find some ambergris on a rocky shore around here. Which isn't very likely apparently. I just with they had shown a photo of the whale vomit.
"Revenge with impunity."
Edgar Allen Poe, The Cask Of Amontillado.
"Nobody owns property"... but a couple decades later do a 180 and claim everyone for themselves and at the lowest cost possible...