Luckier stallholders get to shelter from the stifling sun under rainbow parasols lining the bazaar"s seven blocks, which run parallel to the Nile. I followed my nose to Al Reda spice store on Saad Zaghloul Street, where burlap sacks overflowed with dried hibiscus flowers, cumin and dried molokhia. The store"s third-generation owner Moustafa Mohammed told me that while his ancestors mademolokhia nashfa, which uses dried versus fresh leaves, he mops up his molokhia with baladi (Egypt"s ancient answer to pita).