I enjoy drinking squash, however I don't like the idea of all the artificial sweeteners most of them contain, so on a recent trip to Morrisons I decided to have a look for one with no artificial additives that was still reasonably inexpensive (quite a difficult combination to find!). I spotted a squash I hadn't seen before, which was made by a company called Bare All & stated clearly on the front that it contained 100% natural ingredients. At a price of 98p for 1 litre it seemed to be exactly what I was looking for, & so this was the one I chose.

The squash is available in 3 flavours: Apple & Blackcurrant, Orange, or Summer Berries. Unfortunately they didn't have the Summer Berries one in Morrisons, so I chose the Apple & Blackcurrant.

On the back of the bottle you find the Bare All Promise: "100% natural ingredients, no sweeteners or preservatives, no artificial flavours or colours". This is just what I was looking for. It also points out that, as there are no artificial preservatives, once opened the bottle needs to be stored in the fridge & consumed within 2 weeks.

When I got home it was time to try my new drink. The instructions stated that you should dilute 1 part squash to 4 parts water, as is typical with most squashes. This results in a pale pinky coloured drink, probably slightly paler and less purple than most apple & blackcurrant drinks.

At this point my expectations of the product began to go downhill, as when I sniffed it I detected quite an unusual aroma that smelled more chemical than fruity, which seemed quite strange as you'd expect such a natural product to have a more pleasant, fruity smell.

You can't really judge a drink by its smell, however, so now was the time to taste it. Sadly, this was even more unpleasant. The initial taste in your mouth is quite mild & refreshing, but as soon as you swallow you can detect a very odd taste which does not taste like apple or blackcurrant to me; it's hard to describe but it's a bit like a liquorice flavour & is quite bitter. The flavour is also quite weak so even if you liked the flavour you'd probably want to dilute it a bit less than recommended. My boyfriend also tried the squash & agreed that it had a very unpleasant taste - and he is usually happy to eat or drink just about anything!

I think the problem with this drink is that they wanted to encourage parents to buy it by avoiding the use of sweeteners, but they knew parents would also avoid it if it contained too much sugar, so they used as little sugar as they could, which in my opinion leaves the drink bitter & unpleasant-tasting. Thinking about it, the flavour actually is quite natural-tasting, as many fruits do taste quite bitter without sugar. It reminds me a bit of eating wild blackberries - sometimes you find a nice sweet, juicy one; but this drink tastes a bit like the ones you get that are all small & bitter & put you off picking any more.

Having said all that, my boyfriend's dad did try this drink & said he really liked it, which just goes to show that everyone's taste is different. I'm giving this product 2 stars based on the fact that it is 100% natural, & that it's perfectly possibly other people will enjoy the taste!

Ingredients: Water, Sugar, Fruit Juices from Concentrate (21%) (Lime, Apple, Blackcurrant, Elderberry), Natural Flavourings.

Nutritional information (per 250ml diluted): 64kcal, 15.5g sugar, 0.12g salt.

Obviously this drink contains more calories than many squashes as it is sweetened with sugar & not sweeteners, however it's my view that sugar in moderation is probably less bad for you than loads of artificial sweeteners.

Bare All squash is available at selected Tesco and Morrisons stores.