Preparations of Oats


#1

This might be controversial, but I wanted to put this here because it might be helpful for feeding non-keto family members or for anyone that does carb-ups or just eats low but more liberal carb in general. Mind you, I’m no expert on this, but I’ve been reading about it for a while and wanted to share my discoveries.

When I read of people eating raw oats or quick oats, that makes me cringe. Not only is that gross, but it’s also not good for you to eat uncooked oats (I’m sure many of you would argue that oats are not good for you in general, but prepared properly, they aren’t the worst kind of carbs you could be eating). When you ferment oats, they cook quicker, break down some of the starches and phytic acid (the big bad anti-nutrient of the bunch, reduces the absorption of minerals, and it’s especially high in oats) and they take on a lovely flavour.

So, how does one ferment oats? Well, it’s actually quite simple. Mix together 1 cup oats (I use organic steel cut oats and rinse them before using), 2 cups warm water, and optionally you can add 1 tbsp of something acidic (I usually use some coconut flour sourdough starter to kick start it) in your jar of choice, (I use a 2L pickle jar) and instead of screwing the lid on, take a paper towel or kitchen cloth and secure it to the top of the jar with a rubber band or string. Let it sit for 2 days, 4 days, a week, it depends on your flavour preferences, like with sauerkraut or yogurt.

To cook, I add 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the fermented oats (drained of liquid) with maybe a cup or more of liquid (add back in approx. the amount of oats and liquid you took out of the jar so you never run out!). I cook on medium heat, stirring frequently, until it is very thick, then remove the porridge from the heat and add 2 to 5 tablespoons of butter and a pinch of salt. If you wanted to preserve the porridge for another day, you could omit the butter (for now, that is!) and add the thick porridge to a greased container and leave it covered in your cupboards to further ferment. A more modern way of mimicking something called “the porridge drawer”, where a large amount of thick porridge would be cooked and stored away in a larded drawer to be eaten throughout the week. Apparently, it was so thick that it could be cut into slabs and fried in butter when a hot meal was desired.

Another way of preparing oats is in the form of sowans, It’s very thick and sour. First, take a jar and fill it with 2/3 cup of oat bran and 1/3 cup of oats (might be good to lightly blend the solids to break them down a bit) and 2 cups of warm water. Stir the mixture around until the oats stop floating, then cover the jar with a cloth secured with a band or string and leave the mixture to ferment for a week. After the week, pour the mixture through a fine sieve, rinsing to make sure you get all the sediment and drain the liquid into a jar. Discard of the solids, or feed them to chickens or pigs. Leave the liquid to settle for a couple of days for the mixture to separate into paste (sowans) and liquid (swats). You can drink the liquid, it’s sour and full of probiotics. You can cook the sowans by using twice as much water as paste, then boiling it until thick and creamy. Serve with, you guessed it, butter.


(Joey) #2

@Halo Not sure how badly I need to eat cereal anymore … [although I’m shocked to hear myself say this as cereal with banana and 1% milk had been my “to go” first meal (i.e., lunch) for decades when I was eating a so-called healthy low-fat diet]… but anything that involves fermenting catches my fancy!

Do you get the acidity down to a certain level (measure pH)? Are you trying to encourage lactobacillus to grow? What’s behind the fermentation objective, perhaps other than to simply have some of the carbohydrate content consumed by bacteria before it reaches your plate?


(Bob M) #3

Fermentation should also remove some of the anti-nutrients and make it more easily digestible.

It’d be interesting to see CGM results of oats without fermenting and after fermenting.

Could you use yogurt or the whey from yogurt to jump start the process?


(Ken) #4

Interesting, and it makes sense. Oats are one of the most discordant grains, so fermentation making them more digestible with fewer negative effects is great. I’ll confess, I’ve never heard of fermenting them to eat. I’ll have to try it just to see how it is. Can I use some of my homemade vinegar as a starter?


#5

The main objective with the fermentation is to reduce the anti-nutrient content, but with the swats from the sowans, yes, lactobacillus and probiotics are a part of it. Both of these preparations are kind of like making a sourdough starter, but with oats, so bacteria plays an important role here.

That would be very interesting. Yes, you could use yogurt or whey.

Yes, you can.


(Joey) #6

I’ve got no experience with fermenting oats, but when it comes to fermenting veggies (sauerkraut, kimchi, peppers, etc.) adding vinegar is a very bad idea. You want the acidity to result from the battle of the bacteria… such that the anaerobic lactobacillus win out over the aerobic (and potentially toxic to humans) bacteria. Adding vinegar cuts that whole process short.

When you see vinegar added to sauerkraut and pickles in store-bought jars, you know it was not fermented (or barely) and therefore is lacking all the probiotic benefits that fermentation can provide. There are a few exceptions, but most national brands jump over the real fermentation process by shoving vinegar into the mix to reduce pH, rather than letting the natural acidity drop as a byproduct of the healthy (to humans) bacteria have their way with the preservation process that age-old natural fermentation provides.

It takes a week or two for that microbial battle to unfold, but it’s well worth the wait.


(Ken) #7

Sooo, in reality you don’t actually need a “Starter” for oats?

I ferment lot’s of things, and never use vinegar, even though I make several very tasty ones.


(Bob M) #8

I think the benefit to the starter is that you have something leading you to the correct fermentation. I’ve not fermented anything, but had a friend who would often fail at fermenting without a starter.

I guess I can’t say I’ve never fermented anything. I made my own l-reuteri yogurt (see the Wheat Belly blog) at least 5 times. (It provided no benefits I could see, so I stopped.)


#9

Yes, that’s right. You don’t need a starter, it will work on it’s own, but I’ve heard of people adding acidic things like vinegar or lemon juice or things like yogurt and whey to make the process go faster.


#10

When I make clabber cheese, I add maybe 1/4 - 1/2 tsp of lemon juice to the milk because I live in a cold climate and it otherwise takes 2 weeks to separate. It’s not much, but it seems to help the process along by cutting that down to 4 days. For the oats, the coconut flour sourdough starter works well, with it smelling sour after 2 days instead of maybe 4.


(Joey) #11

Depends what you mean by making the process go faster. If the goal is to get it sour tasting (low pH) and to do so fast (like industrial food manufacturers want to do), then sure. Adding acidic vinegar will drop the pH instantly.

If the goal is to get that deep fermented flavor and to get the healthy (for humans) lactobacillus cultures to bloom and reduce the aerobic bacteria that lead to spoilage, then no - adding vinegar cuts that entire process off before it really begins.

Depends what you’re trying to do and why.


#12

I can agree with that. I wanted to give people either option, because it’s a common route. I appreciate you leaving your knowledge here for people to read and make an educated choice if they decide to make the oats.


(Joey) #13

… as do I appreciate your sharing the fermented oats idea in the first place. I’m stashing this one away for future reference!


#14

Oh, one recipe I forgot to share. Sourdough oat bread. I made it before for my dad and he really enjoyed it. He said it was dense, but not like eggy keto bread dense, a good dense.

Starter:
100 g rolled oats
20 g sourdough starter
125 g warm water

Mix together, let sit at room temperature overnight.

Dough:
400 g oats (I blended some of them into a coarse flour)
500 g warm water
10 g salt

Mix the starter and the dough ingredients together, then let sit for 1, 2 or 3 days at room temperature depending on sour preferences. Add the dough to a large greased loaf pan (preferably with the bottom lined with parchment paper) and let it sit for one hour. Pre-heat oven to 450F, and put a pan in the lower rack of the oven. Once the oven is heated, add some boiling water to the pan and put the bread in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the steam pan, lower the heat to 400 and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until cooked through.

I made it for him in the summer, and he really enjoyed eating it topped with butter and old cheese, and paired with ripe fruit like grapes.


#15

Interesting, I never heard about fermented oats or pure oat bread before! They sounds easy enough so I will try them. I really dislike oats but my high-carber SO eats them a lot and he’s good with the most dense and dry (I mean, no fat) bread I just can’t consider even borderline edible… And I’m a very curious one, fermented oats, I just have to see and taste what is it like even though I’m sure I won’t fall into love with oats :smiley: That would be a problem.
Thanks for the recipes!


(Jane) #16

Is that supposed to be 1, 2 or 3 HOURS?


(Bob M) #17

I had that question too, but I think it’s hours.


#18

Adding the butter to them makes a big difference, at least for me. You can also dip each spoonful of the porridge into a separate dish of cold cream to make it even more rich and cool it down as you eat it.

Fixed it. Thanks for pointing that out.


(Ken) #19

What is your porridge recipe? The ones I looked at show added raw oats to the fermented ones and cooking until done?


#20

Here: