german and british rations chocolate innovation?

[rationtin440]

From looking over these forums and from what I have read at reprorations.com, it seems that the British and the Germans saw the morale-boosting and nutritional value of including high quality chocolate in their rations from WW1 to today. Would it be safe to say that the British and Germans were the first to come up with this idea? I mean we can look at the D-ration bars, but it would seem that they cannot compare with the quality and taste of the German and British chocolate rations from what I've read about them. Of course I have no way of knowing first hand as I've never tasted any of these.

[Treesuit]

rationtin440,

Though I am not an expert on foreign rations I would agree with you on that theory. I too remember some of the posts here and saw that the Germans and British had a excellent idea for putting chocolate in their rations. Although I'm not sure if the US did as well before WWII? I would be amazed if, for some reason, the US didn't put some kind of chcolate treat in the rations back in WWI or the meal line much like they did with cigarettes and we just didn't know about it here or have not seen any evidence of it.

[donaldjcheek]

Neither the British nor the Germans officially issued chocolate as part of their rations during WW1. It was there, certainly, but only as a private purchase item.

(Not to despair: the Brits did issue really powerful SRD rum to troops in the trenches. Many soldiers referred to it as "liquid sunshine.")

The US & British issued chocolate in WW2 as part of their standard field rations*, but the Germans only issued chocolate as a special purpose ration.

*UK 24-hour ration, the 14-man Compo Ration, and the US Army Field Rations C, K, & D.

As far as I can tell, the first use of chocolate as an issue ration item was by the British Army during the Boer War. The US Army adopted the idea in the early 1900s and came up with the US Army Emergency Ration (aka the "tobacco tin ration" or the "Armour Ration"). This was a pocket-sized oval lacquered can which contained 3 x 3-oz pressed cakes of finely-ground wheat mixed with finely-ground lean dried beef, and 3 x 1-oz compressed cakes of chocolate mixed with fine sugar.

The beef-wheat cakes could be nibbled on, sliced and fried, boiled to make soup or stewed to make a thick porridge.

The chocolate cakes could be eaten as is, boiled to make cocoa, or stewed to make a thick paste.

The British Boer War version used 4 oz of dried beef and 4 oz of cocoa paste.

[rationtin440]

Thanks for replies guys! I seem to recall something about ovaltine powder also originating as a war ration of some kind but not sure how long ago, possibly between WW1 and WW2 as an experimental item? Not even sure which country originally had it.

[norge]

Ovaltine is a brand of milk flavoring product made with malt extract, sugar (except in Switzerland), cocoa, and whey. Ovaltine, a registered trademark of Associated British Foods, is made by Wander AG, a subsidiary of Twinings which acquired the brand from Novartis in 2003, except in the United States, where Nestlé acquired the rights separately from Novartis later on.

seems like that is stil avalible

cheers ken

[Garron]

Yep, Ovaltine is still available, they sell it in large tubs in the shop I work at, I think you can buy it in little packets for one cup, I'll have to check but I can get it, would anyone like to try them?

[ak70g2]

Gaz, I think I'll like to try.

[rationtin440]

My dad recalls drinking it as a child in the 1940s and he told me something about it originally being tested as a beverage powder for the military after WW1, that was designed to give soldiers extra energy. His brother was involved in food ration development before WW2 and he said he told him about all kinds of stuff that they were trying, even putting stuff into the D-ration bar so that soldiers would not want to eat it except in emergencies. I thought that ovaltine was a more recent invention myself but my dad said that the original ovaltine that was sold in America was different and he recalls that it was the only way my grandmother could get him to drink milk.

[hannonmc]

Ovaltine is on the shelves here in the US. Not much different from drinking chocolate milk...

[Treesuit]

Yes, Ovaltine is still sold here in the US. You can buy it in quart jars for about a fraction of the cost as any regular brand of chcolate drinkmix. I always hear the info commercials on the radio when working and supposedly Ovaltine has more vitamins and minerals in the drink than say Nestle' or Swiss Miss. This kind of correlates to the fact that it might have been a nutritional supplment way back in the days.