Most expensive chokolate

Most expensive chokolate

$2600

Probably the most intriguing product that Knipschildt Chocolatier sells is its famed $250 dark chocolate truffle with a French black truffle inside. It is made of 70% Valrhona cacao that is fused into a creamy ganache with truffle oil. The truffle is hand rolled with a dark truffle on the inside and then dusted with cocoa powder. Mmm…is your mouth watering yet? These specialties are only available by preorder, so hurry and call, fax, or email in your order if you want to enjoy these bites of bliss soon.

If you’re not so keen on spending approximately $2,600 for a pound of these babies, then maybe you’d like to consider something more affordable. Knipschildt has a wide selection of individual chocolates of all shapes, flavors, and sizes which can be purchased for $60 per pound.

The individual chocolates have names like Amanda, Helena, and Carrie, suggesting Knipschildt may have a thing for naming his creations after ex-girlfriends. Regardless, each of these intricately formulated pieces is a matchless and pleasurable delicacy. Read the rest of this entry »

Most expensive truffle

Most expensive white truffle.

$330,000

One of the biggest truffles found in decades has fetched $330,000 (£165,000) at an auction held simultaneously in Macau, London and Florence.
A Macau casino owner, Stanley Ho, made the record-breaking bid for the white truffle, which weighed 1.5kg (3.3lb).
Luciano Savini and his son found the highly-prized fungus after it was dug up by his truffle dog near Pisa, northern Italy, last week.
He said he was overwhelmed by the high price paid for his discovery.
He said: “I thought we were going to beat the record, but not to really get to this amount.
“The biggest truffle of the century and the most expensive truffle of the century. There are no more words to say – it is all very beautiful.”
Mr Ho outbid British artist Damien Hirst and Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi to the prize, according to the South China Morning Post.
All proceeds from the auction were donated to charities.

Wild truffles are harvested all over the world, from the western United States to China, but France and Italy, where they grow in open meadows and dense forests, respectively, are the best-known sources. These highly coveted fungi germinate 10 to 35 inches underground on the roots of any of a dozen varieties of trees. When uncovered, they look like balls of soil and range in size from a pea to a potato.

The global market for this sought-after specialty food is more than $2 billion, Lima estimates. Global gourmands, especially those in New York City, the largest consumer of truffles after Italy, pay through the nose for the delicacies thanks to their earthy, rich, mushroomy essence.

Each of the four commercially available truffles has a distinct growing season and is only available fresh at that time. White truffles (which have never been successfully domesticated) are in season between late September and December. Black winter truffles are available from November through February. Black summer truffles, the most bountiful kind, are in season between June and October. Bianchetti, or Tuscan truffles, are in season from January through April.

To cook a white truffle is to commit a culinary crime: Heat spoils the pungent taste. White truffles are generally shaved thinly over the top of a simple pasta dish to preserve their intoxicating scent. Black truffles (with a subtler smell and a texture that lends itself to cooking) and black summer truffles (known for their nutty flavor) can be shaved and eaten raw or cooked. Tuscan truffles are almost always cooked because heat doesn’t diminish their pronounced flavor.

The most expensive caviar in the world

The most expensive caviar in the world

The most expensive caviar in the world is not the black one, but the almas caviar! The word “almas” is Iranian for diamond. Almas caviar comes from Iran making it extremely rare and extremely expensive. The only known outlet is the Caviar House & Prunier in London England’s Picadilly that sells a kilo of the expensive Almas caviar in a 24-karat gold tin for £16,000, or about $25,000. Coincidentally, it is also where you can find the most expensive meal in Britain. The Caviar House also sells a £800 tin for those on a smaller budget. Beluga caviar comes from a fish over 100 years old, that is virtually unchanged for 120 million years. The luxurious caviar comes from the oldest survivor of the Dinosaur era. Beluga caviar ranges in price from more than $5,000 per kilogram in the United States. Beluga caviar is composed of pea-sized, gray eggs. In general, the lighter the color, the more expensive it is. The grades are: 0 (darkest color), 00 (medium toned), and 000 (lightest color). The 000 grade is the most expensive and is sometimes referred to as “royal caviar”. In terms of texture, royal caviar is often described as rich and silky.

The beluga is a large predator which feeds on other fish. Beluga sturgeons are fish, and are unrelated to the (mammalian) beluga whale. As do many sturgeons, the beluga travels upstream in rivers to spawn. Accordingly, sturgeons are sometimes likened to sea fish; however most scientists consider them to be river fish. Read the rest of this entry »

Most Expensive Wines

Most Expensive Wines

When an enterprising young man named James Christie opened his sales rooms in London in December 1766, his first auction consisted of the estate of a “deceased nobleman” containing “a large Quantity of Madeira and high Flavour’d Claret.” The records don’t relate how much these delightfully described “high Flavour’d clarets” fetched but as the whole sale realized a grand total £175, it is a sure bet that if Christie had known that two hundred years later, in 1985, his now famous auction house would sell one bottle of wine for £105,000, or $160,000, he might have held back a bottle or two to enrich his future heirs.

This bottle was a Bordeaux, a 1787 Chateau Lafite, and, according to The Guinness Book of World Records, 18 years later it still is the world’s most expensive bottle of wine. Its great age alone would have ensured a good price but what gave it its special cachet, especially to American collectors, and ensured the record price tag were the initials Th.J. etched in the glass.

The bottle had belonged to Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States and one of the most revered of its founding fathers. A philosopher, scientist and statesmen, the aristocratic Jefferson was also an avid oenophile. When he was ambassador to France he spent much of his time visiting the vineyards of Bordeaux and Burgundy, buying wine for his own collection and on behalf of his friends back home. He is also associated with two other bottles of very pricy wine, a 1775 Sherry ($43,500) and the most expensive white wine ever sold, a 1787 Chateau d’Yquem ($56,588). Read the rest of this entry »

Most expensive tea

Most expensive tea  

The most expensive tea in the world is the original Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe) from Wuyi China. In 2002, 20 grams (about 2/3rds of an ounce) of Da Hong Pao sold for 180,000 RMB, which is approximately $23,000 US. In 2004, this same quantity sold for 166,000 RMB, or about $21,000. The original Da Hong Pao tea trees are over 350 years old. The tea has only been available for a public auction sale three times (1998, 2002 and 2004). Previously, it has only been offered to leaders of government, emperors, religious leaders, etc. In 1972, Mao Zedong gave President Richard Nixon 50 grams of this tea during his visit to China. As the story goes, Nixon was apparently insulted with such a “small” gift. That is, until someone pointed out that 50 grams represented 50% of all the Da Hong Pao harvested that year.

Fortunately for tea connoiseurs, cuttings (i.e. genetic clones) of Da Hong Pao have been taken from the original plants and grown commercially. Due to this clonal propagation, “secondary” Da Hong Pao tea is readily available at an affordable price to everyday consumers.

The most expensive coffee

 The most expensive coffee

$600 a pound

The most expensive coffee in the world does not hail from Jamaica or Hawaii, but instead from Indonesia.

Kopi Luwak the most expensive coffee in the world does exist, and those who drink the expensive coffee insist that it is made from coffee beans eaten, partly digested and then excreted by the Common palm civet, a weasel-like animal.

“Kopi” the Indonesian word for coffee along with “luwak” is local name of this animal which eats the raw red coffee beans. The civet digests the soft outer part of the coffee cherry, but does not digest the inner beans and excretes them.

Apparently the internal digestion ends up adds a unique flavor to the beans, removing the bitter flavor, and then beans are then picked up by locals and sold. The most expensive coffee beans can cost up to $600 a pound, and up to $50 per cup, if you can get over the fact that you are drinking such a strange brew.

You would know if you drank the most expensive coffee in the world, because the quantities of it are tiny amounts.