Ovaltine

Ovaltine

A pack of ready-to-drink Ovaltine.
Type	Cocoa-flavored dairy drink
Manufacturer	Associated British Foods (Nestlé in the United States) for Novartis
Country of origin	Switzerland
Introduced	1904
Variants	Chocolate Malt, Malt, Rich Chocolate
Related products	Hot chocolate, Nestlé Nesquik, Horlicks

Ovaltine is a brand of milk flavoring product made with sugar (except in Switzerland), malt extract, cocoa, and whey. Ovaltine, a registered trademark of Associated British Foods, is made by Wander AG, a subsidiary of Twinings which acquired the brand from Novartis in 2003.

History

A jar of Ovaltine from the UK (2006), a mug of ovaltine made with hot milk and a tablespoon of the powder.

Ovaltine was developed in Switzerland, where it is known by its original name, Ovomaltine (from ovum, Latin for "egg", and malt, originally its main ingredients).

Ovomaltine was exported to England in 1909; it was a misspelling in the trademark registration that led to the name being truncated to Ovaltine in English-speaking markets. A factory was built in England which exported to the United States as well. By 1915 Ovaltine was being manufactured in Villa Park, Illinois, for the American market. Originally advertised as consisting solely of "malt, milk, eggs, flavored with cocoa," the formulation has changed over the decades (at one point containing irradiated yeast in the US^{[citation needed]}), and today several formulations are sold in different parts of the world.

The popular chocolate malt version is a powder which is mixed with hot or cold milk as a beverage. Malt Ovaltine (a version without cocoa), and Rich Chocolate Ovaltine (a version without malt) are also available in some markets. Ovaltine has also been available in the form of chocolate bars, chocolate Easter eggs, parfait, cookies and breakfast cereals. In the last case it is only the brand name that connects the cereals with the chocolate drink.

Ovaltine also manufactured PDQ Chocolate Flavor Beads, PDQ Choco Chips and Egg Nog Flavored PDQ, which are no longer available. These drink mixes were very popular from the 1960s to the 1980s. Ovaltine discontinued the PDQ products about 1995 or 1996.

The U.S. children's radio series Little Orphan Annie (1931–1940) and Captain Midnight (1938–1949) were sponsored by Ovaltine. They had promotions in which listeners could save proofs-of-purchase from Ovaltine jars to obtain radio premiums, like "secret decoder ring" badges or pins that could be used to decode messages in the program. Kids from the time may remember that "Ovaltine" is an anagram for "Vital One". Villa Park, Illinois, was home to the Ovaltine factory until the company's purchase and withdrawal in 1988. The Villa Park Historical Society maintains a permanent exhibit of Ovaltine advertising and memorabilia.

International appeal

In Hong Kong, like Horlicks, Ovaltine is known as a café drink. It is served at cha chaan tengs as well as fast-food shops such as Café de Coral and Maxim's Express. It is served hot, or on ice as a cold drink. In Hong Kong the powder is sold without sugar, to be sweetened to taste by the consumer. In Brazil it is commonly mixed with vanilla ice cream. In the Asian market, it is a chocolate ice cream flavored with Ovaltine powder. The Ovomaltine brand is highly recognizable in Switzerland, and the brand is associated with skiing and snowboarding.

Ovaltine was also very popular in Britain, and was manufactured at Kings Langley in Hertfordshire. The Arts and Crafts style Ovaltine factory there is a well-known local landmark and listed building. Production ceased in 2002 and the factory has now been redeveloped as apartments. Near the factory was a health farm run by the Ovaltine works which was set up as a model farm and a health resort for disadvantaged children, which operated through to the 1960s. Later the farm land was sold off and is now largely occupied by the M25 motorway. The Ovaltine Egg Farm is now the site of Renewable Energy Systems Ltd. and the site of the first wind turbine visible from the M25.

In October 2002 the food and drinks division of Novartis, the maker of Ovaltine, was bought by Associated British Foods. ABF currently produces Ovaltine in Switzerland, China, Thailand and the Philippines. In the United States Nestlé manufactures Ovaltine under license.

In Malaysia Ovaltine has lost its popularity to Nestlé Milo. Ovaltine is sold in tetra packs for cold serving and widely available in shops and supermarkets, yet it has low profile compared to other beverages in the market. In Japan Ovaltine was sold for a short period in the late 1970s by Calpis Industries (presently Calpis Co., Ltd.), but it was not a commercial success. Ovalteenies are round sweets made of compressed Ovaltine.

Brazilian fast food chain Bob's offers both milkshakes and sundaes made with Ovomaltine. They do not have Ovaltine in Brazil.

In popular culture

• In the song You're the Top from the 1934 Cole Porter musical Anything Goes, a line reads "You're Keats, you're Shelley, you're Ovaltine!"
• The 1947 song Who Put the Benzedrine in Mrs. Murphy's Ovaltine got Harry (the Hipster) Gibson on the music industry blacklist, and marked the turning point of his career
• An early mention of Ovaltine in film occurs in Il Posto (1961)
• The television series Seinfeld makes several references to Ovaltine. Notably, it is a common subject of the stand-up comedy of character Kenny Bania. In the episode "The Fatigues," Jerry suggests that the product should be called "Roundtine" because it comes in a round container.
• In the 1983 film A Christmas Story, Ralphie Parker gets a Little Orphan Annie secret decoder ring. He feels ripped off because the first thing he decodes is an Ovaltine radio commercial.
• In the 2003 book by Audrey Niffenegger,The Time Traveler's Wife, Henry Detamble, age 32, drinks an Ovaltine with his eight year old self during one of his time traveling experiences.

See also

• Malted milk
  • Horlicks
  • Nestlé Milo
  • Ovaltineys
  • Ovalteenies
  • Nesquik

External links

• Ovomaltine in the online Culinary Heritage of Switzerland database.
• Official site (French, German)
• UK Ovaltine site
• USA Ovaltine site
• Villa Park Historical Society's Ovaltine Exhibit
• What Is Ovaltine, Please? by Brendan I. Koerner