Forum Topic

Another nostalgia post

We were remembering tonight the stuff they used to pour down our throats as children. Malt extract, Milk of Magnesia, Syrup of Figs, Cod Liver Oil and all disgusting. Anyone else have anything to add? Are children still given these things?

Katrina Black ● 2584d24 Comments

I seem to remember that during the war there was something called I think Malt Extract which children did like, although probably packed with sugar.

Caroline Whitehead ● 2584d

Junket

Alexander MacLeod ● 2584d

We did, of course, have bread and dripping, bread and hot milk, and if we were really good, for a treat, we had bread and sugar sandwiches  Yes,  junket,too Not exactly very nice! Interestingly I can't remember any fat children.Skinny  as it was referred to, but not fat.But then we didn't snack, (apart from when we went scrumping ) sweets were rationed and we were all energetic and out of doors all day.Definitely another life!  So thankful I had it.

Barbara Shillabeer ● 2584d

No snacking so when we were called and came indoors for dinner we were hungry and ate it without a fuss.  Food always smelt nice as well as tasted nice because it had been cooking in the oven... and the smell wafted out of the kitchen.  So different from something that arrives all wrapped up.

Philippa Bond ● 2584d

As a kid, a treat was a spoonful of condensed milk. I was also partial to a glass of Andrews Liver Salts — sparkling water back in the day :-)  

Sean Hodges ● 2584d

National Health orange juice.

David Ainsworth ● 2583d

To add to Sean's post, condensed milk in sandwiches (as well as sugar sandwiches) for tea: it's amazing we had any teeth left.

Richard Carter ● 2583d

I liked Malt Extract, although I never quite knew what it was. I liked the look of it too. I had forgotten what it was called.

David Ainsworth ● 2583d

Yep, thickly spread butter on white sliced bread, with a generous layer of demerera brown sugar. Heaven!

Sean Hodges ● 2583d

Cheese sandwiches with tomato sauce, but I think that was just me. Ditto scrambled eggs with tomato sauce mixed in.

David Ainsworth ● 2583d

Green water with salt. Usually with sunday dinner.And my aunt worked at the Masonic hospital and on Fridays I would cycle to her house to collect fish and chips that had been over ordered and take them home to be heated up for our tea.

Andy Pike ● 2583d

Katrina.  Well you certainly opened the memory floodgates.  Think all of us were totally connected. Lovely. Must be a first! lol. Does anyone remember making rag rugs? Made a sort of comeback in Hippie days but didn't really catch on

Barbara Shillabeer ● 2583d

Belgian sausage (ex-German pre-war)

Alexander MacLeod ● 2583d

"Does anyone remember making rag rugs?"Were they the sort made by twisting and joining the pieces of rag into a length and sort of coiling it into a small mat? If so, Mr and Mrs Bates down the street made them and we had some. Even incorporated some nylon stockings, I seem to remember. They lasted pretty well. Some days they were more interesting to look at than (black and white) television.Mr Bates also made wooden toys. He made me a set of Noah's Ark animals. They were pairs of 2-dimensional animals mounted on bases on wheels. The wood came from old crates (fruit etc), and the wheels were cut from cotton reels, naturally. The only survivor is the lone figure of Monty on a white horse (Field Marshal Montgomery), a more 3-dimensional figure. I guess that my mother could not bear to burn Monty. Almost Royalty.

David Ainsworth ● 2583d

@David"I liked Malt Extract, although I never quite knew what it was. I liked the look of it too. I had forgotten what it was called."It's Malt Extract & Cod Liver Oil, I loved it and still do. I buy mine from Boots:https://www.boots.com/boots-pharmaceuticals-malt-extract-and-cod-liver-oil-650I don't relate to sugar sandwiches 😲 but my childhood treat was when Mum baked cakes she always left a little of the mixture in the bowl for me to eat. Delicious,👌especially her fruit cake mixture.  Every Xmas my Dad bought me a miniature (tiny) bottle of Drambuie.  I had been given a sip at sometime and loved it so that became an little extra present at Christmas.

Sue Hammond ● 2583d

Yes I do remember rag rugs. An old Aunt showed me how to make them. They used hessian as a base. The hessian came from sugar sacks or similar. The sacks were about the size of a normal sink and draining board as I recall. Old woollen sweaters were cut into strips and pulled through the hessian in loops with a rug hook. I still have a rug hook but never made a rug. The rugs were used where people would stand for longish periods such a s by a sink on a cold kitchen floor.I too remember the sheer bliss of supping Nestles Condensed milk from a small tin with a teaspoon!

Katrina Black ● 2583d

Egg Custard, Semolina, homemade rice pudding, was there something like Viral.

Barbara Stevens ● 2583d

And in the 50's, malt extract, spoonful every day, yummm, loved it as kids, all from a big jar.

Bunny Payne ● 2582d

hmm, well you lot didn't go to boarding school where you could get a sprinkle of white sugar on white bread with a tiny spread of marg.... that's when the housemaster didn't catch you.My fav was bread and marg turned over and vinegar sprinkled on the back … mmm

Bunny Payne ● 2582d

yum, Angel Delight, (what was the other one?), penny bag of buns from the baker at the end of the day, the ones that hadn't sold.Broken biscuits for a penny!Rice pudding with raisins, steak pie with new pots and peas.  Shepherds' pie, fish pie, toad in the hole, spotted dick and custard

Bunny Payne ● 2582d

Michael when did you become vegetarian and presumably later vegan??  You couldn't have enjoyed any of those pie goodies or indeed rabbit pie lol  Were you a child who just didn't like meat? I know lots of little ones who didn't eat meat but grew to like it later in life. Did the ethical issue just follow on naturally? I've actually never smoked but only because I tried it at school and wasn't impressed!. Maybe if I'd tried later as an adult...? Have nothing against it at all as with veggie/veganism.  I make my own decisions in life for me, as I assume everyone does for what they feel comfortable and can live with. Doesn't stop me wondering what reasons  people have for their life choices though. Hope I haven't made this too personal

Barbara Shillabeer ● 2582d

@Barbara. Happy to respond. I've been veggie since around 2000 - can't remember exactly as it was a transition cutting out meat then not eating fish - and I've been about 98% vegan for around three years - I'm somewhat pragmatic about being vegan at corporate events as they always cater for veggies, as many Indian professionals are Hindu veggies and mass catering seems to struggle with veganism; also, I don't check if wine is vegan in pubs but I do in supermarkets. The thing that triggered me to go veggie was looking at the BSE problems and the cause from what seemed poor and unnatural practices. Then the more I thought about it there were many ethical reasons to be veggie and then vegan. There's also a certain convenience as my wife's been vegan for more than 23 years. When I was reducing my blood pressure around three years (which I managed without medication) my doctor and consultant were both pleased I was veggie. So during my childhood and into my middle ages I ate meat. Interestingly, my mother went veggie for a short period in the 1940s a few years before she was married and although she cooked and ate meat she always disliked handling it. In spite of what people say I don't miss meat - inc!using bacon. But if I couldn't get a decent felafel ... 

Michael Ixer ● 2581d

I think the malt extract was called Virol. I think I remember seeing it on a shelf at the wartime shop display at the Imperial War Museum. Sadly, not on sale.I loved it, and so did all my friends. We still remember it.

Elizabeth Balsom ● 2581d

Thank you Elizabeth, I thought I remembered Virol, how about Junket. Also sugar cubes and sometimes they would put medicine on just to confuse the young.

Barbara Stevens ● 2581d