Virol - what on Earth was it?

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ChrisHGTV

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Born in 1972 I remember when growing up we would be given a spoonful of Virol and a Halib Orange tablet. The halib orange was vitamin C I think and perfectly acceptable, like a sharp orange Smartie. The Virol though I used to love! But what on earth was it? From memory it was a bit like that malt syrupy stuff - I can almost taste it now. The only reference I found was as a bone marrow preparation, which sounds distinctly Victorian rather than '70's!! Nobody else seems to remember it.
 
Glad you loved it, you've just brought back some horrible memories . My Mum used to feed me and my sister a spoonful each on a Sunday, we both used to dread it.... Not sure what it was, a bit like thick, disgusting, slightly sweet cough mixture is how I remember it.
 
Born in 1972 I remember when growing up we would be given a spoonful of Virol and a Halib Orange tablet. The halib orange was vitamin C I think and perfectly acceptable, like a sharp orange Smartie. The Virol though I used to love! But what on earth was it? From memory it was a bit like that malt syrupy stuff - I can almost taste it now. The only reference I found was as a bone marrow preparation, which sounds distinctly Victorian rather than '70's!! Nobody else seems to remember it.

Google it!:rolleyes:
 
Google it!:rolleyes:

I swear I did not that long ago and couldn't really find much. Oops!

Anyway i'm now faintly horrified and almost wish I hadn't looked!

THE INGREDIENTS of Virol are: malt extract, refined beef fat, maltose, sugar, malto-dextrins, glucose, fructose, egg, orange juice, salt, flavourings, phosphoric acid, calcium phosphate, iron phosphate, sodium iodide, and added vitamins.

I guess at least not as bad as my Grandads favourite bread 'n drippin'. He used to love the jelly bits. eeurrgghh….
 
That ingredients list explains the taste
 
Lucky you weren't born earlier, in the days of a spoonful of cod liver oil every morning before school as well as Haliborange Vitamin C tablets.:eek:

Did you ever have Owbridges cough mixture? Tasted great but withdrawn due to the high morphine content.
You also missed the joy of TCP for a sore throat, Kaolin and morphine tablets for a stomach upset and a hot Koalin poultice for boils on the neck:D
 
Think yourself lucky I was force fed semolina pudding at school :eek:
 
I was quite partial to Nurse Harvey's.

Gripe water, for us oldies ..... given to babies but very appealing to adults.

The NHS orange juice for babies wasn't much cop, as I recall.
 
I was quite partial to Nurse Harvey's.

Gripe water, for us oldies ..... given to babies but very appealing to adults.

The NHS orange juice for babies wasn't much cop, as I recall.


Dinnefords was the stuff to get on. The champion of gripe waters.
 
Just shown my wife this thread, she mentions Minadex which apparently was some kind of tonic they used to have in the early 70’s.

I actually like a bit of semolina, especially with a drop of maple syrup. Actually anything with a drop of maple syrup is good in my book.

one thing I used to hate was the milk at school. I always tried find a cold one so it didn’t taste so much.
 
Loved my Minadex, it was a murky greenish colour if I remember correctly
 
Think yourself lucky I was force fed semolina pudding at school :eek:

Yup we were forced to eat semolina/rice pudding/custard/etc. at primary school (I assume because of the milk content), unless excused on medical grounds. I can't bear any of them to this day! I ordered cheesecake in a restaurant the other day and that arrived with custard :eek::eek:

Mum used to give us Haliborange tablets - they were fine.
 
Was Virol still going in the 70's? I remember taking Virol - which I loved - and a daily spoonful of cod liver oil - which I hated - during the war years.
That was the second world war (39-45) for any smartass who was going to pass comments like was that the Boer war@
 

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