The savory-sweet combination of salt and caramel is hard to resist, and it’s easy to understand why it has grown in popularity as everything from an ice cream flavor or a luscious sauce to an addition to drinks such as lattes.

Salted caramel provides a non-sweet element that many desserts and coffee drinks benefit from, bringing both saltiness and the slightly bitter richness of caramel that adds complexity to menu items. It’s a way to easily upgrade sweets and beverages and make them feel more indulgent, unique or gourmet. It draws in consumers who are looking for an extra dimension in their meals. 

Market research firm Datassential reports that the flavor has increased by 88% on menus over the past four years and is currently found on 1.3% of U.S. menus.

Click through the gallery to learn more about this flavor of the week and see how one restaurant is using sea salt caramel on its menu.