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
Ribes speciosum Ribes speciosum Ribes speciosum is a species of flowering plant in the Grossulariaceae family, which includes the edible currants and gooseberries. It is a spiny deciduous shrub with spring-flowering, elongate red flowers that resemble fuchsias, though it is not closely related. Its common names are fuchsia-flowered gooseberry and Californian fuchsia. It is native to central and southern California and Baja California, where it grows in the scrub and chaparral of the coastal mountain ranges. "Ribes speciosum" is a spreading shrub which can reach in maximum height, its stems coated in bristles with three long spines at each stem node. The