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 food since early times, and the fruit was recorded as a famine food in 15th-century China. Despite toxicity issues with some forms, the ripe berries and boiled leaves of edible strains are eaten. The thoroughly boiled leaves — although strong and slightly bitter flavoured — are used like spinach as horta and in fataya pies and quiches. The ripe black berries are described as sweet and salty, with hints of liquorice and melon. In Kenya, among the Abagusii, "S. nigrum" (Rinagu- singular; Amanagu- plural) is a vegetable delicacy which when blanched and sauteed or boiled to soften and then salted