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Ovaltine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ovaltine | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Type | Cocoa-flavored dairy drink |
| Manufacturer | Associated British Foods |
| Country of origin | Switzerland |
| Introduced | 1904 |
| Discontinued | – |
| 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.
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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 process that led to the name being truncated to Ovaltine in English-speaking markets. A factory was built in England for Ovaltine's manufacture, and the English factory 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), and today several different formulations are sold in different parts of the world.
The popular chocolate malt version is a powder-like substance which is mixed with hot or cold milk as a beverage. It is essentially a chocolate drink mix with the addition of malt extract, and sometimes fortified with vitamins. 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 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 in the 1960s and 1970s. Ovaltine discontinued the PDQ products about 1995 or 1996.
The U.S. children's radio series Little Orphan Annie (1931-40) 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. In the popular family Christmas movie, A Christmas Story Ralphie decodes Little Orphan Annie's secret message only to be disappointed that it was an advertisement for Ovaltine. 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.
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 can be served hot or cold, and ice is added if a cold drink is desired. The powder itself in Hong Kong is sold without added sugar, to be sweetened to taste by the consumer. In Brazil, it is very common to mix it with vanilla ice cream. The Ovomaltine brand is highly recognizable in Switzerland, and Wander managed to associate the brand with skiing and snowboarding in particular.
Ovaltine was also very popular in Britain, and was manufactured at Kings Langley in Hertfordshire. The art deco Ovaltine factory there is a well-known local landmark and listed building. Production ceased in the early 1990s and the factory building is now being 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. ABF does not own or produce Ovaltine in the United States, where the name is owned by Novartis and the product is marketed by Himmel Nutrition.
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 still maintains 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.
Ovaltine is currently known for its crowd of people saying "More Ovaltine, please!" In the past, the mascot was the Ovaltine Man. Kids would ask the Ovaltine Man if they could have some Ovaltine.