Once upon a time, there lived a terribly clever Swiss scientist called Dr George Wander. Dr Wander was a chemist who spent his days investigating the nutritional qualities of barley malt; perhaps not the most exciting of activities, but I guess thrilling entertainment must have been a bit thin on the ground in 1904. As it happened though, this rather dull pursuit was to lead to a useful discovery. You see, on one particular day, the chemist suddenly realised the dietary potential of the complex carbohydrates and vitamins in barley malt. When the clever chap combined the malt with eggs, he invented the World’s first nutritional drink, which he named “Ovomaltine”. Despite the unpromising (and quite frankly unappetising) name of this product, Ovomaltine quickly became a success story in Switzerland, where it was marketed as a milk fortifier to provide easily prepared and sustaining hot drinks for under-nourished children, pregnant women, the elderly and infirm. In fact, it even began to be prescribed by doctors once the nutritional value of this drink was realised. Dr Wander became something of a champion of the nutritionally challenged.

It wasn’t until 1906 that this drink first arrived in Britain under the more familiar brand name of Ovaltine. This was something I found rather surprising, as we tend to think of Ovaltine as being a peculiarly British eccentricity rather than an imported product. Indeed, so ingrained has Ovaltine become in our national consciousness, that websites such as www.britishcornershop.co.uk and www.britstore.co.uk have been set up to sell it and other such products to the British ex-pat community worldwide. In fact, I even suspect that right now, readers of a Certain Age will be finding themselves humming the theme tune to the Ovaltineys^!

Ovaltine continued to be consumed as a virtuous and nutritional beverage for many years. Back in 1997, however, Ovaltine was renamed “Original Ovaltine” as the range was expanded to include “Ovaltine Power”, a drink that mixed hot chocolate and Ovaltine to form a new kind of beverage. Although a fan of the original drink, I was quickly converted to the chocolate version and bought it on a regular basis until it underwent something of a metamorphosis a few months back. This re-branding was evidently an attempt to cash in on the rapidly growing health food market, as Original Ovaltine Light (a reduced fat version of Ovaltine that you make with water rather than milk) came out, and Ovaltine Power became Ovaltine Chocolate Light (although as far as I can tell, they are the exact same drink). There is also a new range called “Max for Milk”, which are milk shake powders that contain the malt barley extract and vitamins of Ovaltine, but I am yet to sample them.

Ovaltine Chocolate Light is a blend of reduced fat cocoa and the barley malt extract of Original Ovaltine that you mix with hot water in much the same way as you would with any other hot chocolate powder. According to their website, it is “made with all the nutritious goodness of malt and barley extract, and 15 vitamins and minerals, Ovaltine Chocolate Light is a low fat hot chocolate drink that not only tastes good, it's good for you!”. Now being a cynical type, I always like to investigate such claims. To start off with, there is no doubt that you are getting a good portion of vitamins and minerals in a mug of this stuff; a “typical” 20g serving will give you at least 20% of an adult’s recommended daily amount (RDA) of vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, B12, C and E as well as niacin, biotin, pantothentic acid and folic acid. In that same mug, you also get 20% RDA iron and zinc, 13% RDA magnesium and 35% RDA calcium. It is also light on the calories at just 72 per mug. However, the “low fat” part is a harder claim to substantiate, as it is one of those phrases that doesn’t seem to have a single accepted definition. If you accept the definition that low fat means below 5% fat, then no it isn’t (it has 6% fat). If you accept the definition that low fat means less that 3g per serving, then yes it is (a mug has 1.2g). Either way, its not too awful though, is it? And if you take into account that Ovaltine Chocolate Light has less sugar than regular hot chocolate and is very low in caffeine, then I think I can happily accept this as something of a Holy Grail – a chocolate flavoured product that is actually good for you!

But what does it actually taste like? Well, if you make it the way Ovaltine suggest – four heaped teaspoonfuls in a mug and with hot water – then the answer is that it tastes of very little. If, however, you make it like a mug of tea and replace some of that hot water with milk, then you get a rather different effect. Ovaltine Chocolate Light made this way produces a creamy and satisfying drink that smells of Malteasers, and indeed tastes a good deal like them, too. (Those of you who have been unfortunate enough to try the Malteasers hot chocolate drink will find the Ovaltine version a smoother and less sweet drink, though). The primary taste is of the malt, but those of you after a chocolate hit will not be disappointed as the flavour is subtle but smooth – surprisingly so for a reduced fat drink – that reminds me of Cadbury’s Chocolate Break. The warm milkiness makes it perfect as a bedtime drink to wind down with at the end of the day – it is hard not to relax when you’re drinking it, I find. There are of course other chocolate & malt hot drinks out there as it is a very popular flavour combination (Horlicks do one and Cadburys make Bournvita), but this is certainly my favourite.

Highly recommended. Especially on winter evenings!


**And a final thought to leave you with – The Ovaltine Christmas Carol**
Uncle Bill and Aunty Mabel
Fainted at the breakfast table.
Let this be an awful warning
For those who do it in the morning.

But Ovaltine has set them right
Now they do it every night.
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Ovaltine's a damn good thing.


**Product Information and Other Boring But Necessary Stuff**
Ovaltine Chocolate Light is available in one size, a 300g tub that provides 15 servings. My tub cost a mere £1.98 from Tesco, but it is also available from all major supermarkets as well as the aforementioned online retailers who will ship it worldwide.

www.ovaltine.co.uk

^The Ovaltineys was a family radio show first broadcast in 1935, which was sponsored by Ovaltine. It developed into a club for child fans of the drink that had 5 million members at its peak. If you fancy a nostalgia trip, you can download the Ovaltiney signature tune at: www.ovaltine.co.uk/en/article.asp?chco_id=25.