Lifestyle / Gastronomy

Coming in behind saffron, macadamia nuts, beluga caviar, and white truffles, the fifth most expensive food in the world isn’t some exotic fish or endangered tropical fruit: it’s a rare variety of potato. Grown in France, the La Bonnotte potato sometimes achieves a market price of an astounding â‚¬500/kilo (US $300/lb). It is cultivated exclusively […]

Jul 27, 2009 | By Anakin

Coming in behind saffron, macadamia nuts, beluga caviar, and white truffles, the fifth most expensive food in the world isn’t some exotic fish or endangered tropical fruit: it’s a rare variety of potato.

Grown in France, the La Bonnotte potato sometimes achieves a market price of an astounding â‚¬500/kilo (US $300/lb).

It is cultivated exclusively on the Isle of Noirmoutier, where seaweed is added to the soil in which itâ€™s grown.





The result is a potato with a complex flavor that includes hints of lemon, earth and, of course, the sea.

Too fragile to be cultivated by machine, the potatoes have to be pulled out of the ground by hand, with just about 20,000 kilograms harvested each year.

To make La Bonnotte even more exotic, itâ€™s (was) available only from May 1st to May 10th.

La Bonnotte is so fragile, in fact, that it wouldâ€™ve gone extinct between World Wars I and II if not for a group of devotees to the pricey potato.

The potato is now so beloved by its fans that it even has its own website.