The world’s most expensive ingredients

Most of us know that saffron, pound for pound the world’s most expensive spice, costing up to $10,000 USD per pound. But it isn’t even close to being the costliest food, as Fodor’s explains in its list of the ten most expensive foods in the world. 

None of the other foods is a spice, although a few are used mostly for flavor, like white truffles. The rarest of these, the prized Alba white truffle, can fetch a commanding $45,000 USD per pound. If you are shelling out that kind of money for a fungus, you want to make sure it’s the real deal (counterfeits abound). In advance of the annual auction of these truffles, a quality commission checks each one before it goes to market, with those weighing more than 10 grams receiving its own identification code.

While items like truffles and caviar seem right at home on this list, one of the most expensive foods might surprise you. Potatoes are low-cost items in most supermarkets, but a rare variety that hails from the French island Noirmoutier is not budget-friendly. Known as La Bonnotte, the prized potatoes are only grown on a mere 5% of the island, and command prices above $300 USD per pound. 

Other foods on the list include 100-year-old balsamic vinegar, cheese made from donkey milk, a rare coffee that sells for over $800 USD per pound, and a “superfood” mushroom known as cordycep. These mushrooms are prized for their alleged medicinal qualities and run in the same price range as saffron.  

Photo of Baked saffron kheer with saffron & vanilla pears from Delicious Magazine (Aus)