Any Ovaltine Fans Here?

I used to drink Ovaltine as a kid and liked it. I picked up a jar of "Ovalmaltine" in one of the Lincoln Ave. German shops once, and it had a slightly different flavor, which I preferred. But I haven't seen it anywhere since then. Does anyone have any clues?

I haven't looked lately but, if I'm not mistaken, I have regularly seen jars of Ovaltine in Jewel and Dominick's. I'm virtually certain I've bought it at both places. You might simply call them and ask, but I'm under the impression that it's pretty easy to find. Good luck!


PS That's Ovaltine; I didn't make it very clear that I have not seen Ovamaltine/Ovomaltine. (Tnx nr706)

While I try to avoid Jewel/Dominicks as much as possible, I don't think I've ever seen Ovalmaltine (or Ovomaltine - I assume that's what you're referring to) there, but maybe I haven't been looking hard enough. If you'd like to make a road trip to Madison, or order online, you can find ithere.

Bavaria Sausage, Inc.
6317 Nesbitt Road
Madison, WI 53719
Phone: 608-271-1295
Toll Free: 1-800-733-6695

Try Patel Brothers on Devon - they import Ovaltine & Bournevita from the UK. The formulae are different, I grew up on the UK versions & find the US ones taste "off" to me.

Yeah, I think you have the right one in your post. You'd think there would be some available in the Chicago area though.

http://www.wander.ch/ovomaltine_produkteeinstieg.htm

Hi,

I equate Ovaltine with my Oma's home. I lived with her for six months when I was ten-years-old, which I consider my food enlightenment.

I would race home from school to watch WLS channel 7 for their 3:30 movie, which ended by 5 PM for the Joel Daly-Fahey Flynn news. These were often Ethel Merman movies that must have been hacked to death to accomodate the time slot and commercials. I would drink Ovaltine while watching television and eating nuts. I probably ate other stuff, too, but the nuts stand out. I remember doing process of elimination to identify which nut was the Brazil nut. If I had seen the movie too often, then I would begin to read Chicago Today.

During this time, Ovaltine came as crunchy crystals that dissolved in your milk. I would race to drink in those crystals before they softened and dissolved, then start again with another surface sprinkling. The Ovaltine now is balled up powder akin to what I associated with PDQ (does it still exist). My parents never bought Ovaltine because my Dad favored Nestle's Quik, which was long a staple in our house. While I did love Nestle's Quik, Ovaltine crystals I associated with my Oma as well as a treat.

Long ago on Chowhound's Chicago board there was quite an extensive conversation on Ovaltine, which seems to have disapeered.

Yes, I am firmly in the Ovaltine fan camp.

Regards,

Love, love, love, love, love Ovaltine. On Facebook, I have my hometown as "Ovaltine, IL" since the former local factory was in my stompin' grounds of Villa Park. I'm not the only one.

Other than Tae Fu and Gyros Express, both mentioned in recent threads, there's not much food of note in VP, which, as we noted in highschool, is "Crap Alive" (Krap Alliv) backwards. But Ovaltine (an anagram for Vital One, remember?) got us a visual call-out in A Christmas Story, when Ralphie employs the Little Orphan Annie Decoder Ring. And many a warm summer day smelled of chocolate malt.

Another ovalanecdote: I was at the Grand Hotel Villa Medici ( http://www.villamedicihotel.com/) in Florence in a prior job life, and a fellow American conference-goer asked for a hot chocolate in the morning instead of a coffee. They brought him a jar of American chocolate malt Ovaltine in a glass jar, which raised delighted gasps and smiles from the table, and similar requests every subsequent morning. The maggiordomo was pleased at our reaction and said he always keeps some on hand for the inglese and americanos.

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I equate Ovaltine with my Oma's home. I lived with her for six months when I was ten-years-old, which I consider my food enlightenment.

I would race home from school to watch WLS channel 7 for their 3:30 movie, which ended by 5 PM for the Joel Daly-Fahey Flynn news. These were often Ethel Merman movies that must have been hacked to death to accomodate the time slot and commercials. I would drink Ovaltine while watching television and eating nuts. I probably ate other stuff, too, but the nuts stand out. I remember doing process of elimination to identify which nut was the Brazil nut. If I had seen the movie too often, then I would begin to read Chicago Today.

During this time, Ovaltine came as crunchy crystals that dissolved in your milk. I would race to drink in those crystals before they softened and dissolved, then start again with another surface sprinkling. The Ovaltine now is balled up powder akin to what I associated with PDQ (does it still exist). My parents never bought Ovaltine because my Dad favored Nestle's Quik, which was long a staple in our house. While I did love Nestle's Quik, Ovaltine crystals I associated with my Oma as well as a treat.

Long ago on Chowhound's Chicago board there was quite an extensive conversation on Ovaltine, which seems to have disapeered.

Yes, I am firmly in the Ovaltine fan camp.

Regards,

Oh my gosh! Did your post stir up so many long-forgotten memories!

I, too used to rush home to watch the 3:30 movie! I remember my sister & I being scared witless by "Carnival of Souls" & "Man With the X-ray Eyes" and also watching the Bob Hope movies( "Son of Paleface" comes to mind) with my Mom.

And PDQ! I totally forgot about PDQ! We always had it in our house. Do you remember they came out with an eggnog flavored version? And a strawberry version?

You put me right back in my Ma's living room, being all of 7 years old. Thanks so much for that!

I buy the regular chocolate malt Ovaltine that you can find in the Jewel...
It's always on my shelf-
I feel like the demon seeds are getting a few more good things than just the sugar they get from other products...
it's the brown and orange jar....
Have had since I was a kid-
and I still like to sprinkle the powder on vanilla ice cream
crunch

This is how my mind works: I read that as "and I'd still like to sprinkle the powder on crrush." I need to start reading whole sentences left to right.

I've never had Ovaltine. How does it compare to something like Milo? And what do the Ovaltine drink fans here think of Ovaltine biscuits? Do the Ovaltine biscuits not have cocoa? Is cocoa essential to anything Ovaltine?

--Uninitiated and confused

happy_stomach wrote:I've never had Ovaltine. How does it compare to something like Milo? And what do the Ovaltine drink fans here think of Ovaltine biscuits? Do the Ovaltine biscuits not have cocoa? Is cocoa essential to anything Ovaltine?

--Uninitiated and confused

Ovaltine biscuits are made with Ovaltine powder, so they have cocoa even if it's almost undetectable.

And yes, Milo is very similar -- both are malt and chocolate beverages.

It appears that one enduring impact of British colonialism around the world is the continued use of food products such as Ovaltine and Horlicks. While the British may have moved on to more exotic foods (chicken tikka masala), parents in former colonies continue to put their faith in the perceived nutritious value of drinks such as Ovaltine.

My parents were no different, and Ovaltine does indeed bring back memories. For me, unfortunately, it conjures up terrible memories of being forced to drink a glass of milk with Ovaltine every night. I never liked the taste of milk, and the addition of Ovaltine did nothing to mask the taste.

Purchasing this product should not be difficult, as I see jars of Ovaltine in most Indian and in many Asian stores.

Jyoti

Funny - neither of us remember Ovaltine particularly as kids, but it's readily available at Marketplace on Oakton, and I started buying it for Sparky early on. (Considering we have a dog named Bosco, obviously chocolate-milk products play a large role in our lives - in case you're looking for it we've found it at Northeastern Fruit on Peterson)

Ovaltine is our favorite, probably because it has a richer cocoa flavor than most chocolate syrup mix-ins - but it's not a very good name for a dog .

happy_stomach wrote:I've never had Ovaltine. How does it compare to something like Milo? And what do the Ovaltine drink fans here think of Ovaltine biscuits? Do the Ovaltine biscuits not have cocoa? Is cocoa essential to anything Ovaltine?

--Uninitiated and confused

There are actually 3 flavor versions of Ovaltine: Chocolate malt, malt only, and chocolate only. Similarity to PDQ would be understandable since they both were made by the same company.

I have my hometown as "Ovaltine, IL" since the former local factory was in my stompin' grounds of Villa Park. I'm not the only one.

I've never had Ovaltine, but man, I remember that factory. Of course, this was before the condo conversion (shudder) and I distinctly remember all the rumors that swirled around that old place.

I, too, have never had Ovaltine, or its permutations, but I simply must, have to, and immediately change the radio every time I hear one of their terrible and incessant audio commercials.

-ramon

I have never heard an Ovaltine commercial...I must lead a sheltered life ;>

Liz in Norwood Park wrote:I have never heard an Ovaltine commercial...I must lead a sheltered life ;>

I've heard it on AM talk radio. So you probably just don't listen to WGN or WBBM news radio.

Here's an OLD commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKSwTEGQ ... re=related

I tend to favor the regular malt Ovaltine. That's with the yellow label.

I liked eating it straight from the jar. But does anyone have any secret in making the little buggers dissolve? I always had a few floaters in my milk.

Pie Lady wrote:I liked eating it straight from the jar. But does anyone have any secret in making the little buggers dissolve? I always had a few floaters in my milk.

Interesting...you've enjoyed eating it out of the jar, but you don't like floaters? I'm just curious about this because I've just recently been introduced to Ovaltine per Santander. He's taught me to appreciate floaters so much so that I can't make a cup of Ovaltine without topping off with an extra teaspoon of granules and drinking immediately (with no mixing).

happy_stomach wrote:

Pie Lady wrote:I liked eating it straight from the jar. But does anyone have any secret in making the little buggers dissolve? I always had a few floaters in my milk.

Interesting...you've enjoyed eating it out of the jar, but you don't like floaters? I'm just curious about this because I've just recently been introduced to Ovaltine per Santander. He's taught me to appreciate floaters so much so that I can't make a cup of Ovaltine without topping off with an extra teaspoon of granules and drinking immediately (with no mixing).

I guess that is odd. Sometimes I'm really picky - I don't want any chewables in my drinkables. I'm also not sure I like the idea of freethinking chocolate anyway. Most are dissolvers and some are floaters, but they should all just conform and melt already.

Pie Lady wrote:

happy_stomach wrote:

Pie Lady wrote:I liked eating it straight from the jar. But does anyone have any secret in making the little buggers dissolve? I always had a few floaters in my milk.

Interesting...you've enjoyed eating it out of the jar, but you don't like floaters? I'm just curious about this because I've just recently been introduced to Ovaltine per Santander. He's taught me to appreciate floaters so much so that I can't make a cup of Ovaltine without topping off with an extra teaspoon of granules and drinking immediately (with no mixing).

I guess that is odd. Sometimes I'm really picky - I don't want any chewables in my drinkables. I'm also not sure I like the idea of freethinking chocolate anyway. Most are dissolvers and some are floaters, but they should all just conform and melt already.

I guess I'm a non-conformist.

Pie Lady wrote:I liked eating it straight from the jar. But does anyone have any secret in making the little buggers dissolve? I always had a few floaters in my milk.

About 10 years ago, when I first became afflicted with laziness, I started enjoying the floaters. But prior to that, my solution to this was to add a very small amount of boiling (or hot) water to the Ovaltine which rapidly creates a solution to which I'd add my cold milk. Sometimes, at night, I'd enjoy warm or hot Ovaltine, which also facilitates dissolution (stir it up, nuke it, stir again vigorously). Rocket science, I tell ya.

I also enjoy Ovaltine powder sprinkled on bananas, on top a bowl of yogurt, pretty much any which way, including straight-up in spoonfuls.

The Asian markets sell a differently formulated Ovaltine and Horlicks. Saw them at a couple of grocery stores in Chinatown. I believe you have to add your own sugar to these. I prefer this Asian-formulated (or is it British-formulated?) version to the American version.

Anyone recall having Horlicks candy drops? I used to love eating those. I believe that these were sold in Britain and their former colonies. I'd love to know if these candies are still available and available in the Chitown area.

Peety wrote:Anyone recall having Horlicks candy drops? I used to love eating those. I believe that these were sold in Britain and their former colonies. I'd love to know if these candies are still available and available in the Chitown area.

I don't know if they're sold around here any more, but as a kid I loved Horlick's Malt Tablets - little disks of what, I guess, was essentially malt powder and a little sugar. They were manufactured in Racine. I believe there's still a Horlick High School up there.

My grandma's sister. Was called the queen of Ovaltine. She worked at the Lombard, IL factory for over 50 years of her life.

I bought a bottle of the chocolate malt flavor yesterday. It looks like Nestles Quik. Gone are the crunchy crystals. It doesn't taste the same either. I got screwed. Does anybody know where I can the real McCoy?

I found both Ovaltine (the European powdered version) and Horlick's in two different flavors at Kamdar Plaza, 2646 W. Devon. I bought the Ovaltine, $4.99 for a 14-ounce jar. And a jar of ghee - 16 ounces for $5.99. The fella at the counter was pretty funny...when I told him to skip the bag, he wondered how I would carry them home. When I said it's one jar for each hand, he said, "I'm proud of you!"
http://www.kamdarplaza.com/