Rocks Organic Blackcurrant Squash > Reviews (1)

When I was younger we used to buy the most awful orange squash - it was watery and tasted just like sweetener (some sweeteners can be 100-150 times sweeter than sugar) It put me off squash for life so I drink a lot of tea and juice.

Recently I won a bottle of Rocks at a Bottle Tombola at a recent school fete (why couldn’t I win wine!), and I thought I would give it a try.

The bottle is made of green glass with a metal screw top. The top is green and decorated with different coloured splodges. The bottle has two paper labels on it, one at the front and one at the back of the bottle. The front has the name of the product and a rather jolly looking blackcurrant.

The product promises no artificial flavours, colours, flavours or sweeteners (which is the reason I decided to give it a try).

The ingredients are listed on the back as Water, Organic Sugar, Organic Fruit Juices from concentrate (blackcurrant 13%, apple, lemon) Citric acid. This is a really good list, even though it contains a lot of sugar it’s not as scary as the ingredients list on some other squashes. The one my husband buys and drinks normally contains only 8% juice and also has Preservatives (potassium sorbate and Sodium metabisulphate), Sweeteners (Aspartame and Acesulfame K) and a Stabiliser (Carboxymethylcellulose). Some cheaper squashes have even more frightening lists of ingredients.

The bottle is 740ml and promises to make up 5 litres, I suppose that depends on how strong you like your squash.

The product is a dark purple colour and a little thicker than other normal squashes like Robinsons, it looks more like the ‘High Juice’ products that my husband usually buys. The first thing I notice about the product is the smell. Although it does smell sweet it smells like blackcurrants rather than the sickly smell some other squashes have. When it’s diluted (recommended 1 part juice to 6 parts water) it’s a pinky purple colour.

It tastes very different to the squash I remember, it’s not so sweet that it leaves a bad taste in your mouth and it’s very refreshing on a hot day. I was really surprised at how much I liked the taste and although I can see that some people who like normal squash might think it’s a bit bland, that’s not a problem for me. You can taste the blackcurrant but I also think the lemon comes through a little, though it’s not overpowering.

Since winning the bottle I have found it in my local Sainsbury’s. It costs £2.15 a bottle. Now this is about double the price of a bottle of High Juice, and it makes less quantity of squash, so I can imagine that that would put a lot of people off, but I really believe its worth it and I have continued to purchase it. Both my smaller children like it and I don’t have to worry about them having any of the nasties that can be found in other drinks. Also it does compare quite competitively with other ‘organic’ drink products.

My only criticism is the glass bottle which means I worry about my eldest son (who is 9 and really clumsy) pouring himself a drink.

However glass does mean it’s easily recyclable (though I do think the plastic bottles are too?). Also the screw top gets very sticky for some reason.

As I said before I have been buying it since, so I am converted and I would recommend people try it to see the difference for themselves. I can see that some people wouldn’t be able to overcome the price though, especially if like us you go through a few bottles a week. For me it’s a worthwhile cost though.

I am giving this product 4 stars overall, though I would love to give it 5, but the price does let it down a bit.

www.rocksorganic.com