The mysterious history of ambergris

Pretend that you’re a fisherman of modest means, scraping by on a boat in the Indian Ocean. One day, as you empty the anchovies and barramundi from your nets, a waxy gray rock the size of a watermelon falls to the deck. But it’s not a rock — it’s ambergris, and the chunk you just pulled from the sea is worth a fortune. That is if the authorities don’t seize it first.

Humans have prized ambergris for untold centuries, according to Smithsonian Magazine, using it as medicine, as a food additive, as incense, and, most famously, as a fixative to help expensive perfumes last longer on the skin. And its unknown origin only enhanced its value. A 15th-century encyclopedia of herbal medicines asserted that it was a type of seafoam or fungus, while 12th-century Chinese sources insisted it was dragon spittle. It wasn’t until the 19th century and the rise of large-scale whaling when we finally learned that ambergris comes from the intestines of sperm whales.

The confusion was reasonable, according to the Natural History Museum. Fresh ambergris from a whale’s carcass was described as black and viscous, with a foul smell. But left to float in the sea outside of a whale’s body, ambergris hardens and dries out until it resembles a gray, brown, or white rock, with a musky, marine scent.

In 1820, French chemists discovered ambrein, the active compound in ambergris that made it an effective perfume fixative. Today, synthetic ambrein and other lab-created compounds have replaced ingredients like ambergris and other animal products in perfume. And though a global market still exists and a high-quality chunk of ambergris is worth more than gold, you’ll probably never have the chance to get a whiff of it for yourself — it’s illegal to collect, possess or sell ambergris in the United States. India is similarly strict, unfortunately for our intrepid fisherman. Indian officials recently conducted a sting operation and seized about 17 pounds of it, worth around $1 million, according to Newsweek.