Milo (drink)

Milo /ˈmaɪloʊ/ is a chocolate and malt powder that is mixed with hot or cold water or milk to produce a beverage popular in many parts of the world. Produced by Nestlé, Milo was originally developed by Thomas Mayne in Sydney, Australia in 1934. It is marketed and sold in many countries around the world.

Most commonly sold as a powder in a green tin, often depicting various sporting activities, Milo is available as a premixed beverage in some countries, and has been subsequently developed into a snack bar and breakfast cereal. Its composition and taste differ in some countries.

History

In 1934, Australian industrial chemist and inventor Thomas Mayne developed Milo and launched it at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. Milo began production at the plant located in Smithtown, near Kempsey on the North Coast of New South Wales. The name was derived from the famous ancient athlete Milo of Croton, after his legendary strength.

Manufacture

Milo is manufactured by evaporating the water content from a thick syrup at reduced pressure. The thick opaque syrup is obtained from malted wheat or barley. The whole process takes around an hour but operates in a continuous mode. At the bottom of the box the varying sized chunks of soft solid, from fist size to fine powder, fall from the last conveyor into an airlock where they are brought back to atmospheric pressure. The solid is introduced into a hammer mill where it is broken up into the final granular form. The hygroscopic granular powder is packaged by filling cans from the "bottom", because the "top" end has been previously fabricated with an aluminium foil seal beneath the lid. The cans then have the tinplate bottoms affixed by a roll seam and the paper label is applied to complete the product. Some other chocolate drink bases, such as Ovaltine, are made by similar processes.