White Cabbage

The everyday cabbage: pale green, tightly packed, and mild enough to go anywhere. It is the cheapest way to add bulk to a meal without adding much of anything else, which is why it turns up in so many kitchens.

Shredded into a thoran with coconut and mustard seed, folded into a stir-fry, layered into a filling for a roll, or cut into wedges and roasted until the edges blacken. It also makes the plainest, most useful salad in the world with nothing but salt, lemon and oil.

Look for a firm, heavy head with crisp outer leaves. Yellowing leaves and a woody, cracked stem mean it has been sitting a while.

Fridge, whole, no bag. It does not mind being cold and it does not mind being ignored.

Two to three weeks whole; five days once cut, with the cut face wrapped.