Ribena 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 enzyme process; Ribena was essentially invented there by Vernon Charley, a scientist at the University of Bristol in 1933. The blackcurrant variety was found to contain high levels of vitamin C. The drink was launched in 1938 under the name Ribena (from the botanical name for the blackcurrant, "Ribes nigrum"). During the Second World War, other fruits rich in vitamin C, like oranges, became almost impossible to obtain in the United Kingdom, due to
Solanum nigrum in the unripe green berries, and immature fruit should be treated as toxic. Most cases of suspected poisoning are due to consumption of leaves or unripe fruit. There are ethnobotanical accounts of "S. nigrum" leaves and shoots being boiled as a vegetable with the cooking water being discarded and replaced several times to remove toxins. Some of the uses ascribed to "S. nigrum" in literature may actually apply to other black nightshade species within the same species complex, and proper species identification is essential for food and medicinal uses (See "Taxonomy" section). "S. nigrum" has been widely used as a