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Milo turns 80

Milo was originally invented to insure depression-era children got their vitamins. Eighty years on it's still a staple in Aussie homes.

Milk first or Milo first? Stir or scoop? Hot or cold?

These conversations have been around almost as long as Milo itself - eight decades.

Margaret Butterworth, the daughter of Milo's creator Thomas Mayne, says she used to eat the crunchy malt layer first and then drink the milk.

This practice baffled her father, a food engineer who used to spend hours working out how to make Milo dissolve more readily in cold milk.

Eventually he gave up, much to the delight of his children.

Butterworth, 77, explains how Nestle asked her father to invent a drink during the depression to ensure children were getting the nutrients they needed.

"A lot of children were malnourished," she says.

"He was asked to come up with something that was more than just a pleasant drink - they used to call it a tonic drink because it contains vitamins, minerals and proteins.

"And it was something that was easy for mothers - to give the children food in a glass after school rather than them hoeing into cakes and lollies."

Butterworth wasn't born when her father launched the drink in the green tin in 1934 at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.

This year Milo is celebrating its 80th birthday by returning to the place it was first unveiled at the Easter Show.

Still produced in the original production plant in Smithtown on the NSW mid-north coast, Milo has become common place in most Australian households.

Over two million cans of Milo are produced every year - that's over 480 million cups.

The drink's name was derived from the famous Ancient Greek athlete Milo of Crotona.


2 min read

Published

Source: AAP


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