Rocks Organic Blackcurrant Cordial (natural Ribena!)

Rocks Organic Blackcurrant Cordial is sold in a glass bottle, made with organic berries and Devonshire spring water. This brand (created by three dads) is sold everywhere, from health shops to farm shops to some supermarkets.

Store in the fridge after opening, and drink within 3 weeks. Due to be sweetened with natural sugar, brush teeth not long after drinking. And don’t leave tops open, or you’ll have wasps and ants visiting!

Why Drink This, Over Standard Ribena?

Ribena is a drink created (by a biochemist and scientist combined at Bristol University) back in 1938, to help people get vitamin C during World War II, when citrus fruits were not available. The government encouraged people to grow blackcurrants, and children were  given the drink for free.

The name is from the botanical name for blackcurrants (‘ribes nigrum).

Now owned by a Japanese corporate food brand, modern versions are (like all squash – even Robinson’s Barley Waters) adding artificial sweetener to reduce the sugar level, preparing for impending sugar taxes. Today around 90% of all our blackcurrant harvests, goes to make Ribena (profits moving out of England).

One user who found that Ribena now adds artificial sweetener to her favourite drink wrote online ‘‘Adding sweeteners to Ribena was intended to reduce our sugar intake. This has worked, as I no longer buy Ribena’.

The company recently spent £7 million on a TV ad campaign, to have people hark back to the days of nostalgia, when drinking Ribena. However, the sugar tax has now changed the recipe completely.

There is now less blackcurrant juice, and ‘blackcurrant flavour’ has been added. This reduces the sugar content, to make more profits. One user said it now just tastes of ‘summer fruits’, and it’s like the makers have filled the bottle with a completely different drink.

Homemade Ribena Cordial

Welsh chef Gaz Oakley has a simple recipe for homemade Ribena. It only needs water, blackcurrants and maple syrup. However if making homemade squash, it’s important to avoid unpasteurised drinks for pregnancy/nursing and weak immunity. And you also need to sterilise the bottles/jars:

Put jars, lids and rubber seals on hot dishwasher cycle (fill with hot water, while warm).  Or wash in hot soapy water, and ‘cook’ in pre-heated oven (to 160 degrees C) for 15 minutes (again fill with hot water, while still warm).