Vanilla Shortage may Balloon Ice Cream Prices

If you take a licking on the price of an ice cream cone this summer, the cause might be due to a spike in the cost of vanilla beans, which are in short supply.

Many ice-cream fans might take vanilla for granted, but the beans are actually bold aromatics that are becoming increasingly popular amid the clamor for companies to put more natural flavors in food.

But supply isn't keeping up with demand. Madagascar, the African island nation that's one of the world's leading vanilla-bean producers, experienced a poor harvest in the past year, according to reports from Bloomberg News and The Guardian.

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