OATMEAL

The title ‘‘oatmeal,’’ though properly applicable only to the ground meal of the grain, is commonly applied indifferently to both ground and ‘‘rolled’’ oats. It was formerly retailed principally in bulk, but to-day package-goods are almost exclusively used. The change has been of great advantage to both merchant and consumer, for oatmeal exposed to the air, as in the ordinary bin, is much subject to depreciation in flavor—and consequently in value. Unle packed in airtight boxes or bags it rapidly becomes ‘‘old’’ and acquires a disagreeably bitter taste. Fiven in packages, a quick turnover of a retailer’s stock is e ential to the clean, fresh flavor desired unle his storage conditions are better than is usually the case. In manufacture, the grain is cleaned by various proce es, sorted for size, kiln dried—which loosens the hull and also develops the nutty flavor of the kernel— cleaned again, put through machines which remove the hulls, and then sterilized— this being generally the final episode of the whole kernel. For Rolled oats, the husked, sterilized grains go to heated rolls which flatten them into the flakes familiar to the consumer, the rolling being followed by additional cleansing proce es to loosen and remove the fine particles of floury matter, etc., before the flakes are filled into the packages. Fully 90% of the present consumption of oatmeal in this country is of this semi-cooked ‘‘rolled oats’’ kind, which owes much of its popularity to its easier preparation for the table. Oatmeal, other than rolled, is divided into two cla es: Steel-cut, in three sizes, and Ground, graded from Coarse to Extra-Fine. Steel-cut is obtained by pa ing the groats through eutting machines. Ground oatmeal is steel-cut oatmeal ground between corrugated steel rolls.: The great vogue of oatmeal as a breakfast cereal is a recent development for the United States—a generation or two ago it was little used here except in the preparation of gruel for invalids! In Scotland, the most popular form of consumption is as ‘‘brose’’—the raw meal hastily mixed with boiling water or broth (see Brosk).. If more diluted and then thickened by Jonger boiling, it becomes ‘‘porridge.’? The coarse meal is also cooked in thick cakes called ‘‘bannocks,’’ and finer qualities in thin cakes or wafers. Another palatable dish is made by toasting the meal before a bright fire, then mixing it with a little beef or mutton fat, pepper, salt, and fine-chopped onions and again toasting.; In Ireland, oatmeal is mixed with cornmeal—or either may be taken separately — and stirred into boilimg water or whey and mulk, the result beimg known as ‘‘stirabout.’’ In Norway, a common food among the peasantry is a thin cake, called ‘‘flat brod,”’ made of ground oats, husk and all, mixed sometimes with barley-meal, potatoes, or peameal, baked on a griddle or frying-pan. See also articles on Crriats, Foop Vatues, and GRUEL.