It has been one of the most popular flavours of ice cream for generations and its taste is synonymous with the traditional British summer.

But vanilla is being taken off the menu by some independent retailers who cannot afford the ingredient after a shortage sent prices rocketing.

And the fashion for trendy organic ingredients has seen demand for real vanilla products, rather than the synthetic substitute, add to the worldwide problems of sourcing the spice.

Around 85 per cent of the world's supply of vanilla pods comes from the tropical island of Madagascar off the eastern coast off Africa.

But natural disasters such as last year's Cyclone Enawo, which left a third of plantations damaged, followed by political unrest and rioting, has sent prices through the roof.

Since 2016, the price of just over 2lbs (1kg) of vanilla pods has gone up by 500 per cent to around £443 ($600) per kilo - meaning the sweet ingredient now costs more than silver, which is around £393 ($532.42) per kg.