7 Most Expensive Foods in the World: From Caviar To Truffles
Duane Beckett
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Have you ever been in a restaurant where they emphasize certain ingredients as if celebrities? The reason they do this is to showcase the rare and most expensive foods and justify the menu’s prices.
From Wagyu Beef to Beluga Caviar, you won’t believe the prices paid for some of these ingredients:
7. Oysters, Up to $70 per dozen
In the early 19th century, oysters were the most loved food of the working class. But, the increase in pollution and overfishing has made Oysters scarce, and therefore, the price increased.
Nowadays, a dozen Oysters in a New York seafood restaurant costs around $60 to $70, whereas it used to be a dollar no more than a few decades ago.
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6. Dry-Cured Iberico Ham – Up to $400 for 1 kg
Iberica ham is a type of cured ham that is produced in Spain and Portugal. The dry-cured Iberico ham is considered the best ham 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 such a long time to produce.
5. Japanese Wagyu Beef – Up to $450 for 1 kg
Japanese Wagyu beef is a luxury food that comes 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. Kobe beef is one of the most expensive and highly-priced Wagyu beef on the market.
4. Saffron – Up to $1,000 for 1 kg
Saffron, which is also known as Red Gold, is taken from the crocus flower. It is used as a coloring agent in food, however, its price makes it almost solely used in very expensive restaurants.
The price of the spice is due to its rarity. Crocus flowers only grow for two weeks in 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 stigma from almost 300,000 flowers.
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3. Kopi Luwak Coffee – Up to $1,200 for 1 kg
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 still, its flavor is unparallel.
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.
2. Beluga Caviar – Up to $34,500
Caviar has always been considered a rich person food and one of the greatest delicacies in the world:
Caviar is pickled from sturgeon fish. In addition, it is a rare food and therefore very costly. The most famous form of Caviar is found in the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea.
Caviar is now critically endangered, therefore, only a few of its eggs are allowed to be sold legally. Beluga Sturgeon reaches maturity in two decades.
According to the Guinness World Records, the most expensive Caviar to have been sold was the albino beluga sturgeon, which was estimated as possibly 100 years old. The sale price was $34,500.
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1. White Truffle – Up to $330,000 for 1.5 kg
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, people have tried to farm it for generations but none of them have ever been successful.
The most expensive White truffle was bought by Stanley Ho in 2007, he paid $330,000 for 1.5 kg.