Time travel

[flemmings]

Last night with the autumn cold and rain outside and the purring space heater and duvets in, and me reading the unchanging Meiji world of Rainy Willow Antiquities Store, I found myself suddenly time-slipped the mid-oughties somewhere. Today, because of climate change, it's summer again, or at least a warm September that needs no jackets, and the nostalgic instant has vanished.

On a much more mundane note, why does Ovaltine powder melt in the heat? Cocoa remains a powder at all temperatures, but Ovaltine becomes a hardened shiny unmeltable enamel at the bottom of the jar.

Comments

[flemmings]

Does malt melt, asks the unscientific one.

[liralen]

*laughs* I looked it up... not until 215 F... hm. But it is hydrophilic... so can collect water out of the air and slump from that?

[flemmings]

That seems very likely. One humid summer + never putting lids on tight enough gives you enamel Ovaltine.