White Grapes

Green grapes — called white in the trade — crisper and sharper than the red or the black. They snap when you bite them rather than yielding, and the finish is clean and slightly tart.

That acidity makes them the most useful of the three in food rather than as a snack: through a grain salad, with fennel and yoghurt, or alongside anything rich where you need a cut. Children often prefer them for the crunch alone.

Look for fruit with a faint amber blush, which is the sign of a ripe green grape — a uniformly pale, hard green bunch will be sour. Stems green and pliable, fruit firmly attached.

Fridge, unwashed, with some airflow. Green grapes bruise less than the darker ones and keep marginally longer.

Ten days refrigerated.