Sweetcorn ice creams and pastries: The latest 'swavoury' trend taking over your feed

That's according to Crystelle Pereira, a cook and former Great British Bake Off finalist known for her wacky flavour combinations.

While sweetcorn is already a staple in South East Asian and Latin American puddings, it has largely been relegated to sandwich fillings and pizza toppings in the UK. But that could all be changing.

Food trend forecasters say sweetcorn is starting to appear in "some exciting and unexpected guises" on the UK food scene.

It is all part of a wider food trend involving the combination of sweet and savoury flavours we wouldn't traditionally put together, sometimes called the "swavoury" movement, Shokofeh Hejazi of food trend agency thefoodpeople says.

Other examples include combinations like purple sweet potato ice cream, cheesecake with carrot compote, or chocolate bars loaded with salty potato chips.

Both sweetcorn's flavour profile and ability to be blended into a creamy texture makes it a great fit for the trend, says Hejazi.

Pereira says sweetcorn in desserts and drinks is "very slowly easing its way" into the UK food scene.

And she's excited: "I genuinely really think sweetcorn and desserts is just the best thing in the world.

"We've been so used to having sweetcorn in tuna and sweetcorn, we just think it's a savoury ingredient," she says. "But… it's so, so sweet."

Pereira had an "epiphany" when she saw the ingredient being used in sweets on holiday in Thailand last year, where it's common to see sweetcorn used in everything from custard tarts to jellies and ice creams.

Hoping to inspire her UK followers to experiment with the vegetable, she made a sweetcorn latte inspired by a frappé drink she'd had on her trip, using coconut milk, blended sweetcorn and espresso.

"I wanted to show people that it works," she tells me, explaining she thought sweetcorn's similarity to condensed milk would make the combination "more palatable" to a sweetcorn drink novice.

​​Lisa Harris, co-founder of food consultancy Harris & Hayes, says growing interest in sweetcorn is also partly down to the UK's "unstoppable" appetite for South Korean food , which is "changing how we eat".

Pereira has continued to champion corn, recently making a Brazilian lemonade - which uses limes instead of lemons - and pairing it with corn milk.