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Since oats have a substantial amount of fat, how do we know if the oats we buy aren’t already rancid, especially for the flakes? Also, I’ve heard that even whole oat groats that you buy are not raw since they lightly roast them to kill the enzymes to increase shelf life, so wouldn’t that make soaking somewhat pointless if this is true since there would be no enzymes to activate? I’ve seen a lot of reviews in Amazon for different oat groats products that say they can’t get them to sprout even if they claim to be raw. While oats are definitely highly nutritious, I’m very dubious since it seems nearly impossible to verify how fresh they are…if the oils are already rancid or if they have mold, are they really something we should be eating? How can we know?
So I tried soaking my freshly ground oat groats with a bit of kefir instead of whey and it did nothing. While the kefir wasn’t really old, it wasn’t very fresh, so I tried taking some active kefir grains from the daily batch and soaking the ground oats with it (4 oz finely ground oats with 2 cups purified water) and it did absolutely nothing. Is this a type of starch that these bacteria and yeast cannot digest? The ground oats are not coarse at all, so there is plenty of surface area for them to act on, but the fact that a definitely active kefir culture did absolutely nothing tells me they can’t digest the oat starch….what evidence is there that this actually does anything to enhance the nutritive value of the oats?
I think you’re right, Neil. Elsewhere on the WAP website there’s info on how oats do not have enough phytase to break down the high levels of phytic acid they also have. It seems like soaking/sprouting does very little to make oats digestible. https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/vegetarianism-and-plant-foods/living-with-phytic-acid/
I don’t understand why anyone thinks a lactobacillus bacteria will eat starch. They eat lactose from milk hence the name. Fermenting starch is how you make beer and that is going to be a yeast. In sourdough we get yeasts via the air and local environment and we maintain a sourdough starter culture. I could believe how oats could be used with a sourdough yeast but I think I would want to boil it pretty well to kill off the yeast before I ate it. Sourdough bread is maybe the best bread for folks with digestive issues because it is “predigested” by sourdough yeasts.
Sprouting is a whole other topic and I can believe the benefit of sprouting whole grain oats but that is not starting with industrially processed oatmeal. Traditional processing might start with oats and then process the sprouted grain in a porridge?
The idea of soaking oats overnight anointed with a little whey might result in weird soft oats but I cannot find any science explaining how this would change the oats in any meaningful whey 😉
Lactobacillus ferment carbohydrates to lactate. Lactate is an organic acid distinct from lactose which is a sugar. Lacto in lactobacillus refers to the end product of lactate, not the fermentation of lactose. When yeast metabolizes the same carbohydrates in beer or wine, the end product is ethanol or, in the presence of oxygen, acetate, yielding ethanol or acetic acid, respectively.
Similar pathways with distinct end products.
Source: My PhD Dissertation
Thank you for your video. Just a question. I want to eat oats correctly and have been fermenting them for the past month with sourdough starter overnight. The problem is that it aggravates my candida overgrowth ( because of the fermentation process?) and I had to stop. Would your preparation be a good alternative?
What can we use to pair the oats with as a good source of fat besides butter or cream? I do not do well with dairy and want to find a suitable alternative. Would coconut milk or coconut oil work?
I would quite like to know if there is a type of oat that is better, for instance, oatmeal/flour? As the rolled oats are heat treated I wonder what nutritional value they give. I believe soaking helps. Also is there an alternative to rye oats, and or could rye flour be used? I am curious at any responses.
Can you dry them after soaking to use them in baking?
I would like to know the same thing! I’d like to use oats for granola bars, but is this possible wit. Overnight oats?
When you make a big batch for the week, how do you recommend reheating? We don’t use a microwave so normally we’d reheat on stove with a little water or milk.
What if you can’t eat gluten/rye?