SC - Oatmeal and Oats

[Decker, Terry D.]

> Oatmeal was invented in 1846, by someone who was trying to accomodate the
> growing need for 'convenience foods'.  Whole oats are steamed, flattened,
> and dried to create a partially pre-cooked, faster cooking alternative to
> whole oats. Whole oats were certainly eaten in period.  
> 	Christianna
> 
I have to differ on this.  The term meal is used to describe ground grain.
The term oatmeal was originally used to describe oat flour and was expanded
to include rolled oats.  Oat meal has been produced for millenia.

Rolled oats are a different matter.  The roller milling process is a 19th
Century invention.  Roller milling squeezes grain rather than crushing it.
This produces the large, flattened oat flakes.

The first major processor of rolled oats in the US was German Mills American
Oatmeal Factory which opened in 1856 at Akron, Ohio.  In 1875, Aymus
Ehrrichsen, an employee, and Ferdinand Schumacher, the owner, developed the
process for steel cut oats, which produces the finer, flakier oatmeal that
is prevelant today.  Another employee, William Heston improved the process
and patented the machinery he developed.  He granted Schumacher a license,
but retained the right to license other mills.  In 1877, he licensed the
newly formed Quaker Mills.

Bear   
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