Flakes of Oats

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Generality

Oat flakes (in English Rolled Oats ) are a cereal-based vegetable food; specifically, these are the seeds of the herbaceous plant identified by the binomial nomenclature Avena sativa .

Those of oats, like the other seeds of the same category, have a hard outer shell, not easily digested by humans, called brattee or lolla or pula ; this envelope must necessarily be removed to make them edible to humans. Furthermore, bran is almost always separated from the grains (the last fibrous coating) and what remains are the purified white seeds. The latter, once crushed, steamed, rolled in flakes under special rollers, stabilized and lightly toasted, become the famous oat flakes.

WARNING! While in Italy oats are considered a marginal product, secondary to wheat and maize, in Anglo-Saxon countries it represents one of the bases of collective nutrition. For this reason, oats can be found in many commercial forms, more or less processed, whole or refined, chopped or powdered, steamed or baked, etc. The English group all these products under the term oatmeal (literally "oatmeal").

Types of Oat Flakes

Oat seeds can be sold in the form of oatmeals or Scottish Oats (not pre-cooked and / or crushed), steamed and crushed into flakes of varying thickness, whole or cut into two or three pieces ( cut-oats or “head of pin ”) etc.

Oat seeds can be used like other cereals and are a little softer than wheat.

Example of Oatmeal: oat flakes and fresh blueberries mixed with water and honey Oat flakes are suitable for various purposes. Large, small, dry, more gummy, pre-cooked or instant products are produced.

The stell cut oat flakes are suitable as breakfast cereals, but less for cooking, as they do not soften sufficiently. If the oatmeal is prepared from oat flakes, it is used to be eaten alone and not to make baked goods, which would fail. Furthermore, even from raw seeds, for baking it must necessarily be mixed with other flours.

Oat cut-oats is a grain obtained by reducing the seeds into smaller pieces before steaming which keeps a small portion of bran in it. Since this makes the grains more difficult to chew and contains an enzyme that tends to make the food go rancid faster, the oat cut-oats is almost always steamed ( quick oats - quick cooking) to be softened and deprived of these enzymes.

Avena cut-oats However, oatmeals are generally sold without bran. Often, but not always (depending on the gastronomic destination of the product), they undergo a heat treatment in the oven, or pressure, or of different types.

The so-called Thick-Rolled Oats are large and integral oat flakes, while the Thin-Rolled Oats are smaller and fragmentary; both can be cooked in "old style". It goes without saying that the smaller the fragments, the easier they are cooked and absorb water; Thin-Rolled Oats are sometimes called "quick oatmeal" or "instant".

Flakes of Oats and Gastronomy

Oat flakes are generally used as food for breakfast; together with oat flours and cut-oats (more or less shredded seeds), oat flakes can also be cooked to make porridge .

Porridge of Oats with Fruit

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Nutritional composition per 100 grams of Oat Flakes

Nutritional values ​​(per 100 g of edible portion)

Chemical composition Value for 100g Edible part 100% water 69, 9g Protein 5, 1g Total lipids 10, 1g Saturated fatty acids 1, 61g Monounsaturated fatty acids 7, 05g Polyunsaturated fatty acids 1, 47g Cholesterol 0, 0mg Carbohydrates available 13, 0g Starch 11, 5g Soluble sugars 2.5g Total fiber 2.4 g Soluble fiber - g Insoluble fiber - g Alcohol 0.0g Power 160, 1kcal Sodium 306, 7mg Potassium 191, 1mg Iron 1, 1mg Football 19, 8mg Phosphorus 71, 7mg Magnesium 0, 8mg Zinc - mg Copper - mg Selenium - µg Thiamine 0, 11mg Riboflavin 0, 02mg Niacin 0, 40mg Vitamin A retinol equivalent 0, 7μg C vitamin 0, 0mg Vitamin E 0, 0mg

Oat flakes can be further pulverized and transformed into a coarse flour that, cooked in water, becomes a sort of spoon cream; the finer one is widely used as baby food. This kind of flour can be produced at home by means of a food processor.

Oat flakes are often the main ingredient of granola and muesli .

Nutritional Features

Oat flakes are an excellent nutritional source of carbohydrates, which account for most of the energy; the remaining calories come from proteins with a medium biological value and from lipids. Cholesterol is absent and abundant fibers.

With regard to vitamins and mineral salts, vit B1 ( thiamine ), iron and phosphorus abound.

Oats are also known for their richness in antioxidant compounds known as avenantramides ; it is believed that these, exclusive of the cereal in question, have certain properties that help protect the circulatory system from arteriosclerosis.

Oats also contain beta-glucan, which can help people with type 2 diabetes mellitus control their blood glucose (blood glucose); furthermore, it is supposed to help stimulate the immune system in fighting bacterial infections.