you should probably eat oatmeal sometimes

=food =nutrition =biology

 

 

Inspired by all the blog posts I've seen promoting unusual diets, nootropic drugs, unusual sleep cycles, and so on, I've decided to make my own post suggesting some radical lifestyle choice.

My suggestion here is, as the title says: you should probably eat oatmeal sometimes. Yes, I know, oats are <2% of global grain production, so this is a pretty crazy-sounding idea, but bear with me. Eating oatmeal sometimes will literally change your life.*
*slightly

 

 

oatmeal vs rice

White rice is one of the most popular foods in the world.

Compared to white rice:

- oats have ~2x the protein and much more fiber
- their amino acid composition is somewhat more balanced
- their arsenic levels are generally lower
- oatmeal is slightly more expensive, but still cheap
- oatmeal is generally faster to cook

 

 

about whole-wheat flour

Whole-grain wheat flour goes rancid much faster than white flour.

Wikipedia, quoting a 2004 book, says:

The germ is rich in polyunsaturated fats (which have a tendency to oxidize and become rancid on storage) and so germ removal improves the storage qualities of flour.

 

(The "germ" is the part of the seed that actually grows into a new plant. As you'd expect, it's the part with the most protein and vitamins.)

Hmm. If that's the problem, why do (unground) wheat berries last for 10+ years, longer than white flour? Does the bran protect stuff from oxygen? I don't think so, it's not metal foil, it has some gas permeability.

Maybe there's a correction of Wikipedia from some reliable source, like Wikipedia. Here's a post from a food testing company that says:

 

The lipolytic enzyme lipase reacts with triglycerides to form free fatty acids in a degradation process known as hydrolytic rancidity; lipase enzymes cleave fatty acids from triglycerides.
...
Oats also contain a powerful lipoxygenase that adds oxygen to the double bonds of unsaturated fat to form peroxides, as discussed above. The other enzyme present, peroxidase, reduces peroxides producing mono-, di-, and tri-hydroxy acids, which are extremely bitter. These compounds cause the bitter flavor of rancid wheat germ.
...
In most biological systems, peroxidase requires much more heat to destroy than lipases, lipoxygenases or any of the other enzymes that may be present.

 

Ah yes, enzymes. When wheat berries are ground to flour, the enzymes start doing things and the flour goes rancid, but if you remove stuff to make white flour, you remove most of the enzymes.

As for oatmeal, rolled oats have such enzymes activated, so they must be treated with steam. Oats have the germ in the bottom, and can be cut up more easily than wheat without triggering enzymes too much, but steamed rolled oats still last longer than unsteamed steel-cut oats. It's similar to how cutting onions releases alliinase but if you microwave the onion first it deactivates most of that.

Also, I think the rancidity-relevant enzymes in oatmeal might have lower thermal stability than the ones in wheat. But it's still possible to steam-treat whole wheat so that whole wheat flour lasts longer. I think people have relatively recently found that you want to use superheated steam for that. Maybe whole wheat flour treated with superheated steam will be a thing in the future.

 

 

oatmeal is versatile

Oatmeal works with a variety of different flavors, and other ingredients can often simply be added to it before or after cooking.

There are several options for the liquid used, including:

- water
- milk
- tea
- coconut milk

 

There are also many reasonable options for additional flavors, including:

- fruit paste
- fruit syrup
- frozen fruit pulp
- chocolate
- brown sugar
- maple syrup

 

Flavor combinations I've used for oatmeal include:

- tea + blackcurrant concentrate + brown sugar
- passionfruit pulp + brown sugar
- guava paste
- milk + chocolate

 

Oatmeal also has several options for textures:

- whole groats
- steel-cut oats
- rolled oats
- ground oats
- oatmeal pancakes
- cookies
- pasta???

 

 

why isn't oatmeal more popular?

Most people's experience with oatmeal has been from one of:

- packets of instant oatmeal that have low-quality cheap flavoring and might have gone stale
- quick-cooking rolled oats without any flavoring
- something that has to be cooked for a long time in a pot

 

These days, you can get "quick-cooking steel-cut oatmeal". That's a relatively recent development, using the cutting-edge technology of, uh, cutting the oatmeal into smaller pieces. "Cutting edge", get it?

Also, thanks to advancements in microwave technology, cooking steel-cut oatmeal in a microwave has become more practical, but most people don't know how to do it.

 

 

how to microwave oatmeal

Oatmeal in a microwave needs to be cooked close to the point where it boils over. So, you want an "inverter microwave", one that can vary current instead of pulsing the magnetron every few seconds. Because of semiconductor progress, those are now common.

You also want an electronic scale. Measuring cups are an inferior approach to cooking.

Now then, put a bowl on your scale and add:

- 50g or 60g of quick-cooking steel-cut oatmeal
- 3x that mass of liquid
- your flavorings of choice
- some salt

 

To cook it:

 

1) Put your bowl in your microwave and cover it with a plate.

2) Microwave it for 60s for 50g or 70s for 60g.

3) Then, microwave it at 30% power for 6.5 minutes, and let it sit for a few minutes. The required cooking time depends on oatmeal type; check the package.

4) If you have problems fully cooking the oatmeal without it boiling over, cook it for 4-5 minutes at 30% then longer at 20%. Some microwaves can queue this.

 

If you add hot liquid (such as hot tea) instead of cold liquid, then the initial full-power microwaving should be shorter or skipped. Soaking oatmeal for a while before cooking also reduces cooking time.

If you do things right, you can fix a bowl of steel-cut oatmeal and not need to wash anything besides a bowl and a spoon, which is the theoretical minimum amount of dishwashing.