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How much are you ready to spend on your meal? Well, that’s not a question you think about if your meal has one of the most expensive ingredients in the world! From the rare white truffle to the tiny blobs of caviar sprinkled atop your meal, if you’ve dined at some of the most popular, high-end restaurants of the world, you would know what we are talking about. But have you ever thought why that meal costed you a bomb? Because the restaurant spent a bomb sourcing the ingredients! And for those who don’t know it yet, yes some of the ingredients in the world literally cost more than the gold earrings you own, and if you don’t know, even gold is an ingredient at some restaurants!
Here are 6 of the most expensive ingredients in the world:
1. Caviar
A popular part of gourmet cuisine, caviar is a type of seafood coming from the roe of a unique fish called sturgeon. It is a mixture of salty and sweet flavours and bursts in the mouth, oozing a buttery-flavoured liquid. Caviar is usually used as a garnish, and you can see it across many delicacies at high-end restaurants, splattered atop looking like tiny egg-like spongy balls. China is said to be one of the biggest caviar producers, and its average price is about $180,000 per kilo.
2. White Alba truffle
Found in the forests of northern Italy, at the base of oak trees, the white truffle is harvested mainly in winters and are known for their nutty, musty flavour. They are best used as a garnish in pasta, risotto and scrambled eggs and are known to have sold for US$10,000 a pound.
3. Edible Gold
If you thought gold was only to wear, you haven’t tried those overpriced ice creams garnished with edible gold! Priced at about $70-$80 for a few grams, edible gold has to be one of the most popular of the expensive ingredients.
4. Matsutake Mushroom
Perhaps these are the answer to black truffle, and matsutake mushrooms are grown in Japan and comes with a spicy aroma. These can be sold for as much as $2,000 per kilogram.
5. Iranian Pistachios
Iranian pistachios can cost you anywhere between $120-$160 a kilogram! Quite an expensive affair for a regular meal, isn’t it?
6. Saffron
With a labour-intensive harvesting process and less procurement, saffron tends to be more expensive than gold at some places! It is the dried stamen of the crocus plant wherein each crocus produces just three stamens, and each of these must be hand-picked and air-dried.
