If you are itching for a chunk of chocolate, Harrods has introduced a premium dark bar impregnated with Amazonian lemon ants. The creepy-crawly laden treat, costing £18 for just 56g, was made in Ecuador by fine-chocolatier To'ak, which described it as a "unique recipe of chocolate with ants that will delight the most refined and adventurous palates".

The company uses rare cacao variety "Nacional", which can trace its lineage back 5,300 years. The Harrods website reads: "Hailing from the Ecuadorian province of Manabí, To'ak is well known for using traditional ingredients to craft its extraordinary fair-trade chocolate. But the Amazonian Ants from its Alchemy collection may take even the most seasoned of chocolate adventurers by surprise.

"These four individually wrapped bars combine single-origin heirloom cacao with lemon ants - an ingredient used to flavour many native Amazonian dishes with a delicate citronella aroma." The recipe was made in collaboration with Colombia-based Charles X Michelle, a renowned food educator and culinary artist.

He said: "Ants are an ingredient that many people in the West aren't familiar with. For native Amazonian communities lemon ants are a delicacy."