We’ve learned a lot about damsons. We’ve learned that they are a type of wild plum with a distinctive bluey-purple skin, pre-dating the plum proper that we know and love. Damsons got their name from Damascus, the city in Syria from which they were nabbed by Italian traders, who brought them back to western Europe. They were then introduced to the UK by the Romans, a point proven via the art of digging holes in the ground – remnants of damsons are often found during archaeological digs of ancient Roman camps across England, and ancient writings describe the use of damson skins in the manufacture of purple dye.

The Shropshire Prune variety is the one we mainly use in our smoothies. Unsurprisingly, we get these beauties from Shropshire, and from Herefordshire and Worcestershire too. A nice man called Stanley grows a lot of them for us – you can witness the wisdom of Stan in the short film sitting below.

We also get lots of our damsons from Stuart the damson detective. He drives round to collect damsons from other nearby farmers – even people with the odd damson tree in their garden bring damsons to his farm (thanks to Stuart’s ads in the local papers). But damsons are disappearing. Nobody’s planting them anymore. So it’s down to us and Stuart to help save this noble plum. If you want to help, plant a damson tree in your back garden and let us know at savethedamson@innocentdrinks.com