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WTF

Somebody Paid Way Too Much Money for the World's Most Expensive Melons

Why not just buy a car?
Photo via Flickr user Kabsik Park

This article originally appeared on MUNCHIES.

For the epicure that has everything, there's now a melon available in Japan that's worth as much as a new car.

The Yubari King is a cross between two varieties of cantaloupe, and must be grown in the Yubari region in order to bear that name — just as Kobe beef, another Japanese culinary luxury, must be produced in that certain geographic region.

The Yubari King is known for it's sweetness and, of course, its price tag, which just reached a whopping $27,000 (though that was technically for a pair). That price is only reserved for the choicest melons however, with average Yubaris typically going for $50 - $100, which is still ridiculous when you think about it—but not, like, the cost-of-my-college-loans ridiculous.

The melon may be the most expensive that Japan has to offer, but it certainly isn't the only premium fruit that the country's farmers have assiduously cultivated.

Last summer, a single cluster of Ruby Roman grapes sold at a market in the Ishikawa Prefecture of Japan for nearly $11,000. Do a little bit of math and that comes out to over $350 per grape.

More recently, individual Japanese strawberries were selling in Hong Kong for roughly $22 a piece, and came cushioned on a pink styrofoam pillow and faux hay.

With the current fetching price of Japan's luxury fruit market apparently booming, it makes $200 square watermelons seem almost quaint.