THE MOST EXPENSIVE FRUITS IN THE WORLD

But this isn’t the first time Japan’s gone fruit crazy. In fact, the country has an long history of luxe fruit. In Tokyo, the luxury fruit boutique Sembikiya sells everything from $3-a-piece strawberries to $212 square watermelons. ButSembikiya and the Gokusen banana are only the tip of the absurdly-expensive-fruit iceberg. Here are eight  fruits around the world that make a $6 banana look like, well, just a banana.

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 DENSUKE WATERMELON

Price: $121
Where: Japan

Why so expensive?: Sold at Sembikiya flagship store in Tokyo and throughout Japan, the black-skinned, stripeless Densuke watermelon is reported to have a special type of sweetness. Grown exclusively on Japan’s northernmost island, Hokkaido, only 100 Densuke are farmed each year. The most expensive one ever sold was a whopping 17 pounds and went for $6,100 at an auction in 2008, making it the priciest watermelon in the world.

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SEKAI-ICHI APPLE

Price: $21
Where: Japan

Why so expensive?: Yes, $21 per apple. Translating to “the best in the world,” Sekai-ichi are washed with honey and branded by hand to ensure they’re blemish free. The orchards where they’re grown are pollinated by hand using a tiny wand—treatments not uncommon in Japan’s fruit-obsessed culture. As Buzz Feed puts it, “These apples were presumably watered with honey, angel piss, and the tears of Donald Trump.” 

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YUBARI KING MELONS

Price: $225 for two
Where: Japan

Why so expensive?: The price above is actually the deal of a lifetime, seeing as a pair of Yubari King Melons once went for $23,500 (making them the most expensive fruits in the world). Another product of the island of Hokkaido, the hybrid, orange-fleshed melon is highly prized for itssweetness, and, as Gourmet writes, “beautiful proportions.” The melons are grown in greenhouses and even given “hats” to prevent sunburn.

THIS PINEAPPLE

Price: $1,600
Where: Cornwall, England

Why so expensive?: The Lost Gardens of Heligan grows these pineapples for two years under straw, manure, and horse urine—”Victorian techniques” that allow the pineapples to flourish in England’s colder climate. (If you’re adverse to the idea of urine-soaked fruit, don’t worry—the pineapple never comes into direct contact with the waste fertilizers.) Because of the intensive time and labor required to grow the pineapples, the fruit is never sold at market. Instead, the pineapples are given to garden staff to “thank them for their hard work over the pineapples life span,” the Lost Gardens of Heligan tells the Huffington Post.

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STRAWBERRIES ARNAUD

Price: $1.4 million
Where: New Orleans, Louisiana

Why so expensive? : A bowl of strawberries for $1.4 million? Hell nah. A bowl of strawberries garnished with a 4.7-carat pink diamond ring for $1.4 million? Still hell no. But that’s exactly what’s served at the 96-year old Arnaud’s restaurant in New Orleans French quarter. Of course, you don’t just get the strawberries and the ring for your money—there’s a jazz ensemble, too. 

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 RUBY ROMAN GRAPES

Price: $6,400
Where: Japan

Why so expensive?: The world’s most expensive grapes were sold at an auction in 2011 in (surprise!) Kanazawa, Japan. Each grape was about the size of a ping-pong ball, and, since there were 25 in the bunch, cost about $255. To be sold, the grapes must have a sugar content of around 18 percent and weigh 20 grams each. 

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DEKOPON     

Price: $79 for 6
Where: Japan, and now California

Why so expensive? : A hybrid of a mandarin and an orange, the Dekopon is rumoured to be the most delicious citrus in the world. It looks like an orange, with the exception of a bump on the top, but is larger and sweeter. Until 2011—when the citrus made its way to California and was renamed “Sumo”—the Dekopon was available only in Japan.  The LA Times writes that the seedless fruit has “a flesh that feels firm at the first bite but then melts in the mouth.

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 NORTHERN TERRITORY MANGOS

Price: $50,000
Where: Sydney, Australia

Why so expensive? : In 2012, a tray of 12 Northern Territory mangoes sold for $50,000 at an auction in Sydney. The proceeds went to the Prostate Council Foundation of Australia, the Cancer Council of NSW, and Oz Harvest. Australia produces a lot of mangoes—7.2 million trays in 2013/2014—so the fruit’s sky-high price tag was most likely for charity’s sake.