{{Short description|Type of sweet leavened bread}} {{Infobox prepared food | name = Malt loaf | image = Malt loaf.jpeg | image_size = 300px | caption = | alternate_name = | country = Scotland | region = Unknown | creator = John Montgomerie | type = | served = | main_ingredient = Malt, fruits | variations = | calories = | other = }}
'''Malt loaf''' is a type of sweet leavened bread made with malt extract as a primary ingredient. It has a chewy texture and often contains raisins. It is usually eaten sliced and spread with butter for tea. Malt flour is sometimes used to supplement the flavour.<ref>{{cite book | last=Kent | first=N.L. | last2=Evers | first2=A.D. | title=Technology of Cereals: An Introduction for Students of Food Science and Agriculture | publisher=Pergamon | year=1994 | isbn=978-0-08-040834-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wUwHtcqoP0YC&pg=PA181 | accessdate=May 30, 2016 | page=181}}</ref>
==History==
In 1889, John Montgomerie of Scotland filed a US patent application titled "Making Malted Bread," which was granted in 1890. This patent asserted a prior patent existed in Great Britain dated 1886. Montgomerie claimed a novel saccharification process, which involved warming a portion of dough mixed with diastatic malt extract to an appropriate mash temperature and holding it for a time to allow the extract's enzymes to break down some of the starch into maltose.<ref>{{US patent|423263}}</ref>
==Commercial production==
"Soreen" ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɔr|iː|n}}) is a brand of malt loaf manufactured in the United Kingdom since the 1930s. The name is derived from Danish immigrant John Rahbak Sorenson,<ref>https://britishfoodhistory.com/2023/07/28/to-make-malt-loaf/</ref> the inventor of the Soreen recipe and "Green", a business partner. In 2004, Warburtons sold the brand to Inter Link Foods.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/business/s/49/49834_interlink_foods_buys_soreen_.html|title=Interlink Foods buys Soreen|date=9 August 2004|newspaper=Manchester Evening News}}</ref> In 2007, Soreen became part of McCambridge Group. In 2014, UK food group Samworth Brothers bought the Soreen brand for an undisclosed sum.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.just-food.com/news/samworth-brothers-snaps-up-soreen_id125830.aspx|title=Samworth Brothers snaps up Soreen|publisher=|accessdate=21 December 2014|archive-date=15 October 2014|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141015125207/http://www.just-food.com/news/samworth-brothers-snaps-up-soreen_id125830.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>
"Harvo" was a brand of malt loaf which was made at the company's bakery at 257 Lawley Street, Birmingham<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://eplanning.idox.birmingham.gov.uk/publisher/docs/8CAF696F631496A52E61CB73D6224433/Document-8CAF696F631496A52E61CB73D6224433.pdf|title=Planning application by Harvo Ltd for bakery and shop at 257 Lawley St|date=6 July 1955|website=Birmingham City Council|access-date=16 September 2018|archive-date=11 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221011211632/http://eplanning.idox.birmingham.gov.uk/publisher/docs/8CAF696F631496A52E61CB73D6224433/Document-8CAF696F631496A52E61CB73D6224433.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/harvo-malt-bread.36357/|title=Harvo Malt Bread|work=Birmingham History Forum|access-date=2018-09-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.blackcountryhistory.org/collections/getrecord/GB146_BS-CH_4_3_3/|title=Steelwork Designed by S A Budd Erected for Harvo Bakery|website=blackcountryhistory.org |access-date=2018-09-16}}</ref><ref>Site of Harvo, 257, Lawley Street, Birmingham: {{Coord|52.48043|-1.87699 |region:GB-BIR_type:landmark| name=Harvo, Lawley Street}}</ref> until the company went bankrupt in 1973. In some areas, the name Harvo or Harvo Loaf is still often used to describe malt loaf, regardless of the brand. {{cn|date=July 2018}} The Harvo trademark was later held by one of the Premier Foods companies, associated with its takeover of Rank Hovis McDougall, RHBB (IP) Ltd; The Harvo trademark expired in 2006.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.trademarkuk.info/tm/1374712/harvo_fruited_malt_loaf|title=HARVO FRUITED MALT LOAF|website=UK Trademark Database|access-date=2018-09-16|archive-date=2019-12-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191229082907/http://www.trademarkuk.info/tm/1374712/harvo_fruited_malt_loaf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Variants in other countries== In December and during the holiday season, a similar type of bread called ''vörtbröd'' (literally “wort bread”) is popular in Scandinavia.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://swengelsk.se/xmas/Julord.html |title=Julordlista - Christmas Glossary |quote=vörtbröd" → "malt loaf, malt bread |accessdate=2013-01-04 |archive-date=2013-04-18 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130418094918/http://swengelsk.se/xmas/Julord.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The dough's water is supplied by beer wort, adding sweetness and flavour to the bread. Several different spices and fruits commonly associated with Christmas are also added, e.g., cloves, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and raisins.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spisa.nu%2F3.11393%2Fvarufakta%2Fvortbrod%2F |title=Google translate: bread flavored with wort |accessdate=2013-01-04}}</ref>
==See also== {{portal|Food}} *Brown bread *Raisin bread *Tea loaf * List of breads * List of desserts
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== {{Commonscat}} *[http://www.soreen.com/ Soreen website] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110925014820/http://www.mccambridgegroup.co.uk/ McCambridge website] *[http://www.badgecollectorscircle.co.uk/badges/view/5973 photo of Harvo badge]
Category:British breads Category:Sweet breads Loaf