10 Most Expensive Foods in the World

Our first expensive food is so pricey due to its scarcity. The Densuke watermelon is only grown on the island of Hokkaido in northern Japan, as the specific climate and mineral-rich volcanic soil make cultivating the fruit possible. Along with a sweet taste, the watermelon is also desired for its glossy, black rind and bright red flesh.

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Iberica ham is a type of cured ham that is produced in Spain and Portugal. The dry-cured Iberico ham is produced from pure-bred Iberian pigs that roam oak forests feasting on acorns. The ham is cured for 36 months, making it super-rare and expensive as it takes a long time to produce.

Japanese Wagyu beef is a luxury food sourced from only four breeds of cows. This meat is intensely marbled with fat which melts down during the cooking process to make the meat tender and melt in the mouth. To qualify for the Wagyu mark, the cow has to be taken care of according to strict guidelines.

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Saffron, also known as Red Gold, is taken from the crocus flower. The price of the spice is due to its rarity. Crocus flowers only grow for two weeks a year, mostly in autumn. Additionally, harvesting is also a hard process. One flower has only three stigmas, which means one kilogram of saffron is made up of stigmas from almost 300,000 flowers.

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A bag of Kopi Luwak Coffee can be bought for up to $1,200. The process through which Kopi Luwak Coffee is produced might not sound good but its flavor is unparalleled. Kopi Luwak is made when coffee beans are eaten or partially digested and then defected by the Asian palm civet cat. The fermentation caused by the animal’s stomach causes the extraordinary flavor of the coffee. 

Similar to Wagyu beef is Kobe beef, a higher quality of wagyu that is only made from the Tajima strain of Japanese black cattle, according to rules from the Kobe Beef Marketing and Distribution Promotion Association. The meat is valued for its flavor, tenderness, and fatty, well-marbled texture. It can be prepared as steak, sukiyaki, shabu-shabu, sashimi, and teppanyaki.

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While you may be surprised that mushrooms are on this list, the Matsutake can earn up to $2,000 per kilogram depending on the season. The edible mushroom grows in Eurasia and North America and is prized in Japanese cuisine for its distinct spicy-aromatic odor. While Japan can grow a small amount of the Matsutake, they rely on imports from other countries.

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While honey is stocked on most grocery store shelves, Elvish honey is worth more than gold in some places. What’s so special about this honey? It’s not made in hives set up by beekeepers, or even other “normal” hives you would see in trees. Instead, the bees have made a home deep in a cave in northeastern Turkey, using the spherical walls as a place to trap their honey. Not only is this honey unique, but it is full of minerals too.

Caviar has always been considered a rich person’s food and one of the greatest delicacies in the world. Caviar is pickled from sturgeon fish, but since caviar is now critically endangered only a few of its eggs are allowed to be sold legally. Beluga Sturgeon reaches maturity in two decades, bumping up the price into the tens of thousands for one small container.

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White Truffle is found in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy. It is a rare food that only grows on the roots of certain trees. White Truffle is known for its intense, amazing flavor and aroma. White Truffle cannot be cultivated, but people have tried to farm it for generations with no success.

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