The iconic snack brand has created a buzz on social media by selling tubes of the limited-edition offering since January, but left fans trying to guess what it might be by keeping the flavour a secret. Fans flocked to social media to share their guesses, ranging from melted popcorn and wasabi BBQ to spaghetti Bolognese and pizza.

But after four months of leaving them in the dark bosses have finally revealed the Mystery Flavour – Spicy Pickle. It comes after the flavour has seen an unlikely surge in popularity among younger people with a raft of videos posted under tags such as ‘#pickle’ ‘#pickle challenge’ or ‘#pickle trends’ on social media.

Among the trends to get millions of views is ‘glickles’ – where edible glitter is added to the juice in a jar, and the ‘chickle’ – a fried cheese-wrapped pickle.

Pringles flavour expert Martha O’Reilly said: “All of our flavours are based on what's trending across Europe in food. And so TikTok was one of the inspirations for this because pickles are everywhere right now. Especially with Gen Z, we know that's where they're getting inspiration for the products that they're buying.”

But Martha admitted the new flavour was a bit of a wildcard that they weren’t expecting to work, but as soon as they tasted it, they knew it was the one. She said: “You want a flavour that's going to generate that conversation and be a little bit divisive well, so people don't necessarily know what it is straight off the bat.

"This flavour is quite complex. We have the spice, which comes from red chilli and jalapeno, and then we have, obviously, the pickles, so the fermented flavours in that. We also do have other taste elements, so we're looking at onion, tomato, paprika and garlic, which adds to that polarisation. People are guessing what the flavour is, but they can't get it.”

Nearly 6,000 guesses have been submitted by would-be snack detectives – with less than 1% getting it right. Other popular incorrect suggestions included Chinese spice, spicy meatball and cheesy nachos.

While some even thought it was Thai red curry, chicken fajita or chilli con carne. But one of the few to guess correctly will be in with the chance of winning a break to New York.

Martha O’Reilly, who was one of only 50 people in the world to know about the new flavour before its announcement, said: “Probably one of the biggest challenges I've had this year is just keeping it under wraps.”