From papaya salads to mango curry.

2025 was all about “swicy” (sweet and spicy) flavours. Think: the seemingly never-ending reign of hot honey.

But in 2026, it seems, we’ve moved on to “fricy”, a trend the BBC said is blowing up this year.

It’s a combination of fruity and spicy flavours.

It might include hot and salty spice mix Tajín sprinkled over some mango or melon (a personal fave), or foods that are naturally a combination of the two, like some sweeter chilli peppers.

1. Thai papaya salads,
2. Sri Lankan mango curry “amba maluwa”,
3. Mango salsa,
4. Tagines containing apricot,
5. Scotch bonnet peppers,
6. Yuzu Kosho,
7. Tajín with fruit,
8. Aji amarillo pepper,
9. Spicy pork and pineapple kebabs,
10. Chilli and lime combos.

But really, there’s no end to the mixes you can make.

Generally, citrus fruits pair well with chilli, and the combination of both is brilliant with seafood.

Bright, strong flavours like pineapple and mango are also delicious with piquant chilli (they’ve historically been paired with Tajín).

Don’t try to limit yourself too much, though: cucumber, which is technically a fruit, is delicious with papaya and chilli, for instance.

Sweet and spicy flavours have long been combined in cooking.

And it turns out there’s a scientific reason something as sweet as a mango can sit beautifully in a curry: “With sweet and spicy, our body processes spice through receptors in our taste buds and the capsaicin in peppers binds to our taste buds,” food scientist Brittany Towers told Business Insider.

Sugar helps to take away some of the sting of that hot sensation, which itself brightens the flavour of the fruit.

No wonder I can’t stop eating Tajín and mango…