In contrast to many other cereals, oats do not need to be peeled, only dehulled. Oats are always a wholemeal product and therefore rich in vitamins, minerals and fibres. The gluten content is also comparatively low, which is why it alone is not suitable for baking bread, but can be added to the baking flour up to about one third. Even pasta can be made from oatmeal.

Oats are mainly known as oat flakes from which porridge can be prepared. Thick-rolled oats are oat flakes from the whole grain, thin-rolled oats are made from the fragmented steel-cut-oats (or “pinhead oats”). The pinhead oats itself and oatmeal are also directly used grinding products of oats. Oatmeal can be prepared to gruel, whole grains are also “puffed”.  Grose is a kind of porridge which is mixed with boiling water and then allowed to stand for a while. Another word for a grose variety with cold water is crowdie. Oats used to be part of coffee substitutes. Beer and whiskey can be brewed from oats and oat milk can also be prepared.

• Edible Seeds
• Fruit type Caryopsis
• Culinary Group Cereals Plant milk
• Taste neutral
• Trivial Names Hafer, Saat-Hafer, Echter Hafer, Rispenhafer, Biven, Evena, Haber, Havern, Oat, Common Oat, Avoine cultivée, Avoine commune, Avoine byzantine
• Size 20 cm
• Taxonomy Poaceae (Grass family) Avena sativa
• Origin Macaronesia, Mediterraneum, Near-East (Map)
• Locality Archäologie und Archäobotanik Afrikas, Goethe-Universität 2016