ALL ABOUT OATMEAL.
By DORA DE BLAQUIÈRE.
he native land of the common oat seems to be absolutely unknown, but as in many other cases, the best authorities have given it an origin in Central Asia. The wild oat from which it descends is found in Europe, in North Africa, Siberia, Japan, and the North-West Provinces of India; and it was well known to the Greeks and Romans, though it is not one of the cereals that are mentioned in the Bible. But the common oat, as we know it, is an improved form (says Professor Buckman) derived by a continued and selective cultivation from the aboriginal wild oat, of which I have been speaking. The word oat or oats is from an old English word ata, from the verb etau, to eat; and it means anything in the way of food which can be eaten. The botanical name of the genus is avena, and there are upwards of forty species in it, which are generally natives of cold or temperate climes. It can be grown in a wider range of climatical differences than wheat, but in a less range than barley, while in every temperate region it has become recognised as a food for horses. In the more northerly parts, where less wheat is grown, it has formed the staple food for man, under the two well-known forms, i.e., of porridge and oatcake.
A drug has been distilled from it under the name of Avena Sattisa, which is supposed to give the qualities of cheerfulness and spirit; the same qualities, in short, which the oat is considered to give to horses.
In the returns of 1894, for the United Kingdom, we find that oats are more cultivated than wheat, but it is much to be regretted that the use of oatmeal as food is becoming unfashionable amongst the poorer classes in England, who consider that wheat is a more refined food, and who leave off oatmeal when possible. The Highlanders of Scotland are an example of muscular vigour, and also of the clear intellects which are fostered under its regimen; one of the old Edinburgh reviewers says, “We cultivate literature on a little oatmeal,” and, at some time of the day, in Scotland, the native consumes oatmeal under some form or other. Porridge for breakfast is known in other lands as well as in Scotland, and is quite as well liked, particularly when a generous larder affords cream in thickness and plenty. But to be a true son of Scotland you must be above such frivolous additions. The kernels or grain of the oat, deprived of the husks, are called groats, or grits; and in old days they were used entire in broths and soups, like hot barley. When bruised you will recognise them very well, as forming part of a sick folk dietary. Sowans, known also as seeds or flummery, is made from the thin pellicles or inner scales which adhere to the groats in the process of shelling. These are steeped in water for a few days, till they ferment and become sourish. They are then skimmed and the liquid boiled down so much, that when cold it will become of the thickness of gruel. In Wales this is known as Sucan Budrum, and is prepared in the same manner; but it is boiled down even more, to become, when cold, a firm jelly, like blanc-mange. It has a high reputation as a nutritious, light food, for weak stomachs. Chemically speaking, in this change, the starch has been converted into dextrin and sugar, the latter passing at once into acetic fermentation.
Sowans is used as a light supper dish, with milk, cream, or butter, and sweetened with sugar to taste.
Bread is made of oatmeal mixed with pea-flour in parts of Lancashire, as well as in Scotland. A peck of oatmeal and another of peameal may be mixed thoroughly together, and sifted through a sieve to which add three or four ounces of salt, and make into dough with warm water. Then roll into thin cakes or flat rolls, and bake on a hot plate or in the oven. This, of course, is unfermented bread. In Scotland the thick cakes of oatmeal are called bannock, and the thin ones cakes, and in the farm-houses a great number are made at once and stored on a rack close to the ceiling, where they will keep for a long time if quite dry. When needed, they are crisped before the fire and slightly browned.
Bread is also made of oatmeal and wheat flour; also oatmeal and rice. Take a peck each of flour and oatmeal and half a peck of potatoes, peeled and washed and boiled. Knead into a dough with yeast, salt, and warm milk. Make into loaves and bake as usual. Rice is made in the same manner.
In the early centuries oatmeal was eaten almost altogether raw by the Scot, as indeed was the flour of wheat, and I daresay every other kind. In Mrs. Stone’s delightful book, Teneriffe and its Seven Satellites, she gives an account of the food of the population of the islands, and says that it was undoubtedly a primeval usage derived from the mysterious Guanches, the first inhabitants of the Isles, a civilised people who embalmed their dead, but have long since ceased to exist as a separate people. This flour is prepared by first roasting the wheat itself, then grinding it, and afterwards storing it in bags for carriage. It is eaten simply mixed with cold water, and is not only palatable, but delicious, with a sweet and nutty flavour, caused by the previous wasting of the grain. Even now, in many parts of Scotland, oatmeal is eaten uncooked and stirred simply into hot or cold water, with salt, mixed together in a basin. This is called brose, a word derived from the Anglo-Saxon, and the same as breuis and broth, the word meaning the liquor in which meat or anything else is boiled and macerated. Kail brose is made of green vegetable, mixed with the oatmeal, and it may have meal or broth as well. Plain brose is called often “sojer’s brose,” as it was made in haste, and “crowdy” is also a Scotch word, used to describe any food of the porridge kind, or a mixture of oatmeal and any liquid at hand, which might be milk, or even something far stronger.