The Most Expensive Ingredients in the World

Sloane | October 29, 2013

Celebrities and wealthy business people rarely cook for themselves. Instead, they employ celebrity chefs to chop, prep, cook, and clean each and every meal. Some celebrities even have different chefs for each meal of the day. While us normal people can’t afford the luxury of paying for a celebrity chef, we can cook like one with the help of the world’s most luxurious and expensive ingredients. Just remember, a little goes a long way:

Most Expensive Coffee: Kopi Luwak, $500 per pound

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Pictured: the civet eating coffee cherries.

Kopi luwak, or civet coffee, is coffee that has passed through the digestive system of the civet. A civet is a catlike animal found in Asia and Africa. These civets eat the fruit of the coffee plant and then excrete the beans in their dung. The beans are fermented by the animal’ stomach acids and enzymes and supposedly produce a smooth and non-bitter coffee. That’s right. This is coffee that comes from animal feces. And it’s the most expensive in the world. Because apparently, rich people will buy anything as long as it’s expensive.

 

Most Expensive Spice: “Coupe Saffron” $30 per gram

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Pictured: Coupe saffron threads.

Saffron is derived from a type of crocus that grows in the Mediterranean and Middle East. It takes a football size field to produce one pound of the saffron threads. The threads must be picked immediately upon blooming and are then cleaned, sorted, and toasted to perfection. The tiny stigmas are super fragrant and give many dishes a gorgeous hue.

 

Most Expensive Caviar: Sturgeon, $500 per serving

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Pictured: Sturgeon fish.

Sturgeon caviar is the salted eggs, also known as roe, of the sturgeon fish. The beluga species of sturgeon produces the most expensive caviar but imports of this caviar have been banned in the US since 2005 in order to protect the endangered fish. Farmed osetra sturgeon caviar is the most luxurious caviar you can buy in the US market. The eggs are firm, juicy, and produce a nutty quality. It takes a female osetra an average op 10 years to produce her first egg, at which point she can weigh hundred of pounds, making the harvesting process difficult and time consuming.

 

Most Expensive Poultry Product: Swiftlet Nests, $1,000 per pound

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Pictured: edible Swiftlet nest.

Swiftlet nets are are small, cup-like structures made from the saliva strands of the Swiftlet bird. The saliva dries into a hardened thread which is used to create nests for the Swiftlet eggs. These nests are used in bird’s nest soup, a Chinese delicacy. The nests dissolve in the broth to create the gelatinous texture of the soup.

 

Most Expensive Fungus: White Truffles, $5,000 per pound

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Pictured: White truffles.

White truffles are found exclusively in the forests of norther Italy between the months of September and December. Their unique flavor is commonly served shaves atop dishes that are heavy on eggs, butter, and cheese. There is no way to cultivate the fungus and the only way to find them is with specially trained pigs and dogs that dig up the truffles.

About the Author

Written by Sloane

Before joining PlentyofCheddar.com, Sloane worked as a freelance writer and illustrator for a variety of clients. She attended University of Missouri where she majored in English. Her work has been published in literary magazines, newspapers, and textbooks. She currently resides in Miami, Florida. You can learn more about me on Google +

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