Vanilla ice cream off the menu as price hikes hit makers

Britain’s ice-cream industry is being hit by a global shortage of vanilla that has seen the price of the spice soar to record highs over the past two years.

At approximately $700 (£515) per kilogram, vanilla is worth more than its weight in silver, The Independent reports, and is now the second-most expensive spice in the world after saffron.

Around 85% of the world’s supply of vanilla pods comes from Madagascar, off the eastern coast of Africa, but natural disasters including cyclones have caused major damage at many plantations, says The Daily Telegraph.

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Political unrest and violence in the region has also hit production, sending prices “through the roof”, the newspaper adds.

Those hikes are forcing an increasing number of smaller ice-cream manufacturers to take vanilla off their menus.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Julie Fisher, founder of ice-cream chain Ruby Violet, said her London-based outlets would not be serving vanilla “for the foreseeable future”.

“A lot of people still come in and ask for vanilla and when I tell them we don’t have it any more they think it must be a joke, they can’t believe it,” Fisher said. “It is very sad as we used it in lots of other flavours.

It’s one of our staples and it’s the first flavour a lot of people try as children, a lot people love it. It was the flavour I would ask for when I got an ice cream.

“It doesn’t look like it is going to get any better either. Once prices hit a certain level, it’s difficult for it to go back.”