Roots & Tubers

Carrot, beetroot, white radish and the two sweet potatoes — what grows below the soil. As a group these are the best keepers in the shop: most will hold two weeks or more, which makes them the sensible half of a big order.

The two sweet potatoes are worth telling apart. The ordinary one is drier and starchier and roasts to something closer to a potato; the red-skinned one is moister and sweeter and is the better of the two mashed or in anything where you want the sweetness forward.

One habit worth adopting: if anything on this page arrives with leaves attached, cut them off before storing. The leaves keep pulling water out of the root and will turn a firm carrot soft in a couple of days.