AAARRGGHH!!! was: SC - Oatmeal and Oats

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Hullo, list!

Oats are oats, a grain which has been eaten since prehistoric times,
cultivated somewhat, but not a lot, later.

Oatmeal is ground oats, oats that have been turned into meal, as with
wheat meal, corn/maize meal, barley meal, etc. Meal can be of various
grades of coarseness/fineness, and coarser varieties of oatmeal are
usually eaten by Americans in the form of oatmeal porridge, hence the
confusion between oatmeal and porridge. This is not unprecedented, BTW:
other cereal dishes named for the grain itself, either specifically or
generically, include farina, grits, and polenta.

Steel cut oats are oats (usually, but not always whole, with germ)
chopped into small bits in a special mill. This is the standard European
"oatmeal", which comes in several grades or sizes, depending on the
intended use. The classic British Isles porridge is usually made,
nowadays, from steel cut oats, with, for example, Scottish-style
porridge oats being somewhat finer-cut than, say, Irish oats. Because
oat germ contains a fair amount of fat for a grain, and the bran
contains fat-degenerating enzymes (source of the now debunked oat bran
myth), they tend to become rancid quickly unless stored under very
controlled conditions, such as the vacuum-sealed tins you find real
(i.e. steel-cut) porridge oats sold in.

Rolled oats are degerminated oats that have been steamed, rolled in a
mill into flat flakes, and parched or toasted to more or less complete
dehydration. I'd rather eat the papier-mache they resemble. However,
since they're degerminated, they have  a long shelf life, which was a
major incentive in developing the process, which was, as has been said,
a 19th-century invention.

Adamantius (off to the Frick Museum to check out the 15th-century German
Household Book)
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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