Ambergris can develop in the intestines of a small part of the male sperm whales in response to sharp squid beaks that cannot be digested in the stomach and therefore enter the intestines. A kind of cholesterol-like substance is formed around them and this continues to grow. Because only the male sperm whales can dive very deep, where the pressure is very high, the ambergris chunks become more compact and closer.

By excretion (via the anus), the chunks end up at sea, and they petrify under the influence of salt and the sun. Ambergris can wash up on the beach as gray chunks weighing up to several tens of kilos. The ambergris found on Texel was, if possible, extra special because it concerned fresh ambergris, which had not floated in the sea but came directly from the intestines of the sperm whale.

High-quality ambergris has a beautiful complex scent and is used as an ingredient in some special perfumes. With ambergris you hardly smell anything in the top, but all the more in the base: warm, salty, sensual, sweet, animal / stable (it comes straight from his intestines). Ambergris has a huge “sillage” or “staying power”, by which we mean adhesion to the skin, so you can smell it for a long time.