Ice cream is a favorite dessert enjoyed by people of all ages. It comes in different flavors, colors, and shapes to satisfy the taste buds of anyone and everyone. In some places of the world, some ice cream flavors are considered a ‘luxury’, and one of them is this recently hailed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the World’s Most Expensive Ice Cream – Byakuya!
This world’s most expensive ice cream is from Cellato, a luxury Japanese ice cream brand known to serve gelato that will ‘delight even your brain cells’. What a way to describe ice cream, right?
What is Byakuya Ice Cream?
Byakuya Ice Cream is from Cellato, is a luxury premium ice cream brand that is based in Japan. Cellato is responsible for creating ice creams that are not only deliciously tasty, but also visually stunning, and the Japanese ice cream brand certainly delivers on this promise. Their ice creams are works of art, and they are made using only the highest quality ingredients.
Cellato’s Byakuya gelato is made of the finest ingredients – white truffles imported from Italy, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, and sake lees, or sake kasu, a by-product of Japanese sake production, and lastly, topped with a gold leaf per serving.
Cellato describes this ice cream as “a rich and mellow gelato with two types of cheese as a base and white truffle with a sensual and unique scent. The faint sweetness and gorgeous ginjo incense give the scent of white truffles a complex flavor. To finish, white truffles and Parmigiano cheese that look like snow are luxuriously placed and decorated with gold leaf.” [1]
How Much Does It Cost And…..Why?
The Guinness World Records officially recognizes Byakuya as the World’s Most Expensive Ice Cream with a whopping price of JP¥873,400 or £5,469, €6,211, $6,696, and PHP339,346.47 for every 130 ml of ice cream serving.
Byakuya is so utterly expensive because of the ingredients used to make such ice cream. The white truffles, which is one of the ice cream’s ingredients, costs almost $15,200 or PHP846,921.20 per kilogram. White truffles are one of the most expensive ingredients in the world, and they are often referred to as the ‘diamonds of the kitchen.’ They have a unique earthy and musky flavor that complements the sweet creaminess of the ice cream. This ice cream is made with white truffle oil, along with a special handmade metal spoon that has been crafted out of the same materials featured in some of Kyoto’s temples and shrines.
The ice cream’s name, ‘Byakuya’ means white night or short night, or under the midnight sun in Japanese.
Can I Eat This Expensive Ice Cream?
In case you’re wondering if this ice cream is edible – yes, of course it is!
However, you cannot just eat Byakuya like your other ordinary ice cream. Cellato teaches this way of eating this pricey, sweet treat. Before anything else, you mix the white truffle oil into the ice cream, combining the two until it is soft enough to dip a spoon into. If the ice cream is not yet ready, you can try to put it in the microwave for 10 to 20 seconds, and voila, your sweet, not-so-pocket-friendly dessert is now ready to be savored!
The 800 thousand peso-price tag for the world’s most expensive ice cream does seem outrageous, but it is not just the ingredients that you are paying for. You are also paying for the experience of indulging in a luxury dessert that has been carefully crafted in Japan to delight all your senses. Cellato’s Byakuya, now the World’s Most Expensive Ice Cream, is a perfect example of how food can be more than just a need and a sustenance. It can, in a way, be art, culture, and luxury.
Well, sometimes, the best things in life are worth the extra cost.
Do you want to try this ice cream someday? Leave us a comment!
