Ovaltine

It was not as horrible as I imagined. Desiring to expand my drinks cupboard and range of hospitality options, I invested in a jar of Ovaltine. I remember old folk, with whom I was raised, chattering about it, who would always sing some dreadful, high pitched advertising ditty upon hearing the word. The recipe was created in 1904 by Swiss man Albert Wander, who originally called it Ovomaltine (from ovum, Latin for egg, and malt). In the modern recipe, egg is missing, but malt there certainly is. I found that a little sugar helped to offset the malt’s strong flavour.

The Healthline website remarks:

Adults need 0.9 mg of copper a day and one serving of Ovaltine provides you with 20% of the DV

Copper is needed for the production of blood cells among other important things. In Deuteronomy 8:9, the promised land is described as

a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper.

Copper is another gift to the human race from the Creator. Not only can it be mined and crafted into that which is useful, such as pipes and electrical wires, but it is good for our bodies in tiny doses. I will not lick pipes or wires to obtain what I need, but I shall drink the odd cup of Ovaltine afore retiring for the night. If copper is worth seeking, finding and employing, how much more is wisdom?

“Surely there is a mine for silver,

And a place where gold is refined.

Iron is taken from the earth,

And copper is smelted from ore. (vv1-2)

“From where then does wisdom come?

And where is the place of understanding? (v20)

‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,

And to depart from evil is understanding.’ (v28b) Job 28, NKJV.

Be as wise to seek wisdom for your soul as copper for your veins.