Maitrank, May drink, is the pride of Arlon, Belgium's oldest town, at the southern edge of the Ardennes near the Luxembourg border. Every spring the locals pick sweet woodruff, a small woodland herb that smells of fresh hay and vanilla when it wilts, and steep it in dry white Moselle wine with sugar and orange. Arlon holds an annual Maitrank festival, a brotherhood guards the tradition, and Slow Food has listed the drink as a product worth saving.

It is light, fragrant and dangerously easy to drink cold on a summer terrace, which makes it a natural aperitif for a Belgian Grand Prix weekend. Make it in May if you can find fresh woodruff, or with dried woodruff at any time of year.

The Maitrank

Ingredients

• 1 small bunch (about 15 sprigs) sweet woodruff
• 2 bottles (1.5 liters) dry Moselle white wine
• 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
• 1 unwaxed orange
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) cognac

To serve

Ingredients

• 8 thin orange slices

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