can anyone explain oats to me?!

[MrsPear]

At the moment I just buy porriage oats and use them for anything that asks for oats but I have just read a receipe from the states and that refers to different types for different results. So are there different types of oats? What do you use each one for and where do you buy them? I only see porriage oats in the supermarket although I am only looking in the cereal aisle.

You can get rolled oats. I've used baking recipes that specify "rolled oats" although I couldn't tell you the difference between the different types! The only rolled oats Sainbury's sold at the time was their Taste the Difference ones, so a bit on the expensive side compared to buying bog-standard porridge oats.

We have old-fashioned rolled oats, quick-cooking oats and one-minute oats. It depends on how much they've been rolled flat. You can use them all for porridge and baking but you'd want to stick with the first two for things like muesli, flapjacks or granola as they have more bulk/structure. We also have steel cut oats which I think are just chopped oat groats (not rolled). They take the longest to cook (soaking them overnight can make them quicker to cook) and are not really suitable for baking.

Size matters, don't ya know?

It's all just different sizes of the same thing, so pinhead oats are tiny and jumbo oats are big, with associated difference in cooking times and texture.

So I make a baked muesli that has a much nicer, coarse texture if I use jumbo oats, but for me jumbo oats make porridge too chewy, and if you liked a really smooth ready brek type porridge (yuk) you could use pin head size.

I just use the smartprice ones for everything.

You have to try steel cut oats at least once. :) There is either fine or coarse. They take longer to soak and cook than the steamed rolled oats but the porridge is really lovely IMHO

Well you learn something everyday. Thank you everyone, I am going to shop with my eyes more open.