Chocolate Milk Choices

Nestle’s Quik can from the 70’s

Decisions, decisions. Obviously, white milk was yucky. So how did you go about flavoring it, making it fit for consumption by a seven-year-old?

In the 60’s, there were a number of choices. Some are still around, others have passed along the wayside.

In my home, it was either Nestle’s Quik, or PDQ.

I’m not sure which I preferred. Nestle’s had a very good taste, but PDQ was processed in the form of those cool coarse granules. Plus, the jar had an ultra-modern shape to it.

Interestingly, the modern look still appeals to me. In fact, my wife and myself have spent a good chunk of bucks remodeling our house in a modern look. But I digress.

Anyhow, the other choices to be had in my locale were Hershey’s chocolate syrup (tricky. Too much or too little in the milk was equally distasteful) or Hershey’s cocoa powder (simply not an alternative, IMHO. Not sweet enough).

60’s era PDQ

Folks in the northeast US and areas of the west coastal states could opt for Bosco. I never saw it in Miami, Oklahoma, but it showed up as mentions in TV programs from time to time, and had an unforgettable name.

And there was Ovaltine. Broadway Joe himself hawked it! Sadly, I never tried it. I really don’t know why. Its flavor was described by reader Patrick as being tad salty. It wasn’t unusual to be eaten dry, right out of the jar.

Of course, for those who insisted their milk be flavored, there WAS one other choice.

I hesitate to bring it up at all. I tried it once, circa 1967, and its foul taste still lingers on my tongue.

Of course, I’m speaking of Nestle’s Quik! STRAWBERRY!

It was a bad idea from the word go. Strawberry milk? Obviously, chocolate is the only artificial flavor ever intended to transcend milk to the next level.

Well, unless you count Bailey’s Irish Cream.

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