Steel Cut Naked Oats

For thousands of years, hulled oats were grown primarily to feed to horses, but naked oats were the grain of choice across Asia and Europe for human consumption. But sadly, naked oats fell out of vogue in the 1800s, and factors like higher yields and durability in transit became more important, and industrial processing because easier. Over 95% of oats grown in North America were fed to livestock, so it was easier to grow just one type of oat and scalp off a few to mill for human consumption. Naked oats were abandoned.

A resurgence of interest in reducing our carbon footprint (hulled oats need to be steam treated, which is an energy-intensive process!), their higher protein levels, antioxidants, and a good ol’fashioned preference for taste over a long shelf-life, has led to a few farms and mills still using naked oats. We’re proud to be one of them!

Our steel cut oats are first cleaned in our facility to remove weeds, chaff, hulls, and off-grade oats. Then they are ‘chopped’ into pieces with a series slowly rotating blades.  They are cut a bit smaller than other steel cut oats, and naked oats are bit smaller in the first place, so they cook up a bit quicker than most steelcut oats.  We suggest 15 minutes for a perfectly creamy (but not too mushy) pot of porridge!

One oddity – our oats do not play nicely with coconut oil. For some unknown reason, there is a strange reaction that often occurs when naked oats and coconut oil are combined. This doesn’t seem to happen with regular oats, so perhaps is because of the lack of heat processing, or perhaps because of the higher protein content of naked oats. We haven’t entirely figured out who is bullying who, and whether we can help them sort out their differences and live happily together. But in the meantime, give them some space…

Naked Oats Ready for Harvest on Our Farm