RD201906

At first, shoppers were resistant.

But when the Civil War broke out and

the Union started buying me to feed

its soldiers, demand went crazy. My

reputation as an affordable, healthy,

stick-to-your-ribs food for humans

took hold. Schumacher, who came to

be called the Oatmeal King, founded

the German Mills American Cereal

Company to (barely) keep up with

demand, and suddenly this weed be-

came a very viable crop.

In 1877, the U.S. Patent Office re-

ceived a request for the first trade-

marked breakfast cereal, represented

by “a figure of a man in ‘Quaker garb,’”

chosen, according to the owners at the

time, to signify honesty and good

quality. That new brand, Quaker Oats,

would eventually merge with Schu-

macher’s company to become the

American behemoth that today can

process up to 3.6 million pounds of

little old me every day.

Any shopper knows my familiar ver-

sions by name, but it’s a rare consumer

who can describe the somewhat con-

fusing differences among them. I will

do the honors. When my grains are

steamed and rolled into flakes that

cook up in a few minutes on the stove

(the contents of that iconic canister of

Quaker Old Fashioned), I am “rolled

oats.” “Instant oatmeal,” meanwhile, is

made of extra-small bits of “quick oats,”

which are rolled oats that have been

steamed and flattened further for faster

cooking speed. To produce the chewier

“steel-cut,” producers simply chop me

into small, cookable pieces with blades

or grinding stones, sans the steaming

and rolling. Finally, in all my forms, the

British call me “porridge,” while what

they call “oatmeal” is in fact coarsely

ground oat flour. As I said: confusing!

Likewise with the myriad ways I

can be served. Back in the United

Kingdom, I’m thought of as a savory

meal, traditionally prepared with

just water, salt, and a little cream or

butter—or, in Ireland, brown sugar. In

the United States, predictably, I sat-

isfy both your healthy and unhealthy

urges. Healthy: In any form, I con-

tain an important type of fiber called

beta-glucan, to which some of my

cholesterol-lowering powers have

been attributed. Heart doctors prefer

me steel-cut, since that way I’m slower

APPLE-CINNAMON

OVERNIGHT OATS

Combine the

following in a Ma-

son jar or other

small container:

½cup oats; ½me-

dium-sized Gala or

Honeycrisp apple,

chopped; 1 table-

spoon raisins; and

1 cup 2% milk.

Add a dash of salt

and ¼teaspoon

ground cinnamon.

Seal container and

refrigerate overnight.

40 june 2019

Reader’s Digest

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