Muslims in the Middle East traditionally break their Ramadan fast by eating a date, but these days the date that signals the start of the nightly iftar feast is washed down with an energising glass of Vimto.

Thirty-five million bottles of the Lancastrian soft drink are sold in the Middle East each year, with a substantial sales spike during the holy month of Ramadan, which began on Monday. The region is now home to the world’s most enthusiastic Vimto guzzlers outside the UK, with sales up 9% in 2015. Saudi Arabia is the biggest non-domestic market for Nichols, Vimto’s Warrington-based manufacturer, followed by Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

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Invented in Manchester in 1908 by the pharmacist John Noel Nichols at the height of the temperance movement, Vimto was originally intended as a herbal tonic which promised the drinker “vim and vigour”. A sugary mix of grapes, raspberries and blackcurrants and a few secret herbs, the drink quickly became popular across much of the British empire and found particular favour on the Indian subcontinent.

In the 1920s, many Indians moved to the Middle East to work as clerks, taking with them their taste in beverages. By 1928 large quantities of the squash were being exported to the region via a family firm called Abdulla Aujan & Brothers and the Middle Eastern love affair with Vimto began. For Muslims, it is now as synonymous with Ramadan as turkey is with Christmas for Christians.

The Vimto sold in the Middle East is different from that sold in the UK, a spokeswoman for Nichols said. The recipe is tweaked and it is twice as concentrated to cater for the region’s sweet tooth. “Vimto adapts the recipe for the taste of each region it launches into, recognising that the customer requirements are crucial,” she said.

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Vimto is also popular in Syria. Amaf Yousef, a marketing executive now living in Manchester, said it brought back happy memories of his homeland. “Here’s my memory of Vimto: Dad brings it, his car trunk full of food and fruits, and then just before iftar as we are listening to recitation from the Qur’an and waiting for the sunset, Mum prepares it with ice cubes swimming inside the jar,” he said.

In Saudi Arabia Vimto is manufactured under licence by the Aujan Industrial Company and enjoys a 90% market share in the cordial concentrated drinks market. The drink has helped make Adel Aujan, the Saudi tycoon who controls the brand in the region, a billionaire.

During Ramadan some Middle Eastern stores prevent a run on Vimto by rationing customers to a maximum of two bottles each.