Ovaltine
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Ovaltine (registered trademark of Novartis Nutrition Corporation) is a brand of milk flavoring product made with sugar, malt extract, cocoa, and whey, by Wander AG, a subsidiary of Novartis Consumer Goods. It was developed in Switzerland, where it is known by its original name, Ovomaltine (from ovum, Latin for "egg", and malt, originally its main ingredients.) The person credited with its original formulation is Dr. Albert Wander, son of the company's founder Dr. Georg Wander. Both Drs. Wander spent their lives working with malted barley extracts as nutritious food supplements.
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 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, to meet nutritional needs specific to those regions.
The popular chocolate malt version is a powder-like substance which, when mixed with hot or cold milk, makes an energy drink. 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 recently also been available in the form of chocolate bars, chocolate Easter eggs, parfait, cookies and breakfast cereals. In the latter case, it is the brand name that connects the cereals with the chocolate drink.
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.
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 premiums, like a secret decoder that could be used to decode messages in the program. This featured in the 1983 movie A Christmas Story, in which the boy Ralphie drinks an inordinate amount of Ovaltine to obtain the ring, only to find the decoded message: Be Sure To Drink Your Ovaltine. However, the story is an urban legend: all radio messages on the show were previews to the forthcoming episodes.
The Ovomaltine brand is highly recognizable in Switzerland, and Wander managed to associate the brand with skiing 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.
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, Singapore, 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.
Ovaltine in popular culture
Ovaltine had a minor but memorable role in a 1996 episode of Seinfeld, The Fatigues, in which Jerry is nominally attempting to 'mentor' his comedic nemesis Kenny Bania. Noting that much of Bania's stand-up act concerns milk drinks such as Nesquik and Bosco, Seinfeld writes the following (deliberately obtuse) routine for Bania: "Why do they call it Ovaltine? The mug is round. The jar is round. They should call it Roundtine!" Bania reacts eagerly, declaring, "That's gold, Jerry! Gold!"