Ribena - The home of the original much loved blackcurrant soft drink (2024)

FAQs

Do they sell Ribena in the US? ›

Ribena Blackcurrant 20 Fl Oz : Target.

Ribena has health benefits due to its high vitamin C content, which can boost the immune system. However, it also contains added sugars, so moderation is key. It was not banned but faced controversy in 2007 when its vitamin C content in New Zealand was found to be much lower than claimed on the packaging.

Ribena, a sweet juice drink most famous for its blackcurrant flavor, is a firm childhood memory for most Brits. The majority of Americans, however, have never even tasted blackcurrant. Ribena also comes in squash form, a concentrated syrup that is diluted with water to make a drink.

But appearing in an Auckland court on 15 charges of breaching the New Zealand's Fair Trading Act, GSK pleaded guilty and admitted its ads may have left consumers with a wrong impression of the health benefits of Ribena. The judge fined the company a total NZ$227,500 ($163,700) for misleading advertising.

Healthy? No. Drinking this 500ml bottle of Ribena gives you 60% of your daily amount of sugar in one hit. As sugary as a can of co*ke, and with almost 100 more calories to boot, you'd do yourself a favour by choosing a less sugary option.

If you've ever wondered, the name Ribena comes from the 'Ribes nigru', which is the botanical name for blackcurrant!

The plant acts as a host for the white pine blister rust that threatened the timber industry. In 1911, the federal government banned the cultivation, sale, and transport of blackcurrants to protect the white pine. Government programs systematically destroyed blackcurrant plants by chemical spraying.

In the UK and other countries, the standard flavour for purple/black-coloured fruit sweets is blackcurrant. Except in America - where they are black grape flavour instead. Blackcurrants were once as popular in the US as they are elsewhere - but they were banned in the early 1900s.

Of course, our range remains available throughout all good supermarkets, high-street convenience stores and your local, independent retailer.

Both Ribena Blackcurrant and Ribena Blackcurrant Light had a pH which ranged from 2.5 to 3.5 – and dentists warn against drinking anything more acidic than 5.5. Dr Mervyn Druian, of the London Centre for Cosmetic Dentistry, told MailOnline that we need to see more sugar-free drinks on the market.

Why does Ribena taste different? ›

Yes, not everyone likes it at first. Suntory, the Japanese megacorporation that owns Ribena, has replaced a lot of the sugar with the sweeteners acesulfame K and sucralose. And it has added polydextrose, a soluble fibre, to keep it gloopy. Why would they do a crazy thing like that?

Have you wondered why is Ribena purple in colour? That's because it comes from the natural purple colour of the blackcurrant fruit skin: Anthocyanin. These are a type of flavonoid, a class of compounds with antioxidant effects.

Blackcurrants are now grown commercially in the Northeastern United States and the Pacific Northwest. Because of the long period of restrictions, blackcurrants are not popular in the United States, and one researcher has estimated that only 0.1% of Americans have eaten one.

Ribena was originally manufactured in England by the Bristol-based food and drink company HW Carter as a blackcurrant squash. Development research into pure fruit syrups for the manufacture of milkshakes had been done at the Long Ashton Agriculture and Horticulture Research Station in North Somerset using a pectinase ...

Ribena is made from a unique blend of 10 different blackcurrants which are bred with the support of the James Hutton Institute.