You Probably Wouldn't Guess What The Malt In Your Milkshake Is

As drinkable frozen treats go, there's nothing quite as decadent as a malt, with its combination of ice cream, milk, flavored syrup, and malted milk powder. While it might not seem like much, there's a surprising backstory to that last key ingredient, which began as a nutritional supplement more than 150 years ago before finding its way into quaffable desserts and those crunchy malted milk balls enjoyed by moviegoers and trick-or-treaters. And yes, it's also related to the malt used in beer and Scotch whisky production after going through additional steps to create those libations.

Malted milk powder is made from sprouted barley that has been heated before being processed. It's then added to wheat flour, dried milk, and sometimes other ingredients like sugars and preservatives. It has a rich, sweet, slightly toasted flavor. We have two British-born brothers to thank for malted milk powder and a Chicago soda jerk for realizing it made a delicious addition to milkshakes, thus inventing a new dessert.

When barley grain is soaked in water it begins to germinate, producing beneficial B vitamins, amino acids, and various minerals that remain in the finished product. In the malting process, natural enzymes convert the grain's starches into sugars. In order to stop the grain from growing into a plant, it's roasted (which gives malted milk powder its toasted flavor) and then mashed. In the end, the remaining sugars are what gets added to the dried milk and wheat flour to produce malted milk powder.

British brothers James and William Horlick, who had emigrated to the United States, first created malted milk powder in the 1870s as a baby food supplement and named it Horlick's Malted Milk Tablets. The product could be dissolved in water and consumed. It became popular as a health food and was used by travelers in such far flung locales as the Himalayan Mountains and the South Pole. By the turn of the 19th century, soda fountains were in vogue and new non-alcoholic treats, like milkshakes and sundaes, were popping up around the United States, in part due to blue laws that prohibited alcohol, among other things, on Sundays.

Walgreens lays claim to the invention of the first malted milkshake. One of the company's employees, a soda jerk named Ivar "Pop" Coulson, who worked at one of its original Chicago stores, came up with the brilliant idea of adding malted milk powder to ice cream, milk, and chocolate syrup one summer day in 1922. In fact, the addition of malted milk powder is the only difference between a milkshake and a malt – but what a difference!

As Coulson likely discovered, malted milk powder enhances the sweetness and creaminess already inherent in the a regular milkshake and an added depth of flavor from the toasted notes in the powder. The Chicago soda jerk obviously hit on something special since more than 100 years later, it's still a popular dessert. If you happen to pick up some malted milk powder at the grocery store, besides malts, it can be added to everything from hot chocolate to cookie dough to pancake batter. Next time you slurp up a malt, be sure to thank the Horlick brothers and Pop Coulson.