DID YOU KNOW?

UPDATE 21 May 2024: While researching for an unrelated article, I came across information that contradicts the origins of Milo as I had previously written here.

In 1911, Salim LOUIS immigrated to Cape Town from Lebanon. Later on, he moved to Bloemfontein. In 1913 his brother, Michel (Michael) joined him. The following year, the two brothers started a general wholesale merchant business. By 1933, they were importing tea leaves from Ceylon plantations. They named their tea brand Milo, using the first two letters of Michel's name and the first two letters of his surname. It was this tea company that was later purchased by Nestlé for their well-known hot chocolate malt drink.

ORIGINAL POST DATED 28 AUG 2023: Milo, an iconic Australian brand, was first developed in 1930 by a young trainee chemical engineer, Thomas MAYNE of Smithtown, New South Wales. Nestlé wanted to develop a tonic drink that would address malnutrition in children during the great Depression. The drink was made from malted barley, dried milk and cocoa.

Thomas spent four years developing what we now know as Milo. He wanted to create a mix with vitamins and minerals that would dissolve when stirred, not just fall to the bottom of the glass. One day, he walked into his kitchen to discover his daughter and son scooping the crunchy bits of Milo powder off the top of their drinks. It was then that he realised that the crunch was not a problem, but a feature - and so Milo as we know it today was born. It was named after Milo of Croton, a Greek wrestler who lived in the 6th century BC and possessed legendary strength. Milo Tonic Food was introduced to the public at the 1934 Sydney Royal Easter Show in the iconic Milo tin. Today it's the world's leading chocolate malt beverage that can be prepared with hot or cold milk or water. Nestlé’s Chembong Factory in Malaysia is the world's largest Milo manufacturing site.

The Spanish call it calimocho or kalimotxo. In Germany they call it kora or korea. In Chile, it’s jote and in Croatia it's known as bambus. In Argentina it's known as "Jesus juice". If you're familiar with Africa or Portugal, you know it as catemba. A 50-50 mixture of red wine and Coca-Cola, it is said to have originated at a festival in Algorta, Spain, in 1972 when traders discovered the wine they planned to sell was terrible so they added Coca-Cola and ice to disguise the flavour. But for many years before that, the drink was already well-known in South Africa, Mozambique, and Angola - thanks to the Portuguese communities living there. According to family stories, catemba was invented by the owner of a restaurant on the island of Catembe when it was still a small fishing community. It was common to mix red wine with Sprite, but one day the owner used Coca-Cola instead.