Thursday, January 11, 2007

This is not just porridge…


Something extraordinary has happened to the oatmeal shelves. This time last year I’m sure there was just plain porridge oats and some sort of hot oaty cereal with a couple of flavours. Take a look at the supermarket shelves now…they’re groaning with oats of every description. And upmarket too. One of the packs costs in the region of £5.00. That’s really a lot when you can buy a kilo of porridge oats for about 50p.

So, in the interests of research, I spent not quite that amount but getting near it on a nicely packaged ‘delicious blend of oat flakes and oatmeal’. The oats are organic and certified so by the Soil Association. I made the porridge in my usual way, ½ cup of meal to about 1 ¼ cups of water, microwave for 2 mins. And even though I grew up in Scotland I still prefer a spoonful of honey with my porridge to the purist’s salt.

So what did I think? Well, it was pretty good actually; the pleasure was in the texture, both rough and smooth together, and I really think I could have got that without paying quite as much.

But anyway I took the Goldilocks option and ate it all up, every last lipsmacking mouthful!

PS A very timely comment from Pille at Nami-Nami tells us about takeaway porridge stands in Edinburgh, my alma mater and source of all good things.


6 comments:

Pille said...

Good to hear the porridge was good, and yes, there's an amazing variety of porridge out there. In Scotland, they even have takeaway porridge stands now:)

ChrisB said...

I buy my organic porridge and muesli in bulk (5K) from the whole food co-op. I haven't actually worked out cost to see how much I'm saving but I guess it's quite a lot. I've never acquired the 'salt' taste but I don't like sugar or honey either. So its just fruit for me.

Susan in Italy said...

Gosh, who knew about the upscaling of porridge? As a Scottswoman only by name (Campbell) porridge for me is something of myths and legends like curds and whey.

June said...

Hi Susan
And I think curds and whey have now been upscaled to organic farmfresh dewkissed ricotta!

Beccy said...

I like my porridge with sultanas and buy organic, it costs about €1.50 for a kilo (£1) which I think is pretty good.

Anonymous said...

I love some oatmeal...the idea of porridge stands is very appealing. I discovered that if I use a slow cooker, and plenty of liquid (I usually use milk) I can make steel cut oats overnight, and have them for breakfast.

Question-off topic: I have enjoyed various rolls and breads in England called "granary", and seen "granary" flour for sale there, but not here (USA). It seems to be a proprietary brand name, and I'm having a hard time finding out what's in it, beyond malted wheat flakes. Do you know if there is any other essential ingredient? I've found the wheat flakes at Baker's Catalog (King Arthur Flour's online sales outlet) and I'm going to put some in my next loaf, but I've been wondering. As I recall, the flour was brown, but not really a whole wheat?

 
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