Kind of. It’s sand trout (the larval form of the worms) poop mixed with a unique fungus found only on Dune mixed with water. As the fungus grows in the wet poop it transforms it into a “pre-spice mass,” and off-gasses carbon dioxide. When pressure in the mass reaches a critical point, it explodes, blowing the pre-spice to the surface and chemically transforming it. It then bakes in the sun and heat finally finishing turning into spice melange.

It’s worm poop like whiskey is rye. It’s only after pressure, water, yeast, time, and heat that rye is transformed into whiskey. It’s only after pressure, water, fungus, time, and baking that turns sand trout poop into spice melange.