cardamom Archives -

As early mornings grow darker and the inevitable first frost arrives, I find myself easing into these cooler days with warm bowls of cozy oatmeal for breakfast. Usually it’s a simple bowl of rolled or steel-cut oats, but once in a while I’ll wake up extra early to put on a pot of whole oats. Whole oats, also known as oat groats, don’t seem to receive nearly the amount of attention they deserve. They do take longer to cook than old-fashioned oats as well as a bit longer than steel cut, but the method is just as simple, perhaps even simpler since whole oats don’t require stirring. My 8-year old is generally a part of the anti-oatmeal club, but he does enjoy these whole oat groats. For him it’s the texture- this bowl of oats is creamy without being gummy and chewy without being mushy. I like to add chopped medjool dates as it cooks; the heat melts the dates into the oats and provides a balanced sweetness to the whole bowl.