Vimto Original Cordial - 725ml

Vimto belongs to that very British kitchen habit: the bottle of cordial you dilute, kept next to the kettle and topped up all week. It has been doing that job for well over a century, and the flavour is still entirely its own.

In Canada, people tend to go looking for it for one reason. You cannot describe it to anyone who has not had it, so the only option is to pour them a glass and watch their face. Kids of British parents who tried it on a summer visit ask for it by name.

The 725ml bottle is concentrated, so mix it with water, still or fizzy, until it looks right to you. Unopened, it sits happily in the cupboard. Plenty of people swear by hot Vimto on a cold evening, which sounds odd until you have one.

It goes in the basket with the other things from the corner shop on the way home: a packet of crisps, a bag of sweets, a chocolate bar you were not supposed to buy. Same feeling, different side of the Atlantic.