Plums vary dramatically in look and in flavour, ranging from very sweet and cherry-like to quite tart and green.
Those concerns have a distinctly Chinese flavour, ranging from China's work on a deep water port next door in Pakistan to the somewhat provocative visit made recently to the Seychelles by China's president, Hu Jintao (shown above, left).The military men in particular feel that India is being encircled, its natural domain of the Indian Ocean being increasingly penetrated.
Image caption Chief executive Roger White said the company was "fit for purpose and resilient" Barr said revenue from its carbonates business increased by 8.9%, driven primarily by Irn-Bru, the Barr flavours range and Rubicon Spring.
September Organic Dairy (01544 312 910, www.september-organic.co.uk) has a mail-order ice cream business with utterly delicious-sounding flavours ranging from Butterscotch Crunch through Elderflower Cream to Grandma 's Coffee.
There are two delectable baby truffles behind each window, with flavours ranging from mulled wine to sticky gingerbread and pecan pudding.
It's where well-heeled locals go to sip drinks on the piazza and, of course, order gelato, with flavours ranging from the classic (rich dark chocolate) to exotic (chestnut, and peach-and-pinenut).
It's a deliciously versatile ingredient, which is no surprise – good cider apples have sweetness and acidity, as well as a spectrum of wonderful flavours ranging from the tannic to the perfumed.
With tropical flavours ranging from light and sweet to dark, rich and treacly, rum comes increasingly high on people's lists of favourite spirits, "not just for its smoothness, but also for its character," he says.
Aside from the standard smoking gear hollow glass bases, stainless-steel "hearts", hoses and clay pipes the company sells over a tonne of sticky hookah tobacco a month, in 20 flavours ranging from strawberry to mango.It has recently branched into franchising.
The shop's shelves are rainbows of brightly packaged sweets, in flavours ranging from green tea or plum to old standbys like chocolate.
