Grain
Oats
Oats are a cool-climate cereal prized for porridge, baking, and granola. Forms range from whole groats and steel-cut pinhead oats to rolled, quick, and instant flakes, plus oat flour and bran. Flavour is gently sweet and nutty; beta-glucan-rich bran gives creamy body when cooked. Used in savoury coatings and plant drinks as well as breakfast staples.
Also known as: Oats, Kaura
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History
Oats spread as a cultivated cereal across cooler European regions after earlier weed status in wheat fields.
Oat porridge and oatcakes became dietary mainstays in Scotland and northern Britain.
Commercial rolled oat production popularised packaged breakfast oats in North America.
Health interest in oat bran and later oat drinks expanded global oat demand beyond porridge.