Oatmeal

Industrial preparation and varieties

The oat grains are dehusked by impact, then heated and cooled to stabilize the oat groats – the seed inside the husk. The process of heating produces a nutty flavour in the oats. These oat groats may be milled to produce fine, medium or coarse oatmeal. Steel-cut oats may be small and contain broken groats from the dehusking process (these bits may be steamed and flattened to produce smaller rolled oats).

Rolled oats are steamed and flattened whole oat groats. Old-fashioned oats can be thick and take a while to boil to make porridge. Quick-cooking rolled oats (quick oats) are cut into small pieces before being steamed and rolled. Instant oatmeal is precooked and dried, often with a sweetener, such as sugar, and flavourings added.

Food uses

Both types of rolled oats may be eaten uncooked, as in muesli, or may be cooked with water to make porridge. In some countries, rolled oats are eaten raw with milk and sugar, sometimes with raisins added, like a basic muesli. Porridge is served in many ways. In some Western countries, porridge is served with milk or cream and a sweetener, such as brown sugar. The term "oatmeal" sometimes refers to porridge made from the bran or fibrous husk as well as the oat kernel or groat. Rolled oats are often used as a key ingredient in granola breakfast cereals (in which toasted oats are blended with sugar and/or nuts and raisins) and granola bars.

Rolled oats are also used as an ingredient in oatmeal cookies, oatcakes, British flapjack bars and baked oatmeal dessert dishes such as Apple Brown Betty and Apple Crisp. Oats may also be added to foods as an accent, as in the topping on many oat bran breads and as the coating on Caboc cheese. Oatmeal is also used as a thickening agent in thick, savoury Arabic or Egyptian meat-and-vegetable soups, and sometimes as a way of adding relatively low-cost fibre and nutritional content to meatloaf.

Health benefits of whole-grain oats

Daily consumption of a bowl of oatmeal can lower blood cholesterol, because of its beta-glucan content. After it was reported that oats can help lower cholesterol, an "oat bran craze" swept the U.S. in the late 1980s, peaking in 1989. The food craze was short-lived and faded by the early 1990s.

The popularity of oatmeal and other oat products increased again after the January 1997 decision by the Food and Drug Administration that food with a lot of oat bran or rolled oats can carry a label claiming it may reduce the risk of heart disease when combined with a low-fat diet. This is because of the beta-glucan in the oats.

Rolled oats have long been a staple of many athletes' diets, especially weight trainers, because of their high content of complex carbohydrates and water-soluble fibre that encourages slow digestion and stabilizes blood-glucose levels. Oatmeal porridge also contains more B vitamins and calories than other kinds of porridges.

Scotland

Oatmeal has a long history in Scottish culinary tradition because oats are better suited than wheat to the country's low temperatures and high humidity. As a result, oats became the staple grain of Scotland. The ancient universities of Scotland had a holiday called Meal Monday to permit students to return to their farms and collect more oats for food.

Samuel Johnson referred, disparagingly, to this in his dictionary definition for oats: "A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people." His biographer, James Boswell, noted that Lord Elibank was said by Sir Walter Scott to have retorted, "Yes, and where else will you see such horses and such men?"

A common method of cooking oatmeal in Scotland is to soak it overnight in salted water and cook on a low heat in the morning for a few minutes until the mixture thickens.

In Scotland, oatmeal is created by grinding oats into a coarse powder. It may be ground fine, medium, or coarse, or rolled, or the groats may be chopped in two or three pieces to make what is described as pinhead oatmeal. Ground oatmeal, rolled oats, and pinhead oatmeal, are all used (throughout Britain); one Scots manufacturer describes varieties as "Scottish Porridge Oats" (rolled), "Scottish Oatmeal" (medium ground), and "Pinhead Oatmeal". The main uses are:

Staffordshire

Staffordshire oatcakes are a local component of the full English breakfast. It is a plate-sized pancake, made with equal parts medium oatmeal and wheatmeal (flour), along with frothing yeast. Once the mixture has risen to produce something like a Yorkshire pudding batter, it is ladled onto a griddle or bakestone, and dried through. Staffordshire oatcakes are commonly paired with bacon, sausages, mushrooms, kidney, baked beans, among others.

Nordic countries and the Baltics

Throughout the Nordic and Baltic regions, oatmeal porridge made from rolled oats and water or milk is a traditional breakfast staple. Known under various local names meaning 'oat porridge', 'oat flake porridge' or 'oatmeal porridge', it is normally made either salty or sweet by adding salt or sugar, and it is often eaten with added raisins or other dried fruits. Local names for the porridge include Swedish havregrynsgröt, Danish havregrød, Norwegian havregraut or havregrøt, Icelandic hafragrautur, Finnish kaurapuuro, Estonian kaerahelbepuder, Latvian auzu pārslu (putra), Lithuanian avižinių dribsnių košė and Polish owsianka.

Oatmeal porridge has a long tradition in these regions, but during the Middle Ages porridge made from rye or barley was even more common in at least some parts of the area.

Non-food uses

An oatmeal bath, made by adding a cup of finely ground oatmeal to one's bathwater, is also commonly used to ease the discomfort associated with such conditions as chickenpox, poison ivy, eczema, sunburn and dry skin. Also, oatmeal is widely used as a home remedy in getting rid of whiteheads, because it naturally exfoliates the skin and removes the skin pore blockage with the elements of dead skin.