Ribena

[Clarea1]

ohhh marvellous - I would never buy ribena to drink but I can always be converted! At least I won't have to offer my friends son milk or water when he comes!

[SueA]

Further to Mossy's post about growing your cuttings, I got a free blackcurrant plant from a magazine offer late last year & planted it & cut back the stems as instructed. I pushed the cuttings which were about 6-8ins long into the edge of a pot just to see if they would root & forgot about them.A few weeks ago I noticed leaves appear & then a tiny bunch of fruit on one! This time next year you could all be making your own Ribena!

[Clarea1]

I bought a 3 pack of cartons for 93p and won on all of them! Great!

[Elmo]

I can't find any promotional cartons anywhere

[SueA]

Elmo, try the Co-op if you have one near you. They still had cartons with the promotion on in ours last week but then they always seem to have almost out of date stock in!

[allotment gal]

I posted my purple straw off last week and am looking forward to planting it. Would it grow in a big pot do you think? until i can find room on my allotment to plant it.

[shine388]

update

after god knows how many months they finally sent me my ribena cutting a few weeks ago been so busy i havent had a chance to plant it yet so i hope its ok we'll soon see x

[Earthbabe]

How did I miss that one last year with a small person who adores the stuff?

Never mind I keep telling her all the other cuttings we were given were ribena bushes. Hopefully she won't taste the difference.

[mrskp]

I planted my two "sticks" a wee while ago now and strangely enough they still resemble sticks !

I live in hope for great things in a few years.

[jools]

I have masses of blackcurrants sitting in my freezer. Anyone know how to make Ribena??
Jools

[Two_Sheds]

My free cuttings finally arrived - I'd forgotten about them. They were really free: we got the coupon off of the bottles chucked in our front garden. They are in the allotment now, waiting for some warmth to start em shooting

[pigletwillie]

Recipe in the season to taste board jools.

[jools]

Thanks Piglet! I have a couple of blackcurrant bushes which crop their socks off every year and I'm never really sure what to do with them.
Jools

[*Feather*]

I planted my two "sticks" a wee while ago now and strangely enough they still resemble sticks !

I live in hope for great things in a few years.

Same here... no change from the stick. I re-read the instruction the other day and it says that it takes quite a few weeks to get going. I just hope I didn't kill mine by not planting it straight away. I got mine around xmas time and with the family and all the xmas malaky I didn't get the chance to plant it for a while...

[Ratty]

I have masses of blackcurrants sitting in my freezer. Anyone know how to make Ribena??
Jools

Home made blackcurrant cordial...

• Crush fruit in a bowl with wooden spoon
• Add half a pint of water for each pound of fruit.
• Cook slowly, squishing the blackcurrants with the back of the spoon.
• Strain through sieve - Retain pulp for second recipe!
• Add a pound of sugar for each pint of liquid.
• Cool and store in sterilized bottles.
• Keep refrisgerated for about 2 weeks - Dilute to taste!

Blackcurrant preserve...

• Press the cooked pulp from your cordial through a sieve.
• Add a pound of sugar for each pound of puree.
• Add a pinch of cinnamon and stir over a low heat until the sugar dissolves.
• Bring to a simmer and cook until it thickens.
• Store in sterilised preserving jars.