[Sca-cooks] Book on Ambergris

[Donna Green]

I have not yet purchased any, but I know someone who has gotten ambergris from this company http://www.ambergris.co.nz/buy.htm and was satisfied with what they bought. 
 
I do plan on getting some ambergris to play with sometime ... perhaps for the sweets course of PPF3. My current culinary luxury obsession is foie gras. I can only get it here until the end of the month when prohibition kicks in. Yes, I will be exploring the period foie recipes at both the upcoming cooks playdates (West Kingdom A&S and West An Tir War).
 
Juana Isabella
 
 
Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2012 10:34:50 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
From: lilinah at earthlink.net
To: SCA-Cooks <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Book on Ambergris

Daniel wrote:
> This links to a short article on ambergris. It is my understanding that sperm whale sputum
> was occasionally used in period as a culinary ingredient. 
>
> http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2012/05/why-you-really-should-have-heard-of-ambergris.html 

US$20/gram? Cool, i can afford that! (as if i could find it anywhere) According to the memoirs of a very wealthy 20th c. Ottoman woman i was reading, one only needs to dip the end of a toothpick in it to flavor a dish for 4-6.

It isn't really sputum, since it is created in the gut. And it isn't vomit, as i've heard some people call it, even though it is often expelled through the mouth. It's waxy, and protects the whales' innards from undigestible sharp squid beaks.

Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita