Celebrating Cumbrian Invention Um Bongo

August 1st marks the start of Inventor’s Month, so it seemed fitting to honour one of Cumbria’s greatest inventions - Um Bongo! Yes, it really was invented here.

The adverts led us to believe that this fruity drink originated in the Congo (they drink it there according to the commercials), but it actually started life in the village of Milnthorpe

Although we can’t find any record of the actual person who first decided to mix together apple, lemon, orange, pineapple, passion fruit, mandarin, apricot, guava and mango, we do know that the discovery that this combination worked was first made in 1983 at the Libby’s factory in Milnthorpe.

Libby’s positioned its UK operations in the South Lakes due to the dairy farming community who supplied them with milk to make their evaporated milk product which was the factory’s mainstay.

In the labs at the Milnthorpe factory they developed Libby’s Orange ‘c’, an orange juice which became a best seller, and was soon followed by the invention of Um Bongo which was massively popular in the 80s.

Following an acquisition by Nestle, production was moved to other Nestle plants in the UK, leading to the closure of the Milnthorpe factory.

And although you don’t see it advertised on TV today, Um Bongo is still available for sale in shops and supermarkets up and down the country. A great Cumbrian invention lives on!

(Article originated at The Cumbria Hub)