Lettuce

Soft-leaf lettuce grown in the UAE, which matters more for leaves than for anything else we sell: a lettuce that has spent a week in transit has already lost the thing you are buying it for.

Use it as the base of a green salad, as the wrap for a shawarma at home, or torn through a fattoush at the last moment. Soft leaves bruise, so dress them just before serving and toss with your hands rather than tongs.

Choose a head that feels heavy and springy with no brown or slimy edges at the base of the leaves. A little wilt at the very outside is normal and comes off in one leaf.

Wash only what you are about to eat. Store the head whole, wrapped loosely in a clean cloth or paper, in the salad drawer — the cloth takes up the condensation that would otherwise rot the leaves.

Three to five days. Leaves are the shortest-lived thing in this shop; buy them for the week you need them.