Spices work magic turning everyday dishes into something special. Professional chefs use spices on virtually every dish to enhance natural flavors and bring excitement to any dish. Most everyone has a spice rack or drawer in their kitchen designed to house their garlic powders and dried basil, but not every home chef has a stash of the world’s most expensive spices.
Cinnamon
Just about everyone owns cinnamon. It’s perfect in pies and cookies, and it’s a bakers dream. However, cinnamon is one of the most expensive spices in the world. Priced at around $6 per pound, it’s not so expensive it breaks the bank, it’s still considered an expensive spice. Especially when you consider that the small containers you purchase in the store are half this price and nowhere near a pound.
Clove
It’s an intense spice that’s used in many dishes, though it’s most popular in the Middle East. Derived from dried flower buds, cloves range anywhere from $7 to $10 per pound; this price is considered very expensive in some regions of the world.
Cardamom
Depending on how it’s packaged, cardamom ranges anywhere from $5 to $30 per pound. Whole cardamom is much more expensive than ground cardamom. It comes from a seed that’s picked from a plant prior to the plant becoming ripe. Each one contains around a dozen seeds that equal about a teaspoon of cardamom.
Vanilla
It’s the spice that’s everywhere. You use it in your cookies, it’s in your ice cream; it’s everywhere. It’s also expensive. Vanilla costs anywhere from $50 to $200 a pound in the international market. Countries such as Madagascar and Mexico provide the world’s best vanilla.
Saffron
Once revered as important as gold, saffron is the most expensive spice in the world. It’s primarily found in Asia, and it comes from the Crocus flower. If you’re looking for a pound of saffron in the international market, be prepared to pay as much as $5000 per pound for this delicate spice.
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