Monday Meet Whole Foods: Oats!

Meet: Oats!

What are Oats?

Oats in their whole grain form are called oat groats. They are much more commonly known to us in their processed forms, which include steel cut oats, rolled oats or quick oats (you can see the differences in the pictures above). In their pure form, they are gluten free.

How do I use them?

Oat Groats: Oat groats can be sprouted, ground into flour, or cooked. To cook oat groats use 3 parts water to 1 part oat groats and cook on the stove top for 90 minutes, the electric pressure cooker for 12 minutes, or a stove top pressure cooker for 15 minutes. 

Steel Cut Oats: Steel cut oats can be ground into flour or cooked, but not sprouted. To cook steel cut oats use 2 parts water to 1 part steel cut oats and cook on the stove top for 20 minutes, the electric pressure cooker for 6 minutes, or a stove top pressure cooker for 7 minutes.

Quick Oats: Quick oats can be ground into flour or cooked, but not sprouted. To cook quick oats use 3 parts water to 1 part quick oats and cook on the stove top for 8 minutes, the electric pressure cooker for 2 minutes, or a stove top pressure cooker for 2 minutes.

Rolled Oats: Rolled oats can be ground into flour or cooked, but not sprouted. To cook rolled oats use 3 parts water to 1 part rolled oats and cook on the stove top for 20 minutes, the electric pressure cooker for 6 minutes, or a stove top pressure cooker for 7 minutes.

Rolled, steel cut, or quick oats are delicious as a breakfast cereal, in granola, cookies, muffins, pancakes or breads. They can also be ground in a blender into flour and used in recipes that do not require gluten. If you are using oats in a bread recipe, you should add in extra gluten flour to compensate for the oat flour. 

Oat groats can be cooked and added to salads, breads or soups. They can be ground into flour using a grain mill and used for bread, cookies, muffins, pancakes or waffles.

Where can I buy them?

Rolled (old fashioned) or quick oats can be found in most grocery stores in the cereal section. Oat groats can be bought in bulk from grain companies, at health food stores or at some grocery stores like WinCo foods. They are one of the least expensive grains to buy and easy to find.

How healthy are they?

Oats are high in fiber, which has been shown to help lower cholesterol levels when consumed. Lower cholesterol is important to control or prevent heart disease and diabetes. Oats are also high in special antioxidants which help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and DNA repair. According to some studies, oats have been shown to boost your immune system response. If you're interested, here is an in-depth nutrient analysis of oats.

Got a Recipe?

This week I'll be sharing some of my favorite recipes using oats. If you have a favorite oat recipe, please feel free to leave a comment or send me an e-mail!

Recipes with Oats:

Honey-oat Cinnamon Rolls (Whole Grain, Sugar-Free)

Oatmeal Banana Muffins (Whole Grain, Sugar-Free)

Information from this post came from: chefbrad.com, whfoods.com and wikepedia.org