ambergris-msg - 2/12/08
The use of ambergris in period. amber of grece. Ambergris is the excretion of whales that is composed of the undigested remains of cuttlefish.
NOTE: See also the files: gums-resins-msg, spices-msg, merch-spices-msg, p-herbals-msg, seeds-msg, incense-msg, Perfumes-bib, perfumes-msg.
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From: "HICKS, MELISSA" <HICKS_M at casa.gov.au>
To: "'sca-cooks at ansteorra.org'" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: RE: Re: [Sca-cooks] online glossary
Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 09:58:10 +1000
It is also used in some very late period jam and confectionary recipes. I
think there's one in Fettiplace. I'll dig it out tonight if no-one posts a
recipe in the meantime.
Mel.
> > >amber of grece, ambergris
> > I think my memory's not working right, because something tells
> > me this is a whale by-product, and that doesn't seem right somehow.
>
> Nothing wrong with your memory. It's from whales, and is
> used primarily as an ingredient in perfumes.
>
> Thorvald
From: "Elise Fleming" <alysk at ix.netcom.com>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Date: Wed, 30 May 2001 20:59:40 -0500
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: On Line Glossary
Query and one response:
> >amber of grece, ambergris
>> I think my memory's not working right, because something tells
>> me this is a whale by-product, and that doesn't seem right
somehow.
>Nothing wrong with your memory. It's from whales, and is used primarily
>as an ingredient in perfumes.
It was also used in confections in late period - Tudor (IIRC),
Stuart, Jacobean, along with musk. I've seen it as an ingredient in
sugar/gum paste.
Alys Katharine
Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 10:49:48 -0400
From: Elaine Koogler <ekoogler at chesapeake.net>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] online glossary
I know that it appears in some of the recipes from Elizabethan times. When I
did a feast last year from that period, I found the following in the Folger
Library's catalogue which included a reprint of recipes from Sarah Longe's
Receipt Booke:
p. 19, Mrs Sarah Longe her Receipt Booke [c. 1610] from Fooles and
Fricassees: Food in Shakespeare=92s England (Published by the Folger
Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC, 1999)
Take a pound of Almons, blanch them, then beate them in a morter [;] then put
in a little rosewater to them, that they may not turn to an Oyle in their
beating; when they are beaten very small take them up and put them into a Dish
[;] then take half a pound of sugar beaten very small and put to them the
whites of 4 Eggs, with a little Quantity of musk, and Ambergrease [;] then
beat it altogether a quarter of an hour, then put it upon papers in what
fashion you will. You must be carefull in the making of it, that it be not
coloured to[o] much.
I omitted both the musk and Ambergris as the only place I could find either
one was a perfume supply house. I knew that the ambergris was synthetic and
worried about using it in food.
Kiri
From: Devra at aol.com
Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 11:27:56 EDT
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: Sca-cooks digest, Ambergris
Actually, both ambergris and musk show up in several of the original recipes in DINING WITH WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. I never did figure out what to substitute for that...I don't know whether the artificial musk is edible.
Devra the Baker
From: Christina Nevin <cnevin at caci.co.uk>
To: "'SCA Cookslist'" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] online glossary
Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 11:57:55 +0100
"Cindy M. Renfrow" wrote:
Here are a few more terms to kick around. If you have sources and
alternate spellings please send them along.
amber of grece, ambergris
No references to it yet, but I do have a photo of some here:
http://www.geocities.com/~thorngrove/ambergris.jpg
Lucrezia
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2005 16:47:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Chris Stanifer <jugglethis at yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] strange recipe
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
--- dale elliott <el2iot2 at mail.com> wrote:
> Question: Where do you buy Whale Barf<ambergrise>?
>
> Radei
http://www.profumo.it/perfume/prodotto.asp?pid=2955&;lang=en
or, you can find it floating on the waves for free...
WdG
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 10:37:24 -0700
From: lilinah at earthlink.net
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] strange recipe
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
"dale elliott" <el2iot2 at mail.com> wrote:
> Question: Where do you buy Whale Barf<ambergrise>?
>
> Radei
Ambergris is not really whale barf. I realize you were being
humorous, but i don't want lurkers to be led astray.
The sperm whale is the largest toothed whale and does not have a
baleen, which is a sort of filter. Instead, it eats various things
that have hard and sharp parts that are not digested, like squid
beaks. Ambergris is a waxy substance produced to coat these hard
sharp bits so they don't injure the whale's digestive system. Yes, it
is regurgitated. But barf as i think of it is food you eat and
started to digest in your stomach, but for various reasons have
vomited up. Ambergris is rather different than partially digested
food mixed with stomach acids.
--
Urtatim, formerly Anahita
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 22:53:49 -0400
From: Kerri Martinsen <kerrimart at cablespeed.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] ambergris
To: SCA Cooks <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
If you are looking at it for perfume, you can purchase faux ambergris from
perfume supply sellers. I wouldn't eat it though...
http://www.alchemy-works.com/incense_ambergris.html
Vitha
<the end>
