Inside the Factory Catch up, Series 3: 6. Soft Drinks on BBC 2

Inside the Factory

Series 3: 6. Soft Drinks

Gregg Wallace explores Ribena's Gloucestershire factory. It turns 90 per cent of Britain's blackcurrants into soft drinks, producing three million bottles a week. Gregg takes delivery of 500 tonnes of blackcurrants at a cider mill in Somerset. The harvest comes in during July and August, when there are no apples to process for cider, so they press blackcurrants instead. Gregg discovers how the aroma of the blackcurrants is captured separately and later added back into the drink. Next, the concentrate and aromas are transported to the drinks factory, where they are mixed with 11 other ingredients before being bottled. Gregg watches a machine that can create a plastic bottle in 0.1 of a second and learns why nitrogen is the secret to creating a bottle that won't get stuck in vending machines.\n\nCherry Healey is harvesting the berries on a farm in Kent - one of 40 that supply the factory. She also heads to the Netherlands to a plant that recycles plastics. It processes two and a half million used PET bottles a day, transforming them into 4mm pellets that can be turned back into drinks bottles. And Cherry is in the lab figuring out why fizzy drinks are so appealing. She learns that bubbles play sensory tricks on us, making fizzy drinks taste colder, less sweet and more flavourful than their still equivalents.\n\nRuth Goodman is investigating the origins of fizzy drinks. Carbonated water was first sold by Mr Schweppe in 1783, but it was a British husband-and-wife team - Robert and Mary White - who were to popularise fizzy pop. In 1890, R White's styled itself as the world's biggest drinks company and they sold 46 million bottles a year. Ruth looks at why we associate barley water with the great British summertime.

Source: BBC 2

Most recent episodes of Inside the Factory

Inside The Factory

Series 9: 1. Chocolate Seashells

Paddy McGuinness is fully immersing himself in the festive spirit as he explores a huge chocolate factory in Belgium. With lots of taste tests to enjoy along the way, he embrace ...

28-12-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

Inside The Factory

Series 8: 7. Carpets

Gregg Wallace explores the Axminster factory in Devon to reveal how it produces 46,000 square metres of carpet every year. He follows the production of one of their best sellers ...

15-11-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

Inside The Factory

Series 8: 6. Bath Bombs

Gregg Wallace visits the colourful and fragrant Lush factory in Dorset to learn how an astonishing 14 million bath bombs are produced every year.\n\nCherry Healey visits Loughbo ...

09-10-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

Inside The Factory

Series 8: 5. Stout

Gregg Wallace explores the secrets of the Guinness brewery in Dublin to reveal how it makes two million litres of Irish stout every single day.\n\nCherry Healey visits a water t ...

02-10-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

Inside The Factory

Series 8: 4. Stuffed Pasta

Gregg Wallace explores the Dell Ugo factory in Hertfordshire to reveal how it makes 500 million stuffed pasta parcels every year. \n\nHe’s following production of one of ...

25-09-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

Inside The Factory

Series 8: 3. Jeans

Gregg Wallace visits two factories in Italy and Wales to explore the fascinating secrets behind how Welsh jeans brand Hiut make their trousers, learning how denim cloth is made ...

12-09-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

Inside The Factory

Series 8: 2. Jelly Beans

Gregg Wallace explores the Jelly Bean Factory in Dublin to reveal the incredible processes it employs to make ten million colourful little sweets every day.\n\nCherry Healey vis ...

05-09-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

Inside The Factory

Series 7: Trains

When he was a child, Gregg loved playing with toy trainsets. Now he’s got special access to learn how the ultimate model is made: a huge 187-tonne, five-carriage electric ...

29-08-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

Inside The Factory

Series 5: 7. Pots And Pans

Gregg Wallace is in France at an enormous foundry that produces a cast iron pot every five seconds. He follows production of casserole dishes from the arrival of 20 tonnes of cr ...

25-08-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

Inside The Factory

Series 7: Mints

Gregg Wallace visits a factory with a menthol scent - the Polos factory in York, which produces 32 million mints every day and contributes to the 19,000 tonnes of mints per year ...

15-08-2024

BBC 2

All episodes