Whether you grew up eating the oatmeal your mom laboriously prepared on the stove or simply grab a packet to take to the office in the morning, there's a good chance oats have made their way into your breakfast routine at least a couple of times. Or maybe you prefer the cold cereal variety of oats, which are just as common and no less popular. Oats are one of the most versatile breakfast cereals, as they can be served in their cold form on the go or can provide a much yearned-for hot breakfast that will stick to your ribs for hours and keep you full until lunch.

The History of Oats
Oats are part of the genus Avena of the family Gramineae, a type of grass. Even though they are popular today, they were only discovered in Europe about 3,000 years ago and were actually the last major cereal grain to be domesticated. In fact, oats actually began as weeds that grew among other crops. Although they were widely grown throughout Northern Europe during the Bronze Age, they were not grown around the Mediterranean.

Oats are a staple food in the British Isles, and are especially popular in Scotland, where they are used in everything from hot cereal to desserts, and yes, even drinks.

Oat Facts
Oats are low in sodium, but high in iron and potassium. They also contain good-for-you B vitamins including thiamin, riboflavin, B6 and folate, and are also a good source of vitamin E.

Oats are naturally wholegrain and low GI (glycemic index), which means they can help reduce the typical rise in blood glucose levels that occurs after eating.

Less than five per cent of oats currently grown actually go toward human consumption, with the majority turned into feed for animals such as horses. Though various plant diseases such as cereal rusts and smuts account for a significant loss of oat crops each year, the development of disease-resistant oats is in the works. Ensuring the safety of the crop's future is especially important, as it is one of North America's leading crop grains, next to corn and wheat.

Oats in (or as) cereal
Of the oats that are reserved for humans, most appear in the form of rolled oats or oatmeal. They are a great choice for breakfast thanks to the amount of soluble fiber present in them, more than any other grain. Soluble fiber is beneficial because it moves more slowly through the body, allowing your stomach to retain that "full" feeling for a longer period of time than you may experience with other grains.

There are a variety of oats available, some more processed than others. Whole oats, also known as groats, are not highly processed, and since they only have their outer hull removed, typically need to be soaked for hours prior to cooking to soften them enough to be edible. When groats are chopped are known as steel-cut oats and are a popular choice for breakfast cereal. They are firmer in texture than rolled oats, but also more expensive. Rolled oats are the type you would typically cook on the stove for anywhere from five to 15 minutes; the reason for the quicker cooking time is the process to make them which involves steaming and flattening them with huge rollers, hence the name. Quick and instant oats may be the varieties you are most familiar with since they are the fastest and most convenient to prepare. Quick oats take only three to five minutes to cook, while instant oats take just some hot water and a minute or two to absorb it before they are ready to eat. However these two types of oats lack the flavor and texture of the less processed ones, and instant oats are often flavored or have salt added. Quick oats are also cut into smaller pieces and steam-rolled into thinner flakes, while instant oats are chopped into small pieces, pre-cooked, dried and then crushed with a big roller.

The cold breakfast cereals using oats range from oat bran flakes to the popular Post cereal, Honey Bunches of Oats. The most popular cold oat cereal though is arguably Cheerios, which were created by General Mills in 1941 and were the first cold, oat-based, ready-to-eat cereal on the market.

» HGCA.com