Oatmeal: Encyclopedia - Oatmeal

Oatmeal

Oatmeal is a product made by processing oats.

In North America, oatmeal means any crushed oats, rolled oats, or cut oats used in recipes such as oatmeal cookies. The porridge made from this is also called oatmeal or oatmeal cereal. However in other parts of the English-speaking world, oatmeal means coarsely ground oats (cf cornmeal, wheatmeal, peasemeal, etc.).

In Scotland, oatmeal is created by grinding oats into a coarse powder. Various grades are available depending on the thoroughness of the grinding, including Coarse, Pin(head) and Fine oatmeal. The main uses are: as an ingredient in baking; in the manufacture of bannocks or oatcakes; as a stuffing for poultry; as a coating for Caboc cheese; as the main ingredient of the Scottish dish, skirlie, or its chip-shop counterpart, the mealy pudding. Occasionally it may be boiled as porridge or gruel. However rolled oats or crushed oats are normally used for this purpose nowadays, since they generally cost less.

Oatmeal is also used in some alcoholic drinks, cosmetics, soaps, and external medical treatments. It is also used as a thickener in some brands of canned chili con carne.

Oatmeal has a long history in Scottish society because oats are better suited to the short, wet growing season in Scotland than wheat. Hence they became the staple grain of that country.

Samuel Johnson referred, disparagingly, to this in his dictionary definition for oats:

To which his biographer, James Boswell, is said to have retorted

Quaker Oats is the United States' leading maker of oatmeal.

There has been increasing interest in oatmeal in recent years due its beneficial health effects. Studies have shown that daily consumption of a bowl of oatmeal can lower blood cholesterol. After reports found that oats can help lower cholesterol, an "oat bran craze" swept the U.S. in the late 1980s, peaking in 1989. The food fad was short-lived and faded by the early 1990s. The popularity of oatmeal and other oat products again increased 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. Rolled Oats have also long been a staple of many athletes' diets, especially weight trainers', given Oatmeal's high content of complex carbohydrates and fiber which encourage slow digestion and stable blood-glucose levels.

Some of the items added to oatmeal porridge to enhance its flavour include: salt, sugar, brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, butter or margarine, milk or cream, diced apples, raisins, dates, and cinnamon.

Oatmeal, Texas, a small community 40 miles northwest of Austin, honors the breakfast staple in an annual festival.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Oatmeal", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki