Milo - The Aussie's Favourite Chocolate Drink (Nestle Milo)

Member Name: foreveramber

Product:	Nestle Milo
Date:	25/09/08 (221 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can drink hot or cold. Has added vitamins and is tasty and easy to make

Disadvantages: Sugar content quite high

Nestle Milo

Milo, if you haven't heard the name before, is THE number one chocolate drink in Australia and New Zealand. Kids over there are brought up on it. Over there, you don't ask for a drink of hot chocolate, you ask for a Milo.

I grew up in Australia. I remember taking little packets of Milo to school to put in the bottles of plain milk we used to be given each morning. Milo was a part of life.

I've been in the UK for over 20 years now and quite recently started noticing tins of Milo appearing on various supermarket shelves. It's not usually in a prominent position, but to those who know it, it stands out like a beacon.

Milo is packaged in a 400g circular tin with a prise off lid. You know, the kind of lid you need to jam a spoon under to open it up, then you need to squash it back on again to close it. It does come in other sizes, in other countries, but here it's just the 400g size. Still, I am very grateful for that. No longer do we have to rely on friends or relatives bringing supplies of Milo for us, now we can buy our own.

Its brand colour is bright green, which is why it's so easy to spot when you're familiar with it. There are always pictures of athletic people on the front, footballers, basket ball players etc.

I haven't noticed any advertising for Milo over here, but I assume it's selling well enough as the supermarkets do keep restocking it.
Milo is marketed as an energy drink with energy releasing B vitamins. Personally, I think the energy part is simply down to the sugar content, but I'm sure the B vitamins are a healthy addition. It is fortified with loads of vitamins and minerals and the side of the tin reads like a vitamin packet.

So, what is Milo like? Milo is quite different from other makes of chocolate drink mixes. It's very coarse, almost like granules of Demerara sugar. When you open the lid a take a sniff, you're greeted with a lovely rich, chocolate, malty aroma that you can't wait to eat.

Despite Milo containing milk powder as an ingredient, you do need to mix it with milk. It's delicious either mixed with hot or cold milk. Everyone has their own favourite way of enjoying Milo. My kids prefer cold Milo and when I'm making it they shout at me 'don't mix it, don't mix it.'

When you make cold Milo, you can either put the Milo in a glass first and then add milk or the other way round. If you put the Milo in after the milk and give it a few stirs, you're left with a rich, crumbly topping that kids love to eat while the chocolate flavour sinks down into the rest of the milk. Alternatively, you can mix the Milo with a couple of teaspoons of hot water to dissolve it completely, then add the milk. If you add hot milk, it dissolves quickly and you don't get the topping. The instructions recommend using 3 teaspoon of Milo per glass, but of course, you can use more or less as your taste buds dictate.

Milo is quite sweet tasting already, however, if I'm making hot Milo I usually add a tiny bit of sugar but not when it's made as a cold milk drink.

Milo has also branched out into other areas such as cereal and chocolate bars, but I've not seen them in the UK as yet.

~~~Price~~~

It can vary from supermarket to supermarket as to where you'll find tins of Milo. Some stores treat it as a foreign food and it'll be stocked with the imported goods. However, it's usually stocked with all the other hot drink mixes like instant hot chocolate, hot malted drinks etc.

Currently it costs £1.94 for a 400g tin at Tesco or £1.99 in Sainsbury. I have also discovered my local Costcutter stocks Milo at a slightly more expensive £2.25, but I'm not complaining.

~~~Nutritional Information~~~

Per 100g dry milo: Energy 373, Protein 7.8g, carbohydrate 71.9g, Sugars 45g, fat 6g of which saturates 5.8g, fibre 5.4g, sodium 0.2g.

~~~Ingredients~~~

Sugar, Barley Malt Extract (26%), fat reduced cocoa (15%), whole milk powder, Mineral Mix (Calcium phosphate, Magnesium carbonate, Sodium chloride, Ferric Pyrophosphate), Vitamin Mix (Vitamin C, Niacin, Vitamin E, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B6, Vitamin A, Thiamin [B1], Riboflavin [B2], Vitamin D, Vitamin B12).

Milo is Halaal certified.

Looking at the tin, Milo in the UK is distributed by Osem UK Ltd., London. Its Trade Mark Owner is Nestle S.A., Switzerland and it's manufactured by Nestle Foods Kenya Limited. So, it's a long way from its original roots and many countries are involved in its appearance on our shelves.

For more information:

http://www.nestle.com.au/Products/Drinks/Milo/def ault.htm

Summary: A delicious chocolate, malty drink to drink any time of the day