Aperol spritz with a dried orange wheel.

The spritz is the easiest great drink in the world to get wrong. Too much soda and it's flat orange cordial. Too little prosecco and it's syrup. The classic ratio is three prosecco, two Aperol, one soda, built over ice, and you never need to shake a thing.

The fresh orange half-wheel everyone reaches for goes limp in the bubbles and starts shedding pith within minutes. A dried wheel holds its shape, holds its colour, and keeps the glass looking like a Venetian terrace from first pour to last.

What you'll need

• 90ml prosecco
• 60ml Aperol
• 30ml soda water
• 1 dried orange wheel
• Ice, to fill

How to make it

1. Fill a large wine glass with ice. Bigger glass, more ice, colder spritz.
2. Pour the prosecco first, then the Aperol. Prosecco first keeps the bubbles lively.
3. Add the soda water and give it one slow stir with a bar spoon, just to marry it.
4. Slide a dried orange wheel down the inside of the glass so it sits among the ice.
5. Serve immediately, while the bubbles are still doing the work.

Why dried beats fresh here

A fresh orange slice in a spritz is a five-minute garnish in a twenty-minute drink. It softens, it weeps, and by the bottom of the glass you're drinking around it. A dried wheel concentrates the rind oil and the colour, so it reads as orange the whole way down and never turns the soda cloudy.

For a long afternoon of spritzes, prep a row of glasses with ice and a dried wheel in each, then build to order. No chopping board, no sticky bench, no half a sad orange browning by the sink.

Use the Orange jar, about 25 wheels, enough for a long summer of spritzes.