The World's Most Expensive Ice Cream Costs More Than 800 Containers Of Ben And Jerry's
We've all experienced a bit of sticker shock when it comes to ice cream, haven't we? Maybe the hot new brand of artisanal ice cream charges a little more than you'd normally pay for a pint, or maybe your kid got a cone on vacation that made you want to say, "You better finish that!" Well, at least you can console yourself that you didn't get a scoop of Byakuya, the most expensive ice cream in the world; at $6,696, it costs as much as 894 pints of Ben & Jerry's. (And at least they give the cows soothing brushes for their trouble.)
Byakuya, which is Japanese for "white night," comes from a company called Cellato; if the name didn't clue you in, it's actually gelato rather than ice cream, but let's not split hairs. (Yes, there's a difference between gelato and ice cream; no, we won't get into it right now.) The price comes from the premium ingredients used, including, but certainly not limited to, a very rare kind of white truffle that costs over $15,000 a pound. Other ingredients include Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (which can only be made in Italy), a savory paste known as "sake lees," and some gold leaf just to keep things classy. (Ironically, gold leaf is probably the cheapest ingredient out of all of them.)
Is the world's most expensive ice cream worth it?
Formulated by a chef named Tadayoshi Yamada, who runs the Osaka-based fusion restaurant RiVi, it took more than 18 months for Byakuya to come to fruition. When representatives for the Guinness Book of World Records showed up, even they weren't allowed to taste it — but the people who were lucky enough to try the ice cream reported that it was "rich in taste and texture." (We wouldn't know, unfortunately, as our invitations must have been lost in the mail.)
So would it be worth dropping almost seven grand in order to try this ice cream? Again, we can't really say with any degree of certainty. It does seem to have been crafted with more care than some other attempts at expensive world records, which has to count for something; they could have just thrown in Beluga caviar with no regard for the flavor profile, but they operated with more restraint. Still, if you're like the rest of us and have more immediate concerns to care for, maybe save your money and tuck into a pint of Ben & Jerry's.