One of the rarest and most expensive substances in the world is actually pretty disgusting.

The way it's created is pretty gross, it looks pretty gross, and smells even worse.

Despite how disgusting it is, there are people who will pay as much for it on a per gram basis as gold.

And yet when you get right down to it, no one really needs it.

Learn more about Ambergris, the Treasure of the Sea, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Book your ticket to happiness with Sun Express Airlines. Thank you. If you're ever walking on the beach somewhere and you come across something that looks like a brownish waxy rock. Take a second to pick it up.

Put it to your nose and smell it. If it smells bad like a cross between feces and

rubbing alcohol, you might have found a sample of ambergris and if you did you just might have hit the

jackpot. Ambergris is a very rare substance. It is only found in or along the shore

of the ocean. Despite its unremarkable look and its less than remarkable smell,

we know that humans have been using Ambergris for thousands of years.

In ancient Egypt, Ambergris was burned as a form of incense. In ancient China the substance was

well known and was called the Dragon Spittle Fragrance. During the Black Plague, people thought

that carrying around Amregris would protect you from contracting the disease.

Many cultures have considered Amregris to be an aphrodisiac.

The Turks have used it to flavor their coffee, and it was used in the 18th century in Europe to flavor

hot chocolate. In the 19th century a

cocktail called a shrub was a mixture of rum and ambergris. The first known recipe for

ice cream from the 17th century had ambergris as an ingredient. King Charles II claimed that his

favorite dish was eggs in ambergris. Ancient Arabs called the substance Anbar, and it's the

origin of the word amber.

One of the reasons given by the British for colonizing Bermuda was the presence of

ambergris.

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