Ribena - fruit juice soft drinks.

We’ve created this blog so we can keep you updated on everything Ribena-related.

From how we look after wildlife on our farms through our partnership with The Wildlife Trusts, to how we grow the scrumptious blackcurrants that go into your Ribena squash, and ideas for using Ribena products and berries in recipes: you’ll find it all here.

We love telling you what we’re up to on the Ribena farm, but we’d like to hear from you too! Leave us a comment or two. And, if you have an idea for the Ribena Team or have something to ask us, you can send us a message by following the link on the ‘contact’ page.

You can also join in with the fun stuff we’re doing on Facebook and on twitter.

Thanks for visiting and come back and see us again soon.

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We’ve been out spotting wildlife on the Ribena blackcurrant farms!

In fact, the Ribena Team works with The Wildlife Trusts to help encourage wildlife that is in decline in the UK. As a result, our growers report that there’s been an increase in the number of barn owls, grey partridges, brown hares & yellowhammers on some farms.

Take a look at some of the wildlife we managed to snap at a Ribena berry farm on a sunny day in August.

There are even more great wildlife pictures on the Ribena Flickr page.

What animals have you seen on your county walks? We’d love to hear from you and see your family pictures.

Easy to make with children, this cheesecake is a deliciously indulgent dessert with a tangy Ribena twist!

You’ll need:

Crust

150g digestive biscuits, finely crushed
60g butter, melted

Filling

20g (2 tablespoons) gelatine powder/granules. For a vegetarian alternative, replace gelatine with agar agar
250g cream cheese, soften at room temperature
75g caster sugar
250ml (1 cup) low fat plain yoghurt
75ml Ribena Blackcurrant, Ribena No Added Sugar Blackcurrant or Ribena Strawberry squash

Method

1.    Crush digestive biscuits and mix with melted butter in a bowl. Press the mixture onto the base of a 18-20cm round pan, lined around the sides with parchment paper (you can also use clear plastic).
2.    Leave to cool in the freezer for about an hour. This will be your cheesecake crust.
3.    Sprinkle the gelatine/agar agar into a bowl of 100ml cold water and leave for ten minutes. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir. Once melted, set the bowl aside to cool to room temperature.
4.    Beat the sugar and cream cheese together then add the melted gelatine/agar agar, yoghurt and Ribena squash, beating all together until smooth.
5.    Spoon onto the chilled crust and swirl with a knife or fork to get a marbled effect. You can also drizzle more Ribena and add blackcurrants/frozen berries to the top if you wish.
6.    Refrigerate for at least two hours.
7.    Enjoy!

Let us know how it turns out if you try this recipe, and we’d love to see any pictures of your Ribena recipe creations! You can share them on Twitter @ribenauk as Twitpics, or using the #ribena hashtag. You can also upload them to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/RibenaUK.

Thank you to blessedhomemaker.blogspot.com for the inspiration for this tasty recipe.

Everyone knows that Ribena Blackcurrant squash is made from delicious blackcurrants, but did you know that Ribena comes from the Latin name for blackcurrants, Ribes nigrum?

There are around 150 types of blackcurrant and most of the world’s cultivated blackcurrants are named after Scottish mountains, such as Ben More and Ben Hope. Special varieties that are grown by British Ribena blackcurrant growers are called Ben Starav, Ben Gairn and Ben Tirran, to name just a few.

In partnership with the Scottish Research Crop Institute (SCRI), two new varieties of blackcurrant have been specially bred to withstand the effects of climate change. These are called Ben Vane and Ben Klibreck and were harvested for the first time in 2007.

All of our blackcurrant varieties ripen between the first week of July and mid August when the harvest occurs, meaning that we’ve just come to the end of this year’s harvest and we can start preparing for next year’s crop.

Here at Ribena, we want to make sure that we produce delicious drinks with as little impact on the environment as possible.

100% recycled plastic bottles

You might already know that all Ribena bottles are made from 100% recycled plastic, and they’re recyclable too. So you can do your bit for the environment simply by putting your used Ribena bottle in the recycling bin.

Whilst our bottles are made from recycled materials, there’s a way to go before the recyclable cap and sleeve can be made from recycled materials too.

Our cartons, which are supplied by Tetra Pak, are sourced from Forestry Stewardship Certified (FSC) sources and can be widely recycled. Visit www.tetrapakrecycling.com to find out more.

Our environmental responsibilities

We want to carry on making tasty Ribena drinks for you, whilst looking after the environment in a responsible way, and in 2007 we’ve worked with Best Foot Forward to pinpoint our most important environmental challenges.

We’ve identified packaging and sourcing raw materials as two areas that we can continue to work on and improve in to ensure we’re doing our best for the environment, whilst still providing you with the Ribena you love.

You can find out more about our recycling and environmental responsibilities at www.ribena.co.uk/recycling.aspx.

Download your free activity guides and make tasty blackcurrant smoothies, go on a wildlife safari in your garden and build your own Ribena bird feeder!

This summer, we invited 12 families from our ‘Tales from Ribena Farm’ competition to visit our British blackcurrant farms, where they learned all about how the blackcurrants are grown and the wildlife that live on the farms. We had great fun making bird boxes, bug hunting and making our own blackcurrant smoothies.

Here’s a taster of some of the activities that you can enjoy with your family – simply download the pdf guides by clicking on the links below:

Make some delicious smoothies with fresh blackcurrants

Build your own bird feeder out of a used Ribena bottle to attract birds to your garden

Go on a wildlife safari in the garden – how many animals from the list can you spot?

Enjoy yourself in the garden. We’d love to see the photos of your creations or know how many animals you managed to spot on the wildlife safari. Why not upload your pictures to our Facebook (link to Facebook) group?

*If you’ve not already got it, you can download the free Adobe Acrobat reader here.