What is Malted Milk? The Surprising History, Science, & Soda Fountain Wars

Malted milk is a mixture of whole powdered milk, malted barley, and wheat. Despite its history, it wasn’t originally invented to make delicious milkshakes. It was born out of a desperate, late-19th-century scientific race to solve a vexing problem: Milk fat goes rancid quickly. Today, we take the shelf-stability of powdered milk for granted. But what most people don’t realize is that modern standard powdered milk achieves that stability by completely stripping out the fat, leaving us with a frankly inferior, watery substitute. Malted milk was an ingenious, early attempt to preserve whole milk, using the dry malt ingredients to protect the fat globules from oxidation. It was a survival food that accidentally became a soda fountain sensation, ultimately sparking a bitter, decades-long corporate war.

Invention of Malted Milk

Malted milk was first invented, so it is usually claimed, by William Horlick of Racine, Wisconsin, perhaps as early as 1870. A patent was filed in 1883, and it was introduced to the market in 1887. As we shall see, it is not at all clear that Horlick was the true and first inventor.

Previous attempts had been made to produce a shelf-stable powdered milk, but most of them had been unsuccessful. One prior form, which was marketed as early as 1865, consisted of powdered milk mixed with a lot of cane sugar and a powdered baked wheat, which was simply a baked wheat “bread” that was crushed into powdered form. This meant that much of the starch was still ‘raw’ and the mixture, although it may have been more stable than previous products, had to be cooked before it was consumable.

Horlick, who marketed his product with his brother James, an apothecary, used a similar method, consisting of powdered whole milk, malted barley, and wheat. The result was quite shelf-stable. And since malts of barley and wheat were thought to be highly nutritious and digestible food for humans, he attached claims to his product of its being a superior food. He intended the powder to be mixed in hot water and used as a supplemental food for infants and invalids.

The Health Halo: From Infants to Invalids

Because William Horlick had successfully created a shelf-stable, highly digestible powdered milk, his early marketing had absolutely nothing to do with sweet treats. He marketed malted milk strictly as a dietary supplement and health tonic.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was sold in drugstores (both as a powder and in tablet form) as a crucial survival food for infants and invalids. Vintage advertisements from the era read less like beverage promotions and more like medical journals. Horlick’s claimed their powder was the perfect way to help children recover lost body weight after surviving the flu or whooping cough. It was pushed as a “complete food for all ages” that built up immune resistance, aided digestion, and even acted as a sleep aid if consumed before bed.

Regardless of Horlick’s intentions, people used his malted milk to fortify and sweeten not only infant formula, but all sorts of other things, the most famous of which are milk shakes.

The Soda Fountain Boom: A “Meal in a Glass”

The transition from medicine to milkshake was a matter of geographic convenience. Because malted milk was exclusively sold in drugstores, it was sitting right next to the pharmacy soda fountain.

Soda jerks began experimenting with the powder, first creating flavored syrups, and eventually scooping the dry powder directly into milkshakes. The malted barley and wheat completely transformed the drinks, giving them a robust, earthy, and distinctly toasted flavor. More importantly, it dramatically increased the fat and caloric content of the beverage.

These thick, heavy “Malted” shakes, or just Malts, essentially became a “meal in a glass.” They were so tasty, filling, and wildly popular that standalone shops specifically dedicated to serving them began popping up across the country, famously becoming known as Malt Shops.

The Malted Milk Wars

Horlick enjoyed a total monopoly on the product until his original patent expired in 1900. The moment the patent lapsed, massive dairy competitors like Borden, who had marketed condensed milk and other products for years, and Carnation flooded the market with their own versions.

What followed was a bitter, decades-long corporate war over who owned the rights to the name, the formula, and the legacy of malted milk. The legal battles were relentless:

The Elgin Milkine Defeat: The first major blow to Horlick’s monopoly came when they sued the Elgin Milkine Company for using the term “malted milk.” A federal court ruled against Horlick, declaring that because the term was used in the original patent, the name, along with the formula, now belonged to the public.
The 1917 Patent Block: When Horlick attempted to cleverly renew their patent registration 17 years later to regain exclusivity, Borden fiercely intervened. Borden successfully argued that Horlick was trying to backdoor a monopoly on a public term, resulting in the U.S. Patent Office canceling Horlick’s registration entirely.
The Smear Campaign: Furious at losing their exclusivity, Horlick launched an epic harassment campaign against Borden. Horlick plastered trade publications with ads claiming they were the only “genuine” malted milk (implying competitors were dangerous fakes), actively turned druggists against Borden, and even sent representatives into stores to physically remove Borden’s ornamental dispensing jars.
Borden’s Retaliation & The Stolen Recipe: In 1913, Borden struck back, suing Horlick for unfair competition and false advertising. Borden’s lawsuit dropped a historical bombshell: They claimed Horlick didn’t even invent the powder, citing testimony that Horlick had actually lifted the manufacturing process from a German chemist named Von Liebig.

Ultimately, the courts dismissed Borden’s lawsuit, deciding that Horlick’s aggressive advertising wasn’t quite enough to warrant a federal injunction, and that the public should decide whose product was “genuine.”

Malted Milk Balls: From Maltesers to Whoppers

As the fierce soda fountain patent wars finally cooled, the golden age of the neighborhood Malt Shop slowly began to fade. But by the 1930s, the distinct, toasted flavor of malted milk was so deeply embedded in the public palate that it found a new, permanent home: the candy aisle.

The transition from a liquid “meal in a glass” to a bite-sized candy started in the United Kingdom. In 1936, Forrest Mars Sr. (of Mars, Incorporated fame) invented a chocolate-coated sphere with a honeycomb malt center. He named them Maltesers. Hilariously, Mars leaned right back into William Horlick’s original “health tonic” marketing. Maltesers were initially sold as “energy balls” and marketed specifically to weight-conscious women, with advertisements claiming the malt center was far less fattening than solid chocolate.

The Birth of the American Whopper

The concept hopped across the pond a few years later. In 1939, right at the tail end of the Great Depression, the Overland Candy Company introduced an American version of the malted milk ball. Originally, instead of Whoppers, they were called Giants. To keep the confection affordable during tough economic times, Giants were sold completely unwrapped from large glass jars for just two pieces a penny.

The candy went through a series of corporate mergers before being officially rebranded by Leaf Brands as Whoppers in 1949. As packaging technology evolved in the 1950s, they moved from cheap cellophane wrappers into the iconic milk-carton boxes that became their trademark. Hershey’s took over Whoppers in 1996 when the company acquired Leaf Brands.

Today, long after the pharmacy soda fountains have closed and Horlick’s medicinal claims have been forgotten, millions of Americans still unknowingly consume that 19th-century scientific breakthrough out of a cardboard box in the dark of a movie theater.

The Modern Science of Whole Powdered Milk

The malted milk wars eventually faded, and the product shifted from a vital health tonic to the candy aisle in the form of malted milk balls. But the original food science problem William Horlick was trying to solve, how to powder whole milk without it turning rancid, remained a challenge for decades.

For a long time, the American dairy industry simply accepted the compromise: if you want milk powder to last on a shelf, you have to remove the milk fat. This is why the standard powdered milk found in American grocery stores today is almost exclusively nonfat. It’s highly stable, but lacks the rich mouthfeel, flavor, and caloric density of actual milk.

However, modern food engineering has finally bypassed the need for Horlick’s malt mixture. Today, companies can produce true, shelf-stable whole milk powder (like Nestlé’s Nido, which is massively popular internationally and in Latin American markets). To achieve this, food scientists use advanced spray drying techniques, often packaging the powder under inert gases like nitrogen to completely flush out the oxygen. Without oxygen, the fat globules can’t oxidize and turn rancid.

We no longer need to rely on crushed barley and wheat to protect the milk fats, but every time you taste that distinct, earthy sweetness of a malted milkshake, you’re tasting a 19th-century scientific breakthrough.