8: Oats

Oats are very vigorous grain plants which were once thought of as weeds. In fact if oats and wheat were growing close together, competing for space, the oats would normally win. A single oat plant can grow up to 80 cm tall. Oats are grown in areas that have cooler climates as they are very resistant to cold weather, and have always been popular in the United Kingdom where they grow well because of the temperature.

Most oats today are fed to animals. It is not a staple food in any particular country, as wheat has taken over. Wheat is so widely available and forms the basis for so many different food products that we eat today.

Some people have started to include more oats in their diet. This is because oats has been linked to reducing the level of cholesterol. High levels of cholesterol in the blood can be dangerous and may lead to heart disease. Oats are also high in fibre, have good levels of carbohydrate and contain vitamins and minerals.

Oats can be difficult to process as the outer covering is very tough to remove, however, when this is done, they can then be steamed and rolled to make them faster to cook and easier to digest. In this form they are called rolled oats and are often used to make porridge, many different types of breakfast cereal, muesli bars and biscuits. If you wanted to make bread using oatmeal (finely ground oats), you would need to combine it with wheat flour, as oats do not contain gluten, which is needed to help bread rise.