Instead of limiting yourself to semisweet, dark and white chocolate chips the next time you set out to make a batch of cookies, consider getting some more unusually flavored chips. Vosges Chocolate has a line of three flavors of Exotic Chocolate Chips. Black Pearl Exotic Chocolate Chips are dark chocolate flavored with ginger, wasabi and black sesame seeds. Naga Exotic Chocolate Chips have a milk chocolate base that is spiked with sweet Indian curry powder and coconut flakes. Finally, the chocolatier also makes Red Fire Exotic Chocolate Chips, dark chocolate with Mexican ancho and chipotle chili peppers and Ceylon cinnamon. Each 4-oz. bag of chips sells for $8.50.

Vosges doesn't leave you on your own to come up with recipes that the chocolate chips can be included in, either. With each of the three types of chocolate chips, they list several recipes that will work perfectly with them. For example the Red Fire Martini and Love Goddess Cake work well with the Red Fire Chips and the Black Pearl Chips are the star in Full Moon Brownies.

In New Zealand, scientists have been able to determine precisely which genes are responsible for the individual flavors and scents of fruits and flowers. As a result of this breakthrough, it will now be possible to actually produce natural flavorings without having to resort to chemical extractions or other synthetic processes, not to mention that it will save time trying to match the flavors of new products to natural ones. The scientists inserted the newly-identified genes into bacteria and model plants, which then produced the same results. Using a process known as biofermentation, they will be able to harvest the flavors and smells from the cultures in which they are grown and then implant them into food products (or perfumes).

The upshot of all of this is that it opens the door to a nearly infinite number of flavors - all-natural flavors, at that. As consumer demand increasingly grows for "natural" products, it seems likely that novel, but natural, flavorings could catch on. Green apple potato chips, anyone?

Diners who frequent higher end restaurants may have no problem accepting a chef's use of unusual or artificial flavoring agents when they are used to bring out unusual sensations in the food, like the menthol crystals used by Wylie Dufresne in some dishes at wd-50. The same cannot be said when artificial flavorings are used instead of readily available ingredients.

Leading French chefs Joel Robuchon and Alain Passard have denounced the growing trend among French cooks for using non-natural ingredients in their cooking, like saffron perfume, truffle essence or powdered wine sauce. The objective, unlike the use of similar things in the conceptual molecular gastronomy model, is to be able to achieve cheap, quick results. French cooks who use them use the "ingredients" secretly, for fear of being accused of cheating by others in their profession. A supplier stands by the products, saying "An increased range [of flavors] should logically be tolerated and accepted by everyone in the end," while Passard said "I don't know what to call the people who use these chemicals, but they are not cooks."

Danisco, a Copenhagen, Denmark-based producer of food flavorings, sweeteners and other ingredients, is exploring how foods release flavors and how humans perceive them. According to a recent Food Navigator article, they're using a process called proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry, or PTR-MS. The technology, developed in the mid-1990s, is also used to rapidly detect pollutants in air. The idea is to learn how different foods release their flavors as people chew, swallow and breathe, then use that information to develop or recreate other flavorings.

The flavorings that Danisco creates based on this information are known as "Commonsense Flavours." While Danisco has been working with their Commonsense Flavours for over a year, the PTR-MS information, taken primarily in the human nasal cavity, gives a better idea of how flavors are perceived by people, a Danisco release says. Basically, as I understand it, if you know what chemicals a strawberry releases when eaten, and how those levels rise and fall throughout the eating process, you have a better idea of how to design a synthetic strawberry flavoring to mimic that. I think.