Apparently, ingredients that taste bitter are healthy for you and help with digestion, which is perhaps the reason I'm hooked on Aperol spritzers. I had my first one in Venice. It was summer and incredibly hot, and everyone in the wine bars was sipping these bright Fanta-orange-coloured drinks. We immediately did a When Harry met Sally move: “We'll have what they're having!”

The drink is made from a few tots of Aperol bitters, topped with sparkling wine (Prosecco is traditionally used), soda, ice, and a slice of orange. I've seen that the brand is available in SA now, and has become quite the 'in' drink this season.

Bitter foods have also become quite prominent in dishes recently, with chefs cooking with beer and smoking some of their ingredients. Bitterness can also intensify the sweetness in dishes.

There are actually quite a few Italian foods that would enjoy being paired with this bitter Italian aperitif, such as capers, olives, coffee, radicchio and endive. Very dark chocolate, marmalade and turmeric all tend to be on the bitter list, and we can enjoy them without the sharpness being too offensive.

Still on the Italian theme, last weekend I had some friends around for some gnocchi making. We perfected the best-ever, fluffly, melt-in-the-mouth dumplings. The kitchen ended up with a fine sprinkling of flour everywhere, but we crafted a stellar recipe and ate copious amounts of the morsels with a creamy gorgonzola sauce, and a salad of curly endive and toasted walnuts – a perfect bowl of bitterness.

Of course there were some spritzers that went down particularly well, too!

Happy eating!
Abigail

Photograph: Jamingray