Today's world is very strange, but in many ways mine was much stranger. Here are just a few examples.
When I was small, you could enter a shoe shop and look at X Ray images of your own feet through bizarre Dalek-like machines. Certain children had their fingers painted with foul-tasting liquids, to stop them biting their nails. But strangest of all was that many were given giant spoons-full of Radio Malt to give them energy (I think).
Radio Malt was a bizarre product. On reading about it recently, it seems to have been primarily found in post-war boarding schools where is was issued to make children Rounder Stronger and Bulkier. Parents supplied their own giant jars of this horrible vitaminised Gloop. It was sickly sweet, with a taste somewhere between Molasses and Treacle. It's consumption was overseen by the school Matron (or similar).
I am pleased to say that I was NOT a partaker of Radio Malt, but many of my fellow school friends were. I wonder if they still have any teeth?
I used to have cod liver oil and malt and loved it. We recently bought a jar of molasses which is nearly empty - I have to be firm and ration myself.
ReplyDeleteWe do have a jar of Molasses; Lady M uses it in her Christmas Cake.
DeleteI was brought up on a daily spoonful of malt with cod-liver-oil in it....
ReplyDeleteI am, I'm afraid, addicted to the taste of malt... reinforced by Ovaltine.
The original gravity of my homebrew beers varies wildly... cans of concentrate are fine, the hop concentrate in them makes them unpalatable... but I use malt concentrate instead of sugar and that is where the problem lies.... there is a ratio of how much goes into the wort versus how much vanishes down the "little red lane!"
I still have 13 of my original teeth left...
I'm glad that someone knows about these jars of Malt. I had a feeling that no-one would have. The only beer I've brewed at home came in a bag from Boots. All I had to do was add water and wait for about a week. It was surprisingly good.
DeleteThat gloopy brown malt is addictive, I loved it. Also Ovaltine spooned on top of cold milk, then there was tomato sauce sandwiches and revolting spaghetti on toast from a tin. Children of today don't know what they are missing ;)
ReplyDeleteI remember all the boys who had it, loved it. I wonder if they sell tinned Spaghetti in Italy?
DeleteWhat a strange name - Radio Malt!
ReplyDeleteOnce heard, never forgotten.
DeleteI escaped this but I was given Rose-hip Syrup and had to wear a liberty bodice.
ReplyDeleteWe had Rose Hip Syrup too, and special bottles of concentrated Orange juice which was a post-war method of getting vitamins into children.
DeleteI well remember the Dalek-like x-ray machine and having bitter aloe painted on my fingers to stop me sucking my fingers (which can distort one's teeth). Mum also gave us molasses and cider vinegar each day.
ReplyDeleteI loved those X Ray machines. I'd pop into every shoe shop to look at my bones. Amazingly my feet are still there, and don't glow in the dark.
DeleteI never had Radio Malt, although I do remember it. I had Scott;s Emulsion although goodness knows what good it did.
ReplyDeleteI didn't have it either, but remember it always being around. They were such huge jars too.
DeleteI remember having that yellow stuff painted on my nails. Didn't do any good. I bit them till I left school.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of Radio Malt but it reminds me of something called Threpsini which was given to greek children after the war. It was made from grape syrup. My daughter's f in law found some and bought it for the grandchildren . They hated it and we inherited the jars. Horrid stuff though my gr husband says they loved it back then.
I love anything malt. We were given fluoride tablets and vit c pills
I think post-war children were used as Guinea Pigs in many ways. I don't think we needed all that special attention, we would have all been fine without it.
DeleteHere the children got fish oil, a yellow liquid with a smell that most children did not like.
ReplyDeleteCod liver oil was always popular as a form of child torture. I actually quite liked it.
DeleteWe didn’t have Radio Malt and I’ve never heard of it. We were given liquid paraffin now and again to keep us regular ! ..... abd, I LOVED that orange juice that we were given at the clinic ...... it was unnaturally thick and had to be diluted ...... God knows what was in it !!! XXXX
ReplyDeleteLiquid Paraffin was deadly. I only had it once, and can confirm that it was very efficient. That Orange juice was very strange, but quite pleasant.
DeleteI had Malt and cod liver oil from a huge jar after having whooping cough it was to build me up as I was so thin! Loved the taste!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like the same stuff; always in huge jars.
DeleteWe had an enormous jar of malt extract which lasted my entire childhood. I quite liked in in an odd sort of way.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why the jars were so large. It was as if they couldn't get rid of the stuff quickly enough.
DeleteMalt is fermented grain, used in beer making and distilling. Also the central ingredient in a malted milk, or those wonderful little malt ball candies at the movies of a Sunday afternoon. I have a little jar in the pantry now, and treat myself from it on occasion.
DeleteSo, that is my comment and I won't repeat myself after I read on through.
For a while when I left school I worked in a shop called Mansfields in East street, we had on of those X Ray machines there. I also remember the malt, I quite liked it. There were also some large yellow pills that my Mum said were good for the blood, who knows what they were.
ReplyDeleteBriony
x
I had some red pills that I think were called Ferrous fersolate. For blood too!
DeleteI can remember getting cod liver oil and we always got a humbug candy afterwards. That was my favourite part.
ReplyDeleteI still quite like the taste of Cod Liver Oil.
DeleteWe had Ovaltine which was used to encourage us to drink our milk. Cod Liver Oil was given for some reason I can’t remember, but I can recall hiding when my mother mentioned giving it to us. I am not surprised that you liked it. Your pallet accepts things that many of us run away from.
ReplyDeleteI never really appreciated Ovaltine, it always tasted 'dusty' to me.
DeleteIn addition to a hefty dose of body-building calories, Radio Malt delivered much needed vitamins A, B1, B2 and D. By the way, was there ever a beer shortage during the war, or just food?
ReplyDeleteYou sound like an advert for Radio Malt. As for a beer shortage; I very much doubt it.
DeleteWere they really proper x-ray machines? Sounds dangerous. While I can't remember Radio Malt, radioactive? I do remember malt. I am not sure of its purpose in a milkshake.
ReplyDeleteYou put your feet in at the bottom, and looked through a special hole at the top, and you could see your bones move. They were to see if your feet fitted in their new shoes, but we just used the machines for fun.
DeleteI remember those machines in the shoe stores that x-rayed your feet... also painting kids fingernails with that nasty tasting stuff to stop fingernail biting. And although I have never heard of radio-malt, we did get doses of cod liver oil growing up.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a perfect childhood, Rian. Kids these days don't know they're born!
DeleteWe had malt extract, not sure if the brand mentioned as it tasted vile. The fuss we made soon put a stop to it. rose hip syrup I loved but rarely got as it was meant for the baby only. I wore liberty bodices and was teased unmercifully at school.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I know absolutely nothing of liberty bodices, so I can't comment. Maybe I'll do some research later.
DeleteAw gosh, yes, I remember those X-ray machines as well, wouldn't be allowed these days! I had the malt extract too, Virol it was called, and the Rosehip syrup and I loved the national orange juice and the Haliborange tablets.
ReplyDeleteI have a jar of malt extract in my cupboard. It is the essential component of malt loaf. malt loaf can still be found on the bakery shelves, made by "Soreen" The last time my children saw my mother they ate malt loaf together and her teeth came out and stuck in the loaf, much to the children's mirth! She died the next day ... No connection!
ReplyDelete