Ovomaltine Drinks
I love Ovomaltine—or 'Ovo' as it is fondly called in Switzerland, or Ovaltine, for English speakers, after a spelling mistake on its British patent application, (but definitely not “Roundtine”).
In Swiss cafes you can order your Ovo “heissi” or “kalti”, hot or cold, and usually stir it into your milk yourself.
Malty, comforting, delicious.
Swiss advertisements throughout the decades have shown Ovomaltine, combined with alpine milk and outdoor activities, to be the key to good health. The video below features their famous slogan Mit Ovo chaschs nöd besser. Aber länger! (with Ovo you can't do it better, but you can do it longer).
Here are a couple of Ovo drinks to temper the healthiness.
Throw some ice cream into a kalti Ovo, blend, and you’ve got a malty milkshake. Or double up your malt intake by adding a dark beer to the mix with a malt on malt float.
200 ml milk
1 tbsp Ovomaltine powder
1 scoop vanilla ice cream
Blend well and top with more Ovomaltine powder.
200 ml stout beer
1 tbsp Ovomaltine powder
a big scoop of vanilla ice cream
Mix the beer with Ovomaltine, then top with ice cream.
Sprinkle Ovomaltine powder on top.
One good choice for stout is Schwarzer Kristall from Appenzeller Bier. This is a bitter, black stout with light notes of vanilla. It's also great with chocolate desserts, as well as in cooking.
In different countries, Ovomaltine powder is sweetened differently. In Switzerland, unlike some other countries, the original blend has no added sugar. So, taste as you go, and add more or less powder as required.
To me, Ovomaltine is not used quite enough in day-to-day cooking and baking. It’s such an easy way to lend a malty flavour, or to give a bit of a sandy crunch to something.