Editing Oat (section)

== Uses ==

=== As food ===

When used in foods, oats are most commonly [[rolled oats|rolled]] or crushed into [[oatmeal]] or ground into fine oat flour. Oatmeal is chiefly eaten as [[porridge]], but may also be used in a variety of baked goods, such as [[oatcake]]s (which may be made with coarse [[steel-cut oats]] for a rougher texture), [[oatmeal cookie]]s and oat bread. Oats are an ingredient in many cold cereals, in particular [[muesli]] and [[granola]]; the [[Quaker Oats Company]] introduced [[Quaker Instant Oatmeal|instant oatmeal]] in 1966.<ref name="QuakerOatsCo">{{Cite web |title=Quaker Oats History |publisher=[[Quaker Oats Company]] |url=https://www.quakeroats.com/about-quaker-oats/quaker-history |access-date=20 July 2024 }}</ref> Oats are also used to produce [[milk substitute]]s ("[[oat milk]]").<ref name="Hitchens-2018">{{cite magazine |last=Hitchens |first=Antonia |date=6 August 2018 |title=Hey, Where's my oat milk? |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |access-date=10 December 2018 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/08/06/hey-wheres-my-oat-milk }}</ref> {{As of|2020|9 |alt=As of late 2020 |post=, }} the oat milk market became the second-largest among plant milks in the United States, following [[almond milk]], but exceeding the sales of [[soy milk]].<ref name="Watson-2020">{{cite web |first=Elaine |last=Watson |title=Oatmilk edges past soymilk for #2 slot in US plant-based milk retail market |url=https://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Article/2020/09/25/Oatmilk-edges-past-soymilk-for-2-slot-in-US-plant-based-milk-retail-market-as-almondmilk-continues-to-drive-category-sales |publisher=William Reed Business Media |access-date=20 December 2020 |date=25 September 2020 }}</ref> As a mainstay of [[West Wales]] for centuries, until changes in farming practices in the 1960s, oats were used in many [[Welsh cuisine|traditional Welsh dishes]], including [[laverbread]], a [[Full breakfast#Wales|Welsh breakfast]], and "[[common cockle|cockles]] and eggs" served with oatbread.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nation.cymru/culture/food-tales-from-wales/ |title=Food Tales from Wales |first=Carwyn |last=Graves |work=[[Nation.Cymru]] |date=4 December 2022 |access-date=23 July 2024 }}</ref>

In Britain, oats are sometimes used for brewing beer, such as [[oatmeal stout]] where a percentage of oats, often 30%, is added to the barley for the [[wort (brewing)|wort]].<ref name="BJCP">{{cite web |url=https://www.bjcp.org/style/2021/16/16B/oatmeal-stout/ |website=BJCP |access-date=20 March 2024 |title=Beer Judge Certification Program }}</ref> Oatmeal [[caudle]], made of ale and oatmeal with spices, was a traditional British drink and a favourite of [[Oliver Cromwell]].<ref>{{cite book |title=[[The Compleat Housewife]] |page=169 |first=Eliza |last=Smith |author-link=Eliza Smith (writer) |date=1739 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Food in Early Modern Europe |first=Ken |last=Albala |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |date=2003 |isbn=0-313-31962-6 }}</ref> 

The United States saw a surge in consumption of oats in the late 1980s, after the [[Quaker Oats Company]] began to promote its products as having cholesterol-reducing benefits on the basis of a 1986 study.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Van Horn|first1=Linda|last2=Liu|first2=Kiang|last3=Parker|first3=Donna|last4=Emidy|first4=Linda|last5=Liao|first5=You-lian|last6=Pan|first6=Wen Harn|last7=Giumetti|first7=Dante|last8=Hewitt|first8=John|last9=Stamler|first9=Jeremiah|title=Serum lipid response to oat product intake with a fat-modified diet|date=June 1986|journal=Journal of the American Dietetic Association|volume=86|number=6|pages=759–764}}</ref> This "oat bran fad" lasted until 1990, when newer studies cast doubt on the earlier findings.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fitzsimmons |first=Robert |chapter=Oh, What Those Oats Can Do: Quaker Oats, the US Food and Drug Administration, and the Market Value of Scientific Evidence 1984–2010 |title=Oats: Nutrition and Technology |editor-last=Chu |editor-first=Yi Fang |year=2014}}</ref>

<gallery class=center mode=nolines widths=180 heights=180>
File:Oatcakes (1).jpg|[[Oatcake]]s
File:Oat porridge in Ghana.jpg|[[Porridge]]
File:Oat milk glass and bottles.jpg|[[Oat milk]]
File:Jomax Oatmeal Stout (32903939086).jpg|[[Oatmeal stout]]
</gallery>

=== Animal feed ===

[[File:GrainMix.jpg|thumb|A commercially prepared grain mix for horses, with crimped maize, oats, and barley mixed with molasses and pelleted supplement]]

Oats are commonly used as feed for horses when extra carbohydrates and the subsequent boost in energy are required. The oat hull may be crushed ("[[rolled oats|rolled]]" or "crimped") to make them easier to digest,<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 December 2003 |title=Oats: The Perfect Horse Feed? |url=https://ker.com/equinews/oats-perfect-horse-feed/ |access-date=20 June 2023 |website=Kentucky Equine Research }}</ref> or may be fed whole. They may be given alone or as part of a blended food pellet. Cattle are also fed oats, either whole or ground into a coarse flour using a [[roller mill]], [[burr mill]], or [[hammermill]]. Oat forage is commonly used to feed all kinds of ruminants, as pasture, straw, hay or silage.<ref>{{Cite web |first1=Valérie |last1=Heuzé |first2=Gilles |last2=Tran |first3=Anne |last3=Boudon |first4=François |last4=Lebas |title=Oat forage |publisher=[[Institut national de la recherche agronomique]], [[CIRAD]], Association Française de Zootechnie and FAO |url=https://www.feedipedia.org/node/500 |access-date=27 March 2023 |website=Feedipedia |year=2016 }}</ref>

=== Ground cover ===

Winter oats may be grown as an off-season [[groundcover]] and ploughed under in the spring as a [[green fertilizer]], or harvested in early summer. They also can be used for pasture; they can be grazed a while, then allowed to head out for grain production, or grazed continuously until other pastures are ready.<ref name="eXtension-2008">{{cite web |access-date=27 March 2013 |date=11 February 2008 |archive-date=23 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171123003745/http://articles.extension.org/pages/13262/grazing-of-oat-pastures |url=http://www.extension.org/pages/13262/grazing-of-oat-pastures |title=Grazing of Oat Pastures |publisher=eXtension }}</ref>

=== Other uses ===

Oat [[straw]] is used as animal bedding; it absorbs liquids better than wheat straw.<ref>{{cite web |title=Alternative Bedding Materials |url=https://www.fas.scot/downloads/alternative-bedding-materials/ |publisher=Farm Advisory Service |access-date=2 May 2024 }}</ref> The straw can be used for making [[corn dolly|corn dollies]], small decorative woven figures.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lancashire fringe (corn dolly) |url=https://www.reading.ac.uk/adlib/Details/collect/15882 |publisher=University of Reading |access-date=2 May 2024 }}</ref> Tied in a muslin bag, oat straw has been used to soften bath water.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Barbano |first1=Paul |title=Since prehistoric times oat grass has been a major source of food for animals and humans |url=https://www.capegazette.com/article/prehistoric-times-oat-grass-has-been-major-source-food-animals-and-humans/199531 |publisher=Cape Gazette |access-date=2 May 2024 |date=18 March 2020 }}</ref>