Watch: Vanilla now costs more than silver, ice cream makers in panic

UK Ice cream makers could have a hard time this summer as the prices of vanilla sky-rocket over the last two years. 

Ice cream makers around the UK are in panic-mode - at approximately $600 (£443) per kilo, 30 times what it did just a few years ago. 

The in-demand ingredient now costs more than silver.

Although major leading retailers may not be as affected by the change, small businesses and pop-up shops could have a tough time in the market, reports said. 

Maximum amount of vanilla is grown in Madagascar whose market has been somewhat of a rollercoaster, as per reports. This is because when the ingredient's price escalated in the 80s, companies started producing fake vanilla making it tough for the demand of the real stuff to remain or grow. 

But, the more experienced and health-conscious people began to notice the change in flavor and the demand increased and prices reached sky-high. 

Many small ice cream shops have to resort to dropping vanilla flavors from their menu due to the reason while another UK-based business reconsidering its vanilla options is the family-run company, Snugburys Ice Cream.

Around a third of their 40 flavours contain vanilla in some form and they are paying their supplier 30 times more for the extract than they did in previous years.

It is tough for the ingredient to cultivate, extracted from the delicate vanilla orchid flower. As a result, vanilla is the second most expensive spice in the world, after saffron.

Vanilla is also a popular ingredient in alcohol, perfumes, cosmetics, other food products.