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Ribena

Grumpy Old Lemons Like You
MrCPFG
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Ribena

#129321

Postby MrCPFG » April 1st, 2018, 5:39 pm

So, another well known brand has succumbed to the pressures of the sugar tax, and added Sucralose into is well established drink. We noticed the difference immediately. My wife and I have been drinking it for years without any over-weight problems, because we know about moderation and exercise, and the simple equation that calories in must be equal to, or less than calories burned to stay relatively healthy.

But no, we must have a nice drink ruined, because the world around us is becoming obese, and morbidly so, and no-one is taking responsibility for their own health, on the assumption that the NHS will cure us all!

There's also some evidence that Sucralose isn't necessarily that good for people trying to diet.

But on the plus side, we're now £150 a year better off by not drinking it. So it's not all a crap shoot.

Happy Easter everyone!

MrCPFG

bungeejumper
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Re: Ribena

#129426

Postby bungeejumper » April 2nd, 2018, 10:17 am

Aaaah, Ribena. I remember the ads. All those merry little blackcurrants, pole-vaulting into collective suicide in the sticky purple vat. Or, more recently, catapulting themselves gleefully onto the death truck that would take them away forever to their terrible fate. :shock:

Wallace and Gromit would have engineered a different ending, for sure. Either way, for some reason I never felt like putting the stuff in my mouth. :D

BJ

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Re: Ribena

#129515

Postby Rhyd6 » April 2nd, 2018, 2:38 pm

I used to like hot Ribena in the winter, a lovely warming treat. My grandchildren liked Ribena and one year after holidaying in France we brought a bottle of Cassis back for their parents. Children thought French Ribena was much superior to British :o

R6

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Re: Ribena

#129522

Postby bungeejumper » April 2nd, 2018, 3:06 pm

Rhyd6 wrote:I used to like hot Ribena in the winter, a lovely warming treat. My grandchildren liked Ribena and one year after holidaying in France we brought a bottle of Cassis back for their parents. Children thought French Ribena was much superior to British :o

I'm not surprised, considering the 15% alcohol content of the cassis. ;) But cassis and chilled white wine (kir) is still one of the very best sundowners at the end of a very hot southern afternoon. Yeah, I'll make an exception for cassis. :lol:

BJ

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Re: Ribena

#129529

Postby kempiejon » April 2nd, 2018, 3:42 pm

There is Crème de Cassis and Sirope Cassis. The later being a blackcurrant cordial, the other is the sweet boozy blackcurrant liquor, I thought KIr was made with Champagne but I see that is Kir Royale.

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Re: Ribena

#129566

Postby bungeejumper » April 2nd, 2018, 6:25 pm

kempiejon wrote:There is Crème de Cassis and Sirope Cassis. The later being a blackcurrant cordial, the other is the sweet boozy blackcurrant liquor, I thought KIr was made with Champagne but I see that is Kir Royale.

Indeed. But normal Kir is made with a plain dry white, nothing too fancy or you'd just ruin it with the addition of the sweet cassis. Cheap white Burgundy used to be the thing, especially aligoté. Nowadays almost anything goes, though. Champagne is overdoing it, I feel.

There's a fascinating story in there somewhere, although parts of it are probably urban myth. After the Germans invaded Burgundy during WW2, the mayor of Dijon sensibly buggered off into the distance, and a priest called Canon Félix Kir, who was a key figure in the French Resistance, more or less appointed himself as the region's leader in his place. Since the Germans had seized all the proper Burgundy (the red, that is), Monsieur Kir declared this strange concoction of cheap white and cassis to be the 'national drink' of Dijon. Cheeky! :lol:

He was arrested by the Gestapo for helping to organise a prisoner camp breakout, and was sentenced to death at one point, but survived the war somehow and became the real mayor of Dijon in 1945, a position he held until his death in 1968. Some mayors are just bigger than others, aren't they?

Your very good health, Monsieur Kir.

BJ

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Re: Ribena

#129725

Postby Rhyd6 » April 3rd, 2018, 3:56 pm

I find sloe gin added to prosecco makes a very acceptable alternative to kir royale, it certainly has a heftier kick. :D

R6

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Re: Ribena

#129730

Postby kempiejon » April 3rd, 2018, 4:09 pm

Rhyd6 wrote:I find sloe gin added to prosecco makes a very acceptable alternative to kir royale, it certainly has a heftier kick. :D

R6

I guess it would, I have a friend who swears by Pimms as a mixer for gin in the height of summer rather than the tonic he has year round. He is often caught napping in a deck chair at summer garden parties.

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Re: Ribena

#129936

Postby Bink333 » April 4th, 2018, 12:46 pm

Sucralose you say?

*picks up bottle - never very far away*

Holy paloni!

It says.

Made with British blackcurrants - check
Contains real fruit juice - check
No artificial colours - check
No artifical flavours - erm what?

The NHS describe sucralose as "Sucralose is a calorie-free artificial sweetener derived from sucrose and is up to 650 times sweeter than sugar."

The ingredients list includes extracts of carrot and hibiscus, and the sweeteners include Acesulfame K which the NHS describe as "Acesulfame potassium, also known as acesulfame K, is a calorie-free sweetener up to 200 times sweeter than sugar and as sweet as aspartame. It is often blended with sucralose and used to decrease the bitter aftertaste of aspartame"

The cordial also now carries a warning that once opened it should be stored in the fridge and consumed within 21 days. What the... why?

Wonder what happens if you don't?

Nothing.

As an aside I had noticed that the product had stopped tatsing as nom quite some time ago and had transferred my affections to a French Sirop, but the normal sigar versions no longer appear on my supermarket shelf and I'm not buying their sucrose versions, so reverted back to 'bena.

Is there some sort of mandate forcing high sugar content drink suppliers to replace the sugar with bitter tasting gunk then?

I guess I'll just have to drink more wine or Gin.

Hic.

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Re: Ribena

#129970

Postby bungeejumper » April 4th, 2018, 2:46 pm

Bink333 wrote:The ingredients list includes extracts of carrot and hibiscus, and the sweeteners include Acesulfame K which the NHS describe as "Acesulfame potassium, also known as acesulfame K, is a calorie-free sweetener up to 200 times sweeter than sugar and as sweet as aspartame. It is often blended with sucralose and used to decrease the bitter aftertaste of aspartame"

Charming. I do buy aspartame drinks occasionally - although reluctantly, because it's the next best thing to a nerve agent. Originally developed by the team that Donald Rumsfeld would eventually lead, aspartame isn't sweet at all, but instead tricks the human brain into thinking it is. Ever wondered why wasps and ants don't go for diet drinks?

The wife is experimenting with stevia (a South American plant) these days - but heck, it's only 150 times as sweet as sugar. What's the world coming to?

BJ

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Re: Ribena

#130475

Postby JMN2 » April 6th, 2018, 9:42 pm

Such nonsense, I used to drink blackcurrant juice , and milk, as a child but when I grew up I started to drink coffee, tap water and beer.

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Re: Ribena

#130484

Postby UncleEbenezer » April 6th, 2018, 10:48 pm

JMN2 wrote:Such nonsense, I used to drink blackcurrant juice , and milk, as a child but when I grew up I started to drink coffee, tap water and beer.

I was quite proud when I discovered you could use milk instead of water in ribena. Though the parents weren't pleased: another indulgence we couldn't afford as a regular thing. And a taste I grew out of round about when I hit my 'teens: must be upwards of 40 years since I (voluntarily) touched any "squash" drink, including ribena.

I was mildly amused to see much the same drink in modern times marketed at much higher prices under the "smoothie" label.


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