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Mohammed Daoud will use camel's milk, which reportedly tastes slightly saltier and lighter than cow's milk, as the base ingredient to make milkshakes and iced lattes in a variety of flavours including mint, date, strawberry, cherry and banana, for guests at the 532-room luxury resort.

The Ritz Carlton hotel, Abu Dhabi, which is selling camel milk shakes during Ramadan

It may sound like the latest health fad to us, but camel dairy farming is common in the UAE as an alternative to cow milking. The majority of milk (including the batches bought by the Ritz-Carlton) is produced by Camelicious, the world's first sophisticated camel milking farm owned by The Emirates Industry for Camel Milk & Products (EICMP), based in Dubai.

Since its opening in 2006, 2,200 Camelicious camels have been milked every morning and evening in specially-designed pens at the plant, producing up to 5,000 litres of milk a day.

How exactly do you milk such notoriously cantankerous creatures? Camel milking methods differ from those of cows or goats in that pumps need to be specially adapted to fit their irregularly-sized teats, and staff on the farm use carrot bribes to keep the animals calm during the process. The camels must also be trained to lactate without their calves being present as the harsh desert conditions they are used to mean that camels usually only provide milk when needed to feed their offspring.

Camel milk has been valued for centuries both in the Middle East and further afield for its nutritious properties. Of any animal milk, it is the closest in composition to that produced by humans and is commonly fed to malnourished babies. It lacks the protein beta-casein and other common allergens found in cow's milk, making it a suitable dairy alternative for people with lactose intolerance, as well as containing three times more vitamin C and 10 times more iron than cow's milk.

All of which means it is good news that the EICMP has just this week become the first UAE brand to start shipping freeze dried camel milk powder to European customers, having obtained an EU export licence earlier in the year. The powder will initially be sold to pharmaceutical companies for use in cosmetics, but an instant-milk powder is planned and camel's milk chocolate, yogurt and cheese may be in mainstream UK outlets within a few years. Triple caramel camel caffé macchiatos, anyone?