A MIND-BOGGLING menu of edible bubbles, liquid nitrogen ice cream and alcoholic mist would lead anyone to believe they had walked into the world of Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory.

But these quirky culinary creations - including most recently edible balloons - in fact come from the a team of masterminds at Lick Me I'm Delicious based in Chalgrove, South Oxfordshire.

Oxfordshire's very own answer to the film's Charlie Bucket, who is eventually gifted the Wonka factory, is Charlie Francis.

He founded the company in 2011, creating the firm's first nitro parlour in his living room.

Since then he, and a team of seven have masterminded a nitro ice cream buggy, edible mist orbs, a Corby trouser press inspired toasty maker, floss whizzers and electric tea cups.

But the most recent incredible invention is the edible balloon factory - complete with necessary helium voice-changing abilities.

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Event manager Alanya O'Donnell, who worked on the project, said: "Charlie tries to create four weird and wonderful machines a year.

"The idea is to create machines - such as the edible mist and bubbles - that have the complete wow-factor. Something that you can't believe is a real thing.

"Edible balloons was something Charlie had seen being done in Michelin star restaurants out in America. So we thought this would be great to launch a machine that creates edible balloons on en-masse for events."

The experimental food company has a range of mind-bending machines that can be hired out for events and exhibitions across Europe.

The balloon factory is the latest creation which launched this month and includes flavoured balloons which can be inflated with helium and eaten.

It has been seven months in the making with endless hours dedicated to researching, recipe-testing, and trialling the perfect combination of crazy, and culinary.

She said: "It takes a lot of research, as obviously I didn't know any ingredients or how it is done. Then it is a case of trial and error, I must have gone through so many ingredients which would work and then something else would go wrong.

"There is a lot of science experiments that go into it to make the perfect mix."

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Although a secret recipe, the balloons are made with mainly sugar and flavouring - with a dash of science and all completely vegan friendly.

The balloons are inflated with helium and floated from an edible lace. Party-goers can then take a bite, suck in the helium, and polish off the rest of the balloon embracing the squeaky voice.

Six different flavours include passion fruit, bubble gum, apple pie, cucumber, mango, and chocolate cookie.

Ms O'Donnell added: "They all taste strong which was important for us, we didn't want it to be a dull taste."

The balloon factory will be officially unveiled at an event conference in two weeks. Details lickmeimdelicious.com