Examining the range at an ice-cream counter recently, I wondered when someone last invented (or discovered) a completely new flavour. Most new ice-cream varieties are combinations of old flavours and ingredients, and this seems to be the case for lollies and chocolates as well.
I think coca-cola was invented around the turn of the century, so was that the last new flavour?
Curious,
Snaf
Well, “Jeremy’s MicroBatch Ice Creams Inc.” in Philadelphia tried beer-flavoured ice cream last year (Vanilla Cream Stout) but it looks like the company is gone.
We had hedgehog flavoured crisps a while back but they seem to have gone out of vogue. Mind you, I haven’t seen any hedgehogs recently.
No one talks about it though, it’s a prickly subject.
Chemist around the world synthesize, in scientific terms, zillions of new chemicals every day. Each one tastes a little different. So whatever answer I give you would be obsolete in thirty seconds.
The answer depends on what you’re willing to stick your tongue on. Kevlar, MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmm.
So you think I need to define my terms a bit more? 
How about a new flavour, with its own name, that’s at least moderately successful in the marketplace?
So random chemical manipulations (cinnamon v.1.03?) and non-food concepts (surely kevlar doesn’t have a flavour, anyway? #-)) don’t count.
Does all this humourous prevarication mean no one can think of a flavour more recent than coca cola? 
Snaf
Bubble Gum, “Cookie Dough”, Cotton Candy, White chocolate, Birch Beer Soda, Southern Comfort, Drambuie, Yukon Jack, etc. (most cordials aren’t much more than a hundred years old).
There are also commercial flavorings that, to my palate, taste only vaguely like the flavor they’re named for, but which have been commercially successful: Candy “raspberry”, “grapefruit”, “banana”, “cherry”, etc.
just to add: candy strawberry tastes NOTHING like the fruit.
Not to mention those “flavoured” dental fluoride treatments.
Well, certainly there have been commercial sucessful flavors introduced since Coca Cola. For example, orange soda, grape soda, Seven Up, and Mountain Dew were created after Coca Cola.
My guess would be that Pistachio ice cream and Tutti Fruitti were invented after Coca Cola. (Pistachio ice cream tastes nothing like pistachios!)
There is also the world of the Slurpie to explore. Flavors like White Cherry and Blue Raspberry are fairly recent.
Life Savers were invented in 1912, so the distinctive Butter Rum flavor was created some time after that.
Kool-Aid was created in 1927. During the '90s they introduces a new flavor called Sharkleberry Fin. (“It’s new! It’s pink!”) They no longer sell this flavor (sniff) but it tasted like nothing else. Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade is even newer.
Hawaiian Punch is a more recent entry than Coca Cola. I would also like to suggest Umami, but the flavor has been around forever, and only recently named. You could also look at the Tahitian Treat soda. Many tropical fruit flavors have only recently made their debut in the commercial market as well.
Manufacturers are always researching new flavours. I once read a newspaper interview with a woman who worked as a taster for Wall’s. She reported having tried smoked salmon flavoured ice cream, amongst other things.
When did Dr. Pepper come along?
I have no idea what the flavor is supposed to be, but it’s certainly unique. Dr. Pepper has only been available here for about 5 years, so I vividly remember the first time I tried it (expecting it to be a cola flavoured drink!).