In August 2012, the British " Daily Mail " released a report that made many people envious and jealous. The protagonist of the report
is a little boy named Charlie in the UK. He picked up a strange "stone" while playing on the beach in Bournemouth .
After identification, this stone of about 600 grams turned out to be a rare ambergris , with a total value of up to 400,000 yuan.
Charlie
I believe that seeing this, everyone wishes to set off to the beach to pick up stones and "get rich overnight".
But do you know? The ambergris that Charlie picked up is actually the excrement of whale . And this thing is a bit strange, that is, it is the only smell that is pulled out, and it is more expensive than gold, and it is taken out manually but smelly.
Why is this?
Ambergris stone is actually a whale excrement
The rare "amberg"
Ambergris is also called Dragon Belly Scent or Gray Amber . It is a solid waxy substance that looks like a smooth-stained stone on the surface.
The first one to discover ambergris was actually China, so this name is actually ours.
It is reported that during Han , a fisherman caught fish in the sea and caught something like a stone, which was grayish-white but had a fragrance. Without surprise, he was lucky like that little British boy. And the one he picked up was a finished ambergris that had been rafted and polished for many years.
Han Dynasty fishermen salvaged white ambergris
In this way, ambergris entered people's vision.
And since people didn't know its origin at that time, they gave it a legend to increase its mystery, saying that it was the saliva left by the dragon in the sea. It was not only very rare, but also had multiple functions.
For example, ancient Chinese thought it could strengthen aphrodisiac, while medieval Arab thought it could be used to stimulate the heart.
The modern "Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine" describes it like this, "The dry traits are opaque waxy blocks, and the color is as dark as amber."
Chinese historical classics also have its records
Ambergris is rich in ambergris alcohol, calcium oxide , 20 pentoxide, silica and other ingredients, and the taste is similar to isopropanol . It smells not only the smell of soil, but also the fishy saltiness of sea water.
In fact, the taste of ambergris is very heavy, and it is difficult to summarize it. The main source of this complex aroma is the ambergris mellow.
Ambergris is a crystalline tricyclic triterpene compound with a melting point between 82 degrees Celsius and 83 degrees Celsius.
The basic structure of ambergris
It is worth mentioning that ambergris itself has no taste, but when it comes into contact with other substances or spices, it will produce a special chemical reaction, thereby emitting a different taste.
Of course, no matter how fragrant it is to describe it here, many people may not be able to forget the fact that it is "whale waste".
So, why do whales become priceless incense products?
Ambergris mellow can show a variety of special flavors. Why does the fragrance that is pulled out of
is smelly when taken out manually?
When human scientific exploration technology was very limited, ambergris was fabricated with various origins. Some people say it is the vomit of whales, some people say it is the liver of fish, and some people even think ambergris is a fungus.
It is reported that in 1667, there were about 18 types of ambergris recorded in .
The origin of ambergris
It was not until 2006 that scientists found the true source of ambergris.
At that time, the British marine organism scientist Clark published his research paper, pointing out that sperm whales often eat squid or squid when foraging in the sea. The beaks of these organisms are very hard and difficult to digest, so they will stimulate the stomach and intestines of sperm whales.
sperm whales often prey on squid in the deep sea
In this case, a kind of oil will be secreted from the whale's intestines to wrap it up, and then it will be slowly decomposed by other organic matter and finally excreted from the body.
From this point of view, ambergris is actually something that is difficult to digest in the stomach of whales. It makes the "fish" shake its head in pain, but it is very popular among people.
When it is discharged along with the whale's excrement, it will begin to drift in the sea, be washed by sea water, and react with various types of substances in it.
squid's hard beak will scratch the intestines of sperm whale
The oil will naturally saponify after encountering saline and alkali in seawater, eventually forming the solid fragrance we see.
It is worth mentioning that the longer ambergris drifts on the sea, the higher its grade. According to the data, white ambergris is the most precious because this color has proven that it has been drifting on the sea for nearly a hundred years.
As for why the fragrance that is pulled out is very smelly, it is actually easy to understand.
Ambergris of different colors are also of different grades
Because ambergris does have a fishy smell in the stomach or when it is just discharged, the smell must be washed by sea water for a long time, so that it can gradually fade and even disappear after it has a unique chemical reaction with a large amount of substances.
Since sperm whales are very rare, it is difficult for people to follow their butts just to wait for them to excrete. In this case, most ambergris pulled from whales will drift in the sea for a long time, which gives them a chance to reduce the "fishy smell".
whale is defecating in the water
but is overwhelmed by the value of ambergris. People who are obsessed with greed often directly cut open the whale's belly and search in its stomach. In this case, ambergris cannot be washed naturally, so naturally they can only maintain "original flavor".
It should be noted that this kind of ambergris taken out manually is of course very smelly, and its quality does not meet the needs of spices. Therefore, relying on massacre to obtain ambergris is essentially not making much money.
Schematic diagram of the body structure of sperm whale
Of course, the practice of killing whales and getting incense was banned a long time ago because the number of sperm whales has been getting worse every year. It is now vulnerable animal and is protected.
data shows that when the world's ambergris trading was at its peak, it was 600 kg per year. With the large number of human hunting of sperm whales, ambergris resources have decreased year by year, and now the annual trade volume has decreased to 100 kg. Nowadays, fewer and fewer people know how to identify ambergris.
In short, ambergris is very rare today, and people have also prepared many artificial ambergris based on their research on their ingredients, which has become a very common raw material in the perfume market.
In recent years, there have been fewer and fewer ambergris found around the world
Perhaps some people don’t understand why ambergris is so popular among perfume makers. Is it just because its aroma is very complex and special? Why is ambergris so popular?
In fact, in addition to this reason, another reason is that ambergris is very long-lasting .
If you have bought big-name perfumes, you should find that these perfumes have a long time to retain fragrance, and ambergris is the "king of endurance" among them.
Ambergris' endurance is the best among all perfumes
Because according to the data, the fragrance of ambergris is about 20 to 30 times that of musk . When it exists as a solid fragrance, its fragrance can be preserved for a hundred years.It is precisely because of this that its price has soared. Even in ancient times, only famous nobles could afford it.
It can be seen that ambergris has brought an extraordinary olfactory experience to humans, and can even make you fantasize about the scene of swimming in the ocean in your mind. But from the perspective of ambergris producer sperm whales, it brings endless disasters because "there is a deal and there will be a killing."
Perfumes and balms made of ambergris
The higher the price of natural ambergris, the less secure the life safety of sperm whales. After all, throughout the ages, humans have done many times to "kill chickens and get eggs".
So I hope that after understanding the origin of ambergris and the pain of whales, you can treat this "natural fragrance" rationally. After all, behind it is the blood and tears of sperm whales.
Behind ambergris is the blood and tears of whales being killed
