Most Expensive Ingredients

ChanellG

ChanellG

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We all know that cost is a big consideration in our cooking. Responding to the discussion on pine nuts just now made me think about how often I use certain ingredients because of either availability or cost. Some things are hard to find even today with all the diversity of foodstuffs on the shelves, but ultimately things do come down to cost for most of us.

One of my favorite things to purchase is sundried tomatoes. However, there have been times that doing so was cost prohibitive. Pine nuts aren't cheap either, though they are getting easier to find at the markets. Quality oils can also be pricey. What is/are the most expensive ingredient(s) you use in cooking?
 
The most expensive has to be saffron. I could live without it but would rather not. I also use Yuzu juice and Truffle oil. I wish I could afford fresh truffles! Funnily enough, sun-dried tomatoes aren't very expensive in the UK. I can by a jar 280g (10oz) for £1.50 (thats just over 2 US dollars, I think). But these are the type in oil. For the dry dried ones its about the same price for 100g (3.5 oz). I reckon you could make your own though, especially in a hot climate. You can do them in a slow oven for twelve hours. Or if you have a dehydrator (not many of us do, including me!) its about 8 hrs.
 
good saffron,foie gras,some times white truffles occasionally ,Halibut and good fillet steak,is never the cheapest,lobster and scallops ,and then theres plenty of top end ingredients that are outside of most budgets high end caviars ,some of the wild mushrooms we buy are not the cheapest i.e. girrolles and cepes
good vanilla pods are not the cheapest but a good addition to some dishes
 
Yep - saffron, truffle oil, wild mushrooms are all good ones.
Sundried tomatoes and pine nuts are also very good ones.
Miso features a lot in my life and getting decent miso or something other than rice miso like barley miso is very expensive (£7 for a small jar - thankfully a little goes a long way).
Decent or unusual oils are expensive as is decent aged balsamic vinegar and the decent stuff is so much nicer. Even decent apple cider vinegar is expensive (£7 per litre), but worth it.

What else? nice muesli seems to be rather expensive and don't mention decent dairy free chocolates to me... 9 of them for £5.99! That's 66p per chocolate and they are about 15mm by 15 mm by 15mm... and have roughly 60 calories per chocolate, so that is actually more pennies than calories! and that is a cheap price for them as well.... <sorry rant over>

Sweet chestnuts... £3.99 for 200g! I'll stick with my freezer full of wild ones. New stock to be added soon :D
 
Saffron is completely too expensive for me to use. The cost of a tiny jar is about $20 where I live and that is just way too much money for me to spend on a single ingredient. There is also a blackberry balsamic vinegar and is produced locally that I love to buy. It is perfect for bread dipping and tastes great with olive oil. A single bottle costs me around $18, but it lasts for a long time so I do not mind splurging on it.
 
Good Aged balsamic is well expensive,and edible gold leaf makes a visit to the catering scene often!
 
cupcakechef said:
Well right now we live in Japan (husband is working here) so the most expensive stuff is all the imported stuff! :laugh:
I've seen American cereal being sold for $10 a box which blows my mind...needless to say I've added a lot of Japanese dishes to my repertoire!
Click to expand...
I have cereal here that cost $20 plus with is $10 US give or take 2 cents. Brocolli is expensive, zucchini is expensive. olive oil and don't talk about anything health shop related. When you start to get into vegan stuff, that's another subject.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Yep - saffron, truffle oil, wild mushrooms are all good ones.
Sundried tomatoes and pine nuts are also very good ones.
Miso features a lot in my life and getting decent miso or something other than rice miso like barley miso is very expensive (£7 for a small jar - thankfully a little goes a long way).
Decent or unusual oils are expensive as is decent aged balsamic vinegar and the decent stuff is so much nicer. Even decent apple cider vinegar is expensive (£7 per litre), but worth it.

What else? nice muesli seems to be rather expensive and don't mention decent dairy free chocolates to me... 9 of them for £5.99! That's 66p per chocolate and they are about 15mm by 15 mm by 15mm... and have roughly 60 calories per chocolate, so that is actually more pennies than calories! and that is a cheap price for them as well.... <sorry rant over>

Sweet chestnuts... £3.99 for 200g! I'll stick with my freezer full of wild ones. New stock to be added soon :D
Click to expand...

Now miso you would love to live in Japan for! Inexpensive here and available everywhere! I've even seen it sold at convenience stores!
 
Berties said:
Honey is another commodity that can start cheap ,more and more shops are stocking higher quality honey ,but how about this one
http://www.odditycentral.com/foods/worlds-most-expensive-honey-costs-as-much-as-a-small-car.html
Click to expand...

Wow! That's like close to 13k in my currency. Honey is a pretty penny here as well, but we are a long way from that one. I asked my husband to pick a bottle for me some time back and I noticed he brought me a very small bottle. I checked the price later and figured the price might have affected the size.
 
I don't know if this can be called ingredient but the pine nut costs 3,000 pesos per kilo here, that's around $70. We use it for special occasion in a steak dish together with the pepper corn gravy. As a garnishing, my husband said that pine nut gives a special flavor since it is a rare nut. And I believe him because the steak tastes different, somewhat exotic but very delicious. What's good is that our house guests normally do not know pine nut so they are surprised... and that would be a piece of conversation in the dining table.
 
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