Oats

The oat is a cereal plant that thrives in temperate climates and can tolerate cool, moist conditions that other important grains, such as wheat and maize (corn), cannot. This makes it an important crop for areas with cool, wet summers. Russia is the world's largest producer of oats (4.6 million tonnes a year), with other important countries including Canada (3.3 million), USA (1.6 million), Poland (1.3 million) and Germany (0.9 million). Oats are the UK's 3rd most important cereal crop (after wheat and barley) with 0.5 million tonnes grown every year.

There are two major classifications of oats: spring oats (sown in spring and harvested in early autumn) and winter oats (sown in autumn and harvested in mid-summer). Both of these varieties of oat can vary in colour from light beige or yellow grains to reddish-grey and black.

When the oats are processed, although the outer hull is removed, the bran and germ are kept. The oats may then be processed further by steaming, rolling and grinding to produce products such as oat bran, oatmeal and rolled oats, which may be used to make a variety of sweet and savoury dishes, including porridge, sausages, muesli, pancakes, flapjacks and parkin.

Oats are among the most nutritious of all cereal grains; they are a good source of the soluble fibre betaglucan, which helps to decrease cholesterol, and also contain other important components such as vitamin E, antioxidants, B vitamins, calcium, iron, copper, zinc, phosphorous, magnesium and thiamin. Although oats are also gluten-free, they are often processed near wheat, barley and other grains, which mean that they can become contaminated with other glutens.

In this section, we take a look at some of the most popular forms of oats.