A new caviar is thought to be the most expensive food in the world with a kilo of the "white gold" fetching a whopping £73,000 - and that is at the discount price.
The brand-new caviar, invented by fish farmer Walter Gruell, 51, and his son Patrick, 25, is made from rare albino fish eggs and laced with 22 carat gold.
In order to give people a taste of what the father and son duo have on offer, the caviar is currently priced at £73,000 to selected customers, but the rare caviar will cost at least £200,000 per kilo normally.
It will be served to royalty and the super rich of the world in restaurants from Monaco to Dubai.
The Austrian father and son duo said they decided use the eggs from the sturgeon fish which were first consumed hundreds of years ago for their healing and medicinal properties.
The pair also chose to also include gold leaf as it’s good for the immune system.
Patrick, from Salzburg, who along with his father are the first caviar producers in Austria, said: ‘Our Strottarga Bianco comes from the white roe of the extremely rare albino sturgeon.’
‘The taste is very strong and taste distinctly of fresh fish.’
Patrick believes the high quality water in Austria flowing down from mountain snowfields helps to make sure the caviar produced there the best in the world as it has none of the pollution issues other countries have developed.
He added: ‘It is part of the reason why it probably taste[s] so good, that and the fact that it is specially seasoned before being dehydrated, when it loses 80 percent of its weight.
‘The golden yellow white spreadable powder that we create can quickly be made into a paste, risotto or put on toasted bread with butter. It only needs very small quantities for the flavour to be spread to a meal.
He added: ‘It is certainly not a product for everyone, but there is definitely a market for extremely exclusive products especially when they are something new.’
The albino beluga sturgeon that produces the caviar originally lived in the Caspian Sea but is now almost extinct in its native environment, making it a rare delicacy.
Although sturgeon fish usually live more than 100 years, but very few of the albino variety reach that age because of the genetic disorder that limits their life.
Source: Yahoo News
It also explains why their eggs have become the most sophisticated and expensive food in the world.
The Austrian father and son only use older sturgeon, because the eggs are more elegant, smooth, aromatic and better tasting with a spongier texture.
