Everyone would agree that specialty produce deserves the premium it often garners. Items in the category are in great demand among foodservice operators and home foodies alike due to their special flavors and unique qualities.

But a few fruits and vegetables are priced so high that the mere mention of the prices they demand is enough to make anyone outside of the billion-dollar net-worth coterie gasp for air.

Believe it or not — there is a pineapple that sells for $16,000 and they’re not grown in the tropics. They grow at the Lost Gardens of Heligan, in Cornwall, England, a destination that draws thousands of visitors annually.Matsutake mushrooms sell for around $1,000 a pound, when they are available.

The pineapples are grown in a pit that is heated using a chemical reaction between 30 tons of manure, urine and piles of straw. It’s this nurturing from which the value is derived. In fact, the pineapples are not sold, but rather enjoyed by the staff at the gardens that have been growing them the same way since the 19th century. At one time in history, the gardens rented the pineapples to wealthy Victorian families as a dinner table decoration.

In Belgium and Holland, you can pay over $1,000 for a kilo of hop shoots. These are the green tips of the hop plant that are removed from the flowers used in creating beer. According to The Guardian.com, this most expensive vegetable in the world looks like a runty herb.

According to Melissa Cole, who distributed hundreds of shoots to London restaurants for the London Hop Shoot festival in May, they are expensive because they’re absolutely back-breaking to harvest.

“They don’t grow in a uniform row, so each one you pick requires you to hunch over and really hunt around,” said Cole. “Plus they’re tiny so you need to pick hundreds to fill a carrier bag.”

Raw, hop shoots taste a bit like nettles. Cooked, however, the leaves take on a kale-like quality, which could explain the price and demand.

Noirmoutier, an island just off the coast of western France, is the only place in the world that the most expensive potato in the world, the “La Bonnotte,” is produced. Only around 100 tons are cultivated annually. The cost of one pound can on occasion — remember that supply-and-demand rule also applies here — sell for more than $300 dollars.

Wikipedia’s author tells us the cost is attributed to the potato being nearly extinct. The fields require fertilization by seaweed in a climate shaped by the nearby sea, which give this tuber its delicate flavor. It also must be harvested by hand, and picked, not torn.

“La Bonnotte” potatoes are typically served in mid-May at high-end restaurants in France and the Netherlands.

The price leader in the Fungi category is the Italian White Alba truffle. This wild mushroom is so difficult to find that determining a market price per pound is impossible. The record price paid for a single white truffle was set in Russian a few years ago. The buyer paid $95,000 for the world’s largest specimen found in recorded history; four-pounds.

Following it is the Matsutake mushroom at around $1,000 a pound, when it’s available. While its historical prevalence meant it was nearly synonymous with autumn in Japan, the introduction of an insect that kills the trees under which the mushroom grows has caused a dramatic decrease in the number of Matsutake mushrooms now harvested. A method for farming the Matsutake is not yet developed, which means the lack of trees from which to harvest these mushrooms naturally is a serious problem for the species.

Two melons also make the world’s most expensive foods’ list; the Yubari King, a cantaloupe-like melon, and the Densuke variety black watermelon.

A pair of the Yubari sold for $15,730 in Japan a couple of years ago. According to gourmet.com, this orange-fleshed melon is prized for its juicy sweetness and its beautiful proportions. The Yubari is considered a status symbol in Japan, and is often presented as a lavish gift to a host or employer — no doubt by an employee hoping for a raise.

The Densuke is rare in that it is grown only on Hokkaido Island in Japan. A harvest typically yields only a few fruits.

Aside from its rarity, attributing to its value — one weighing 17 pounds once sold for $6,100 — is that its hardness and crispness, combined with what is referred to as the perfect level of sweetness, make the watermelon incomparable.

It’s interesting to note that Amazon.com offers both Yubari and Densuke seeds for a few dollars a pack.