Several decades on, I am still an oat-lover (in fact, I’m such a fan that I’m currently writing a book on traditional British uses of them). But if you look in my kitchen now, you’ll find many more types of oats than just my childhood rolled ones.

The choice on our shelves these days can be bewildering – groats, rolled, thick, old-fashioned, quick, instant, oatmeal, pinhead, steel-cut, sprouted, black and naked. This article is a comprehensive guide to the types of oats available, how they’ve been processed and how to use each type the traditional way.

What are oats?

Almost all of the oats you’ll find in kitchens throughout the world are seeds of the grass genus Avena Sativa. These grow covered by a hard, inedible hull which has to be removed before the seed can be used as a grain. The hull adheres strongly to the seed and in the process of removing it the grain is very often damaged and exposed to the air. This activates an enzyme called lipase which degrades the fats in the oats causing them to go rancid, giving them a bitter taste. To avoid this happening, oat grains are ‘stabilised’ (heat and steam treated) at the very early stages of processing.

Most of the oats we buy are already ‘cooked’

This stablilsation means that the oats that make it to our kitchens (unless they are naked or sprouted oats) have been ‘cooked’ using a mix of heat and moisture (at an average temperature of 90-100°C).

Once the dehulling and stabilisation has been completed, oats are processed in a number of ways. This article explains what you might see at your mill or supplier, sorted from the least-processed to the most-processed:

Types of oats, how they’ve been processed and how to use each the traditional way

Oat groats

These are whole, unground, uncut oat grain. As they are whole grains, they take the longest to cook of any oat.

These weren’t often traditionally-used for porridge (though our ancestors in the UK did use the for savoury ‘puddings’), but I think they are great cooked this way.

If you want to use oat groats for porridge/oatmeal, cook them as an alternative to rice or add them to a stew, I suggest soaking them overnight in water. The next day, drain and rinse them, before cooking for at least 35 minutes. For a cup of soaked groats, you’ll need around 3 cups of liquid (broth is a great savoury choice instead of water here!)

Stone-milled oats:

The only way of making the whole oat grains into smaller pieces, more suitable for cooking, until well into the 1900s was to process the grains in stone mill. This created a meal (rather than the more commonly found rolled oats we see today). This meal is what our European oat eating ancestors (who didn’t have rolled oats) would have eaten.

Why Our Scottish Ancestors Didn’t Eat Rolled Oats (link to article)

Stone milled oats are still available, though can be harder to source outside of the UK. They come in three grades:

Pinhead oatmeal

Oat groats ground between two millstones set very widely apart to break the groat into a few pieces.

This was traditionally used for porridge (oatmeal), particularly in Ireland.

To make a traditional pinhead oatmeal porridge, soak the oatmeal in water overnight using one part oatmeal to four parts water by weight (you can add a tablespoon of something acidic, like apple cider vinegar to aid digestion) and then, in the morning, cook the mix, adding some salt (traditionally porridge was salty, not sweet), for 20 minutes, stirring regularly.

Medium oatmeal (often called Scottish oatmeal in the US)

These oats have been stoneground with the millstones set to create a medium meal.

Medium oatmeal was traditionally used for porridge in Scotland and in many other parts of the UK. It was also used in haggis, in puddings and sausages and as a coating when frying fish.

To make a traditional medium oatmeal porridge the Scottish way, bring water to the boil and, when it’s boiling, sprinkle in the medium oatmeal, stirring constantly. Once all of the oatmeal is incorporated, turn the pan down low, add salt (traditionally porridge was salty, not sweet) and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring regularly. To serve three people I use 180g medium oatmeal, 900g water and a half teaspoon salt.

Fine oatmeal

By stone-grinding the oat grains with the millstones more closely together, a fine oatmeal is produced.

Fine oatmeal was traditionally used for oatcakes – a savoury oat cracker – as well as a thickener for soups and stews.

Try my recipe for Naturally-Fermented Staffordshire Oatcakes which makes a delicious crêpe-like pancake or my Traditional Scottish Oatcakes recipe which will give you authentic Scottish oat crackers, great with soups or some cheese!

(If you want to try these two recipes and you don’t have fine oatmeal, don’t despair, they can easily be made with rolled oats too – follow the instructions in the recipes!)

Oats produced in steel mills:

In contrast to this traditional stone milling, most of the oats on our shelves today have been processed in modern steel mills. Here’s what you can find:

Steel Cut/Irish oats

Steel cut oats are so called because steel blades cut the whole groat into two or three pieces.

This type of oats are often called Irish oats in the US because the pieces are the same size as pinhead oatmeal, the type of oatmeal historically used to make porridge in Ireland.

In the kitchen, steel cut oats work in a similar way to their stone-ground cousin, pinhead oatmeal. If you want to make a traditional porridge with them, follow the instructions in the pinhead oatmeal section above.

Rolled Oats:

Rolled oats are so ubiquitous these days that one might think they’ve always been around. They are, however, a modern creation; the process of rolling oats only having been invented in 1877.

The Differences Between Rolled Oats and Oatmeal (link to article)

All rolled oats, whether large or small, are steam processed (for a second time, remembering they’ve already been steamed to prevent rancidity) before being rolled. This makes them softer and less likely to create dusty waste.

‘Old-fashioned’ Oats/Rolled Oats/Jumbo Oats

These, being the largest form of rolled oats, are whole oat grains that are re-steamed and run through roller mills to create large flakes.

These can be used to make a non-traditional (but very tasty!) porridge. There’s no need to soak them, cooking for 10-15 minutes on the stove does the job. If you’d like to serve traditionally, add salt during the cooking time.

I also have some traditionally-inspired recipes that use rolled oats! Try my cheesy oatcake-topped cottage pie or my sourdough oatcakes.

‘Quick Cook’ Rolled Oats

To make these smaller flaked oats, broken oat grains are re-steamed and put through roller mills.

These take just a few minutes on the stove to produce a porridge.

‘Instant’ Rolled Oats

These are the smallest, and hence the quickest cooking, form of rolled oats. They were brought to the oat market in 1966 by Quaker (who are now ownedi by Pepsi). Small pieces of oat grain are re-steamed and put through roller mills to create tiny, thin flakes.

I don’t think our ancestors would recognise instant oats (in texture or flavour). As a real food oat-lover, I’ve never used these.

The oat challenge:

If you’ve only ever used rolled oats, try something different this week. It’s easy to get hold of pinhead or steel cut oats – soak them before bed and take a few more moments in the kitchen to cook up your porridge the next morning. I think you’ll be surprised at how great it tastes!

Different Types of Oats – FAQs

Which type of oats is the healthiest?

Generally, the less a food is processed, the healthier it is. With this criteria, oat groats, that have had no further processing than their initial dehulling and stabilising are the healthiest.

But I am of the mind that the real food that you like is the healthiest. If you’re buying, cooking, and eating real food that you will like you’re more likely to continue with it – so choose the type of oat you like best.

How can I access stone-ground oats outside of the UK?

There are companies that import oats that have been stone-ground in the UK to other parts of the world. Check online to see if there’s one near you. In the US, Bob’s Red Mill sell a product called ‘Scottish oatmeal’ which is stoneground oats that are similar to British medium oatmeal.

Can I roll my own oats at home?

Yes you can! And they taste so much better rolled at home! Have a look at my article How to Roll Oats at Home (& 3 Good Reasons To Do It!).

Can I stone-grind my own oats at home?

It is possible to stone-grind oats from groats at home, but it is very difficult to replicate the pinhead/medium/fine grades of oatmeal that are available from large stone mills. This is because the stone mills use a number of sieves to sieve the meal into uniform sizes.

If you have a Mockmill, you can grind oats on any number above #3 (do not grind them on numbers #1 or #2 – the grain is too fatty and will clog up your meal). Using #3 or above will grind the oats but will give you a range of particle sizes from very fine dust to large chunks of oat groat. For making porridge this method works practically but does not replicate the porridge that you would make with uniform-sized commercially-produced oatmeal

How To Make Stone-Ground Oats in the Mockmill (link to article)

I love porridge/oatmeal. What else can I make with oats?

So many things! Here’s a selection of my traditional and traditionally-inspired recipes:

Traditional Scottish Oatcakes

Naturally-Fermented Staffordshire Oatcakes

Sourdough Oatcakes

Cheesy oatcake-topped cottage pie

Sowans: The Scottish Oat Ferment

You can get three traditional oat recipes in my free download The Heritage Oat Collection. Enter your details below and I’ll send to your inbox:

I am currently in the process of writing a book to be called Oats: Recipes & Stories from the British Isles. It will include 50 recipes along with the stories of how this grain sustained many generations of people in the UK. Stay in touch via my newsletter (there is a sign up at the top of every page on this site) to hear the latest on this.

How can I make my oats healthier?

Fermenting your oats will unlock more nutrition and make them easier to digest. Learn how in my comprehensive article:

How to Make Fermented Oats

Is buying organic oats important?

I would always recommend buying organic oats. Choosing organic means that you are supporting farmers who care for our soil and our environment, stewarding it for the next generation. It also means that any residues left over from pesticides or fertilisers aren’t on your grains.

What are ‘naked’ oats?

‘Naked’ oats are a type of oat that, instead of having a hard difficult-to-detach hull, has a paper-thin hull. It is easier to prepare these grains for human consumption – it takes a lot of energy to remove the hard hull on standard oats; not as much energy is needed to remove the paper-thin hull on ‘naked’ oats.

Because these ‘naked’ oats do not have to go through a tough, damaging, process to remove their hulls, they are not heated before they get to our shelves. This results in a oat that is raw.

What are sprouted oats?

Sprouted oats are raw oats that have gone through a soaking and germination process to sprout them. This process is then halted by drying and the sprout knocked off. The sprouted groats can then be used as you would use a standard oat.

What are black oats?

Black oats are a type of oats that has a black hull. They were traditionally grown in large areas of Scandinavia and in Wales. Here are some I saw on a visit to Holden Farm in Wales:

What about oat flour?

Oat flour is a modern phenomenon which is finer than fine oatmeal. It can be purchased but can also be made from oatmeal or rolled oats by processing them in a high-powered coffee grinder or mixer.

You might also like:

The Heritage Oat Collection

The Difference Between Rolled Oats and Oatmeal

Sourdough Porridge

The Fascinating History of Jannock: The Giant Oat Bread That Defined Authenticity!

The Best Way to Soak Oats

Traditional Scottish Oatcakes

Oatmeal: A Transatlantic Linguistic Difference

A discussion on the difference between rolled oats and oatmeal must start with a definition of the word oatmeal:

In American English, the word oatmeal means a bowl of cooked oats, usually served as breakfast. (In British English, this is called porridge.)

In British English, the word oatmeal means oats that have been stone-ground into a coarse flour.

So, in American English, if you asked for a bowl of oatmeal, you’d be handed a steaming breakfast dish, perhaps topped with fruit and nuts.

But in British English, if you asked for a bowl of oatmeal, you’d be handed a raw ingredient; something that you could use to create your breakfast (which would be called porridge) with.

The Difference between Rolled Oats and Oatmeal

So now we know that, in British-English, oatmeal is not a finished dish but an ingredient to create breakfast with, let’s define the difference between this form of oats and rolled oats.

Oatmeal is…

Oatmeal, in the British English definition, is a product made by stone-grinding oat grains. This process is, literally, squashing the grains between two stones until they break. Once ground, the resulting ‘meal’ is separated into different sizes using sieves. We, as cooks, can then purchase fine oatmeal, medium oatmeal and coarse (often called pinhead) oatmeal.

Rolled oats are…

Rolled oats, which have the same name in both the USA and the UK, are made by passing oat grains through steel rollers to flatten them. Like oatmeal, we can buy rolled oats in different sizes. Large rolled oats are made by rolling whole oat grains. Smaller rolled oats are made by rolling broken oat grains.

Which is Older, Oatmeal or Rolled Oats?

Oatmeal, A Potted History

Our ancestors have been grinding oats into oatmeal for centuries. At first, this was done with two stones. One of these was static, often with a concave top to hold the grain, the other was palm-sized and, being held in the hand, worked the grain to crush it.

From the first century onward, this technology was replaced by the quern – a manually-turned set of two large circular stones – which dominated oatmeal-making for centuries. Although watermills were also prevalent in the UK, one researcher estimated that there were still 2000 querns in Scotland in 1900 (1).

Fast forward to our modern world, and oatmeal is made in large, industrial stone mills. It comes in fine, medium and coarse (sometimes called pinhead) grades.

When Did Rolled Oats Come In?

A machine to roll oats was invented in 1877. The oat grains, once flattened, were more visually appealing than oatmeal and easier to cook. Quaker, then a very young company, saw an opportunity to market rolled oats as a breakfast cereal to Americans (who at that stage did not eat breakfast cereals as we know them today).

Quaker registered the first trademark for a breakfast cereal (which they called oatmeal) and in 1882, launched a ground-breaking marketing campaign that included running the first national magazine adverts for a breakfast cereal and delivering free trial-size samples of Quaker oats door-to-door.

As we know, their oat marketing campaign paid off: Quaker were bought by Pepsi in 2001 for $14 billion and rolled oats are now ubiquitous!

What’s the difference between rolled oats and oatmeal in my kitchen?

Both rolled oats and oatmeal can be made into a hot breakfast cereal (called, confusingly, oatmeal if you’re eating it in the US and porridge if you’re eating it in the UK!)

If you’re making oatmeal/porridge with rolled oats, the smaller the rolled oats are the less time they will take to cook. Cooking ‘old-fashioned’ oats in the US (which are called jumbo oats in the UK) takes around 10 minutes whereas cooking ‘instant’ oats (often called small oats in the UK) takes just a few minutes.

If you are making oatmeal/porridge with oatmeal (ie stone-ground oats), it’s best to use medium oatmeal. I like to soak it overnight in water. After having done this it takes 10 minutes to cook. If I’m unable to soak it overnight, I usually give it an extra 5 minutes cooking time.

What is oatmeal/porridge made with oatmeal like?

I am a porridge fan so my answer is ‘delicious!’. Using medium oatmeal gives the resulting dish more of a ‘bite’ than using instant oats. It’s often tastier too. This is because oatmeal is less processed than rolled oats. All oats (except the ‘naked’ variety) have been steam-heated before they get to our kitchens, but rolled oats are steam-heated twice. In my opinion that means they are often less flavourful than oatmeal.

How can I create porridge like a Scot?!

Our Scottish ancestors would likely not recognise the bowls of steaming oats that we have at our breakfast tables today, neither in the preparation or how they are served. If you want to make porridge like a Scot, here is my advice:

1/ Use medium oatmeal (see below for how to access/make this)

2/ Bring a pot of water to the boil then turn it down to a strong simmer. Whilst stirring with a wooden spoon (or, if you can get one, a spurtle, the traditional Scottish porridge-stirring tool) with one hand, sprinkle oatmeal into the water with your other hand (be careful not to burn yourself on the steam!).

3/ When you have a good consistency (not too thick, as it will thicken up as you cook further), turn the heat down low, rest a lid on the saucepan and cook for a further 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4/Just before serving, stir in a good quantity of the best quality salt you can find.

5/ To serve traditionally, pour the porridge into a wooden bowl and use a wooden spoon. Then to eat as the Scots did, set a small container of cold cream to one side. Take a spoonful of your hot porridge and dip it into the cold cream. Enjoy!

You might also like:

How to Roll Oats at Home (& 3 Good Reasons to Do It!)

How to Make Fermented Oats

How to Make Stone-Ground Oats (Oatmeal) in the Mockmill

To access oatmeal/stone-ground oats outside the UK, search local suppliers. In the US, Bob’s Red Mill sells oatmeal branded as ‘Scottish Oatmeal’.

(1) Oats, Their Cultivation and Use from Ancient Times to the Present Day, William M Findlay, 1956, Oliver and Boyd.

“I can’t eat wheat bread, it just doesn’t agree with me.”

How many times have you heard this? 

Maybe it’s you that struggles with ‘normal’ bread, or maybe your partner or friend. There are so many of us. Because, these days, it’s not just celiacs who have problems with wheat. Non-celiac gluten sensitivity is staggeringly-prevalent in our modern age.

And it can be devastating, because, seriously, bread rocks! It’s a huge part of our society’s food culture; it’s something we can share, keep, create a quick meal with and that can satisfy us at such a deep level. Good bread is the stuff of life.

If it’s you or one of your loved ones that can’t tolerate wheat and its gluten, don’t despair. Before you give up ever eating decent bread again and swear to go gluten-free, give rye sourdough bread a go.

Why rye sourdough bread is a good option

Rye gluten is not equal to wheat gluten

To start with rye is much lower in gluten; a recent study showed it as having three times less gluten than wheat. In addition to this, the gluten in rye has a different chemical composition to the gluten in wheat.

This is why rye breads do not rise in the same way that breads made with white wheat flour do. It’s gluten that helps trap the air inside a wheat bread. Rye flour just doesn’t have the same level of gluten as wheat flour, and the gluten that it does have doesn’t work in the same way. That means it also may not work in the same way in your body!

Sourdough changes the nutritional profile of bread

The long fermentation involved in the sourdough process breaks down many of the compounds in grains that can cause digestive issues as well as, at the same time, making many more nutrients available for us.

This means that when a slice of sourdough bread hits your digestion, it is literally not the same food as a bread made industrially with commercial yeast. Combine this with the lower and chemically-different gluten in rye and you’re looking at something that your body may just thank you for!

How to make rye sourdough bread in your kitchen

Along with struggling to digest wheat, many people find mastering the sourdough process tough. If you’ve struggled with a wheat sourdough starter or when making wheat sourdough bread, know that using rye is a lot simpler:

Rye: a fuss-free sourdough starter

Making and maintaining a rye sourdough starter is easier than keeping a starter made with wheat flour. Wholegrain rye flour is full of enzymes that encourage and support fermentation and the water-holding capabilities of rye means you can refresh your rye starter less often and give it less attention than it’s wheat counterpart.

No kneading or shaping required

This same ease holds true when it comes to making rye sourdough bread. Rye bread doesn’t need kneading or shaping like wheat does, so even if you’re a beginner at bread-making you’re in with a chance of getting a good result.

Take your pick!

Rye sourdough breads come in all shapes and sizes; they’ve been made by traditional cultures in rye growing regions around the world for centuries. There are dark, heavy breads, that’ll satisfy parts of you that you didn’t know existed. There are everyday sandwich-able ryes that’ll be feeding you all week. And there are deeply-scented spiced breads that’ll wow you with their fragrance and lasting flavour.

Here’s how to learn more:

Bringing rye sourdough bread into your kitchen and life needn’t be intimidating; here are two resources for you:

1/ Read my post How to Make Sourdough Rye Bread From Scratch, which includes access to my go-to recipe, the one I make in my own kitchen every week.

2/ Have a listen to my podcast episode dedicated to rye bread: Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics.

I’ve been baking exclusively with ancient grains for over a decade, and regularly hear these questions:

• Why should I bake with ancient grains?
• What’s wrong with modern wheat?
• How are ancient grains different from wheat?
• What do I need to know before I start baking with ancient grains?
• Have you got some ancient grain recipes I can try?

In this article, I’ll give you answers. I’ll define ancient grains, explain how they differ from modern wheat, share five reasons why you should be baking with ancient grains and point you to a resource that’ll get you started.

What are ancient grains?

Ancient grains are ‘old-school’ grains; ones that our ancestors have been subsisting on for thousands of years.

Modern wheat isn’t like this. It was developed in the mid 1900s specifically for increased yield; scientists intensively selected and cross-bred the grain. Our ancestors wouldn’t recognise today’s wheat and neither would they be able to grow it – as well as needing large amounts of water it relies on fossil fuel fertilisers.

Get my free 30-page guide to baking with ancient grains straight to your inbox by entering you details below:

What are some examples of ancient grains?

There are ancient grains that behave similarly to wheat, like einkorn, emmer and spelt.

There are ancient grains that, like wheat, contain gluten, but work differently, like rye and barley.

There are gluten-free ancient grains like buckwheat, teff, oats and millet.

Why should I bake with ancient grains?

Here are 5 reasons to bake with ancient grains:

1/ For your health

How many times have you heard someone say ‘I can’t eat wheat’?

Yes, there are many people with coeliac disease, who cannot eat any gluten. Yet there are swathes more for whom wheat just doesn’t sit well. They feel bloated or uncomfortable after normal bread.

And looking at where our modern wheat came from and how, industrially, we make it into bread, it’s unsurprising that so many of us have problems with it.

Modern wheat grains were developed by super-intensive selection and cross-breeding and are dependent on industrially-produced pesticides and fertilisers. The wheat that makes the bread we eat was not developed with nutrition or digestibility in mind.

Ancient grains, in contrast, have not been through this intensive modification. Yes, our ancestors did choose grains, after harvest, that appeared to be doing well in their soils and their climates, but this made stronger, healthier grains which in turn helped societies thrive. These ancient grains are consistently higher in nutrition and easier to digest than modern wheat.

2/ To make a stand against industrial, commodified food

Who, interested in a sustainable food system, would choose scientifically-created wheat grains (the seeds of which come from a global conglomerate), and grow them as a mono-crop in nutrient-depleted soils, spraying them with fossil fuel fertilisers and pesticides?

And yet, we chose this wheat for our mainstream loaves. We grind it in industrial roller mills before whipping it into breads laced with chemical additives.

Buying supermarket wheat bread or standard wheat grains is supporting the continuance of this way of producing food.

Alternatively, we can, by choosing ancient grains and baking with them at home, step out of the food system that is destroying our health and planet and do so whilst bringing ourselves and our families joy, nutrition and pleasure.

3/ Because they taste better

Modern wheat has been bred for yield and pest resistance, not for flavour. And when you begin to bake with ancient grains that becomes so clear – they taste amazing compared to supermarket wheat!

An average week of baking with ancient grains my kitchen might include rich and deeply sweet rye bread, buckwheat made into earthy, grassy crepes, traditional Scottish oatcakes with their toasty and golden flavour, the nutty spelt in a sourdough, plus a mild and slightly sweet millet made into a polenta loaf.

Bringing these flavours into your kitchen is an adventure; one that will fill your home, mouth and mind with deep satisfaction.

4/ To get more variety in your diet

Look at many modern Western diets and you will see a day’s food is often wheat (cereal for breakfast), followed by wheat (sandwich for lunch), followed by wheat (pasta for dinner).

And yet, consistently, nutritionists are telling us to diversify our diet; to eat lots of different foods every day.

There are, according to the Whole Grains Council, 22 grains. By looking beyond wheat and baking with ancient grains, we can give our bodies the gift of diversity through the staple foods that are on our plate, meal after meal.

5/ To actively support small-scale, sustainable growers

All over the world, there are farmers who care about the soil, the planet and their community. Many choose to grow ancient grains that are less-lucrative and harder to process than wheat.

These growers, often working on a small-scale, deserve our support. They are choosing to act differently in a world that pushes them to make a living by growing the commodity crop, wheat.

If you want our food world to change, baking with ancient grains is a step towards that goal. With it, you can feel in integrity – even joyful – when your hands are in the dough.

How can I bake with ancient grains?

Baking with ancient grains is not the same as baking with modern wheat. Depending on the grain, you might be able to produce ancient grain bread that looks similar to (though is much tastier than) wheat. You might, however, have to handle your dough differently to wheat to make a loaf or perhaps you’d be better off diving into the world’s incredible flat-bread traditions.

Getting to know each ancient grain and how it works best in baking is a learning curve, and that’s where my free guide, Baking with Ancient Grains, comes in!

It will guide you, step-by-step, through learning to bake with these delicious, nutritious and sustainable grains. Whether you’re a proficient baker wanting to bring ancient grains into your kitchen or have never made bread at home before there’s something in here for you.

It includes more information on ancient grains, many tips for baking with them, plus five 100% ancient grain baking recipes to get you baking with ancient grains today!

To get a free copy of Baking with Ancient Grains, pop your name and email in the boxes below. In doing so, you’ll also be subscribed to my bi-weekly ancestral food newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time.

One of the common criticisms I hear of ancestral eating is that it romanticises the past.

I am often chastised for idealising the food lives of our ancestors. People tell me that I’m wearing rose-tinted glasses, continuing with phrases such as, “these people were living in grinding poverty, struggling to find enough food to survive. Why would we want to go back to that?”

To which I respond, “I don’t want to go back to the past.”

Because, yes, I agree. Throughout history, people have lived with incredible shortage; life literally depending on whether food could be found that day. And even when our ancestors had enough food (which throughout the centuries they often did) they oriented their life around the getting and preparation of it, often working their bodies incredibly hard.

For those of us affluent and in the West, the opposite is true – we have an abundance of food and many time-saving devices that allow us to prepare meals using far fewer resources.

So, though I love spending time in my kitchen, I wouldn’t want to go back to the past and have us all dependent on the success of local harvests, working all day, every day to put meals on the table.

Despite not wanting to turn the clock back, I’ve dedicated the last 15 years of my life to learning about, practising and teaching the value of food as it used to be, before industrialisation. And the title that I have chosen for my work is Ancestral Kitchen – the word ‘ancestral’ in that phrase very much centering this way of life in the past.

So if I don’t want to turn the clock back, why am I promoting ancestral foodways?

Post-industrialised Food Systems

Since industrialisation, our food systems have been based around profit. Industry – created for and focused on profit – required a workforce who, when moved from their land into cities, needed to be fed. Our modern food world is shaped on this model and the companies that make our food do so because they can make a profit.

The replacement of local, home-based food systems with profit-based food has disconnected us from what happens to the soil and the environment when we grow food. It has polluted our world with the byproducts of industrial processes, incredible amounts of packaging and global transportation. And, on top of this, it has made us more ill than we’ve ever been.

We’ve dug up fossil fuels, made fertilisers and ploughed them into the soil. Our oceans are overflowing with plastic. Food-related diseases are skyrocketing. All for profit.

In addition, industrialisation of food has allowed us view what we eat as a dislocated ‘thing’, without tying it to the resources that are needed to make it. With this, it’s easy for us to ignore the damage that we are doing to ourselves, our soil, our planet and our fellow human beings.

Ancestral Foodways

The food systems of our ancestors were not connected to profit. They were concerned with providing as much nutrition as possible from what grew nearby, whilst also ensuring that the local environment was well looked after.

Our ancestors knew how to feed themselves in a sustainable way. Without big machinery, transportation and chemicals they had to eat what was around them, learn how eek out every bit of of nutrition from it and care for the soil so it would continue to sustain them and their families. Their foodways centred on respecting everything around them.

When looking at the problems our world is facing, the foodways of our ancestors make sense.

Why wouldn’t we want to give our bodies the best nutrition possible, enabling us to thrive?

Looking after the soil so that it can grow food for future generations is a no-brainer, surely?

Decreasing transportation, plastic and industrial pollution is something the sane are clamouring for. Why wouldn’t we do it?

And thanks to many of the things our modern world has given us we can do this without the hardship our ancestors took on; we can adopt an ancestral eating philosophy, without needing to spend all of our time, from dawn till dusk, focused on providing food.

How can we bring ancestral eating into a modern kitchens?

In modern kitchens, where we may no longer be growing or raising our foods we can be inspired by the ways of life that permeated our ancestors’ food systems and in doing so benefit ourselves, our families, our local economies, our soil and our environment.

• We can source our foods from local farmers.
• We can use the process of fermentation to increase nutrition and provide much-needed probiotics.
• We can eat all of the animal and diversify our diets, reducing waste.
• We can choose organic food because we realise the importance of maintaining soil health.

My article, ‘What does Eating Ancestrally Mean?’ explains the tenets of ancestral eating.

My article 5 Simple Ways to Start Cooking Ancestrally gives you practical and simple ways to begin.

And you can listen to my interview with Chris Smaje to understand why being inspired by pre-industrial farming systems is the key to providing food for our society going forward.

Sourdough bread as an example of ancestral wisdom

Let me give you an example of something I make regularly in my kitchen which directly draws from the wisdom of ancestral eating: Sourdough bread.

When I spend time preparing bread, I know that I’m standing in shoes of the generations of women who worked at breadmaking for many hours a week.

But I’m not doing it for the sake of recreating an long-lost domestic idyll. I’m making local-flour loaves because I know it to be the healthiest form of bread that I can provide.

By healthy, I mean nutritionally healthy – it’s fresh flour and has been rendered digestible by the sourdough process. I mean healthy for my community – the flour came from a local farmer. I mean healthy for my sanity – I’m better off prepping bread than I am scrolling or watching Netflix. I mean healthy for my environment – no pesticides were used in growing the grain, it wasn’t shipped from another country and it doesn’t need plastic packaging.

Taking Our Inspiration from the Past

Ancestral eating does not romanticise the past. Through learning how our ancestors lived and ate, we become even more aware just how difficult it was for many of them. And yet we know that they were incredibly resourceful at crafting food and farming techniques that support health and environment, and that industrialisation, with its focus on profit, has taken that away from us.

As an ancestral cook, I am inspired every day by the wisdom of the communities that came before me. And I believe that the more we can connect with that, the better outcomes there will be for us all individually, communally and societally.

If you’re cooking ancestrally and would benefit from the support of a community of like-minds, check out the Ancestral Kitchen Podcast community here.

1/ Ancestral eating isn’t eating the way your ancestors did, regardless of where you live.

Ancestral eating is about eating the food that is local to you. Food that can be sustained naturally and well on the land around you.

It is not eating what your ancestors ate, regardless of where you live; that is the science of nutrigenetics which recommends you eat a certain way based on your inherited genes.

For example, if you lived in the centre of America and yet had ancestors that had lived in coastal Japan, nutrigenetics may recommend that you eat a diet high in seaweed and other staples that are ancestral to that area of Asia.

Ancestral eating, however, would say look at the land surrounding you and see what it has traditionally and can naturally sustain and eat that.

2/ Ancestral eating isn’t necessarily eating the way your great-grandparents did.

Michael Pollan famously said in 2008 “Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognise as food.” Often this sentence is used to define ancestral food.

Over 15 years after it was written, for many of us (especially those of us in America and the UK), our great-grandmothers were eating industrially-made food. I have several cookbooks from the early 1900s which include margarine in their ingredient lists and indeed Crisco, the industrially-processed replacement to ancestral fats such as lard, was launched in 1915.

Even if we are eating foods our great-grandmother’s would recognise, such as beef, pork and eggs, the animals who produced that food are eating very different things to what they would have been fed in the past. And our vegetables and fruit are now being sprayed with chemical concoctions that didn’t exist back then.

For me, ancestral eating means pre-industrial food systems. We look to the foods that sustained our ancestors before profit became the thing that drives mainstream food and before global transport came into the picture.

3/ Ancestral eating is not eschewing all modern conveniences.

Just because we take the inspiration for our food supply and preparation methods from those who came before us doesn’t mean we cannot use the options that the modern world has given us in the kitchen.

Let’s take the example of grain. In the past, our ancestors would have toiled for many hours hand-working grinding stones to make flour for bread. Now we have companies that have developed compact ecological stone mills for grinding grain at home. These modern mills do the job in a fraction of the time.

We stand at an amazing time: we can have the best of both worlds. We can judiciously choose a way forward that both cares for and ensures the survival of our race yet doesn’t see us spend our whole day on food preparation.

4/ Ancestral eating isn’t a romanticisation of foodways of the past.

It may feel good to get closer to our food; to get our hands in the soil, to grow our own vegetables, to bake our own bread but ancestral eating as a way of life does not romanticise the past.

As residents of developed countries, we live with unprecedented abundance. The people who came before us rarely experienced this; so many of them struggled throughout their lives just to have enough food to survive.

We can be inspired by the food wisdom of our forefathers – the way they cared for the soil, the way they preserved food, the way they wasted so little – whilst also holding both respect for their tremendous battles and gratitude for our own situation.

5/ Ancestral eating isn’t about excluding grains.

The Paleo diet excludes grains. Ancestral eating doesn’t.

It is said that farming grains began 12,000 years ago. Eating ancestrally (being defined as being inspired by pre-industrial food systems) can incorporate grain-eating. As with other food groups, we look to the wisdom of the past to understand best practice. Our ancestors most often processed their grains before consuming by soaking and/or fermenting.

6/ Ancestral eating isn’t an excuse to sell you supplements.

A journey into ancestral food will often educate us about nutrition and in doing so it’s all too easy to get persuaded into the purchase of expensive supplements. Indeed, an Internet search using the terms ancestral food will relatively quickly bring results that talk about supplementation.

Sometimes supplements can be useful. And sometimes they can be produced sustainably. However, the tenets of ancestral eating revolve around careful selection, sourcing and preparation of foods and it is absolutely possible to eat ancestrally without supplementing your diet with powders or pills.

Further resources:

My article: What does Eating Ancestrally Mean?

Ancestral Kitchen Podcast episode: All About Grains

Having done a fair bit of research on this, and tried many different ways to increase my collagen intake, I want to make it simple for you:

What is collagen?

Collagen is a protein. Proteins are made of amino acids, of which there are 20 in existence, nine of which are ‘essential’ (our body can’t manufacture them). Collagen contains 18 different amino acids and is almost a ‘complete’ protein – it’s only missing one of the nine essential amino acids (tryptophan).

Including the amino acids that form collagen in your diet is a wonderful thing. In the ancestral food world it is most known for being a gut healer, but collagen will also help with every part of our body that needs protein; hair and skin, ligaments, cartilage, our immune system, and our joints.

Collagen can be found in the tissues (skin, bone, cartilage and tendons) of land and sea animals. We can get that collagen out of those tissues by heating and breaking it down.

What is gelatin?

Gelatin is formed when you heat collagen rich tissues in water (for example, by making a broth). The amino acids literally gelatinise. The chemical structure of collagen is changed during this process, which can render it easier to digest.

The easiest and cheapest way to ingest collagen

The simplest, and most economical, way to get collagen into your diet is to make bone broth from bones that also have cartilage, tendons, and skin still on them. This can be done by, for example, including chicken feet or ligamentous joints such as beef knees in your broth pot.

Once cooked and chilled, a bone broth that is full of gelatin will literally be like a jelly – it will wiggle when you shake it! If you want a gelatin-rich broth and are finding your resulting stock too liquidy, increase the amount of ligamentous joints and/or decrease the amount of water that you are using when you make it.

Bone broth costs hardly anything to make and if you get into the habit of making and drinking it regularly, you’ll have the cheapest form of collagen available in your kitchen!

If you’d like more information on broth, check out the two podcast episodes I’ve done on it, Your Broth Questions Answered and Bones and Water – The Magic of Stock and if you’d like to my five favourite ways to use broth in my own kitchen, check out this article.

What about supplementation?

Both collagen and gelatin are available as supplements. When taken from land animals collagen is often bovine (from beef) or porcine (from pigs) and is mostly sourced from animal hide. Collagen can also be sourced from marine life, poultry and the membrane of eggshells.

Understanding the labels

You might’ve seen the term ‘collagen peptides’ or ‘hydrolysed collagen’ on supplements. In order to make collagen easy to supplement, it goes through a process called cleaving. This breaks down collagen’s amino acids into shorter chains, making it easy to mix into all liquids, including cold ones.

The differences between collagen and gelatin as supplements

The main difference between collagen and gelatin as supplements is the way you can use them.

You can add collagen powder to cold or hot drinks (hot water will not denature it) and it will dissolve.

If you add gelatin powder to a cold drink it will clump and gel. It needs slow working into hot water to dissolve.

So, if you want to supplement collagen and use it to quickly and easily stir into hot or cold drinks you will need to purchase collagen (which will have been hydrolysed).

If, however, you’re not bothered about adding collagen to drinks and you instead want to have some fun making things like gummies, gelatin is perfect.

For a third option, collagen is available encapsulated so you can take tablets of it with one of your meals instead!

Where to source collagen and gelatin supplements

In the US, if you want powders, I trust the Great Lakes brand. They have a huge range of collagen and gelatin. You can buy some plus support my podcast work here.

They currently have a deal of 25% off orders over $150.

One Earth Health, our current podcast sponsors and producers of the liver capsules that I love, sell New Zealand grass-fed beef collagen in capsules. You can get 5% off your order and support my podcast work by using this link.

Outside the US (where i live), these sources are harder to get hold of. I currently use Igennus collagen peptides. You can read about this here.

Have I answered all your collagen and gelatin questions? Do you use these products as supplements in your kitchen, or are you relying on bone broth? Comment below and let me know!

Emile Henry Loaf Baker

This ceramic baker gives the most amazing crusts! I use it as my go-to baker for all my spelt and rye loaves (and you’ll find instructions for baking spelt loaves in it, in my ecookbook Spelt Sourdough Every Day).

It’s easy to use and clean, the lid (which has cleverly-designed holes) means my loaf has the right amount of humidity to rise well and it looks and feels amazing to use; breads that come out of it feel special to me!

If you are in the US, you can purchase this baker and support my work by using this link (it won’t cost you any more).

Emile Henry Smooth Pizza Stone

I bake all my pizzas on the Emile Henry ceramic smooth pizza stone. I pre-heat it to 250C (480F) and the pizzas bake in 8 minutes, coming out with a beautifully-crispy bottom, a well-risen crumb and perfectly cooked toppings!

Find the recipe for my wholegrain spelt sourdough pizza in Spelt Sourdough Every Day!

If you are in the US, you can purchase this pizza stone and support my work by using this link (it won’t cost you any more).

You can browse all Emile Henry cookware here.

Phytic acid is perhaps the most well-known of these mineral-stealing ‘anti-nutrients’. It’s possible to neutralise the damage that phytic acid potentially does by activating another compound that is naturally-present in grains: phytase. Phytase is an enzyme in grains which breaks down the chemical structure of phytic acid and stops it doing its potentially damaging work.

Hence one of the tenets of ancestral cooking: soak your grains. This action helps activate phytase allowing it to break down phytic acid, meaning you don’t have to worry about not absorbing the minerals in your meal.

What’s different about oats?

This logic, although sound for most grains, doesn’t extend to oats for two reasons:

1. Oats are naturally low in phytase.
2. Virtually all oats are processed in a kiln before they get to us. This action most likely destroys phytase.

So, soaking oats in water and an acidic medium doesn’t help when it comes to inactivating phytic acid; there’s no phytase in the oats to act as a catalyst. Soaking oats like this will soften them which is beneficial. If you add a live starter to the soaking water you’re going a step further – studies have shown that both lactic acid bacteria and yeasts have the ability to break down phytic acid but importantly, the starter does not provide phytase, the enzyme that is known to break down phytic acid .

The standard answer

The standard answer to this dilemma is to add in a grain that is high in phytase (like rye) to your soaking medium. I have followed this advice for years, using my wholegrain rye sourdough starter when I soak my oats.

And I would have continued this way, had I not delved deeply into oat and grain science for the book on oats I’m currently researching. The piecing together of information from many scientific papers has led me to understand that the method that I’ve been using for over a decade (of adding rye sourdough starter) is not ideal either.

Here’s why:

As soon as grains are ground into flour, the enzymes in them are exposed to oxygen and start to degrade. This includes phytase. So, if you’re using anything other than a high phytase grain that’s been freshly-ground, it’s probable that there’s no phytase in your flour.

In order to do our best to potentially inactivate the mineral-stealing phytic acid we need to include a high phytase flour such as rye (or buckwheat) with our soaking oats AND that flour needs to be freshly-ground.

Learning this information is part of the reason why I now have a Mockmill electric grain grinder on my kitchen counter. I freshly-grind a handful of rye berries every time I soak oats for my morning oatmeal.

If you’d like to know how I do it, check out this post; The Best Way to Soak Oats.

If you want to hear more about this topic, you can listen to Ancestral Kitchen Podcast #70 – Fermenting Oats

The last word: As far as I can see, no-one has done a direct study on this – actually setting a scenario with freshly-ground flour and then measuring subsequent phytase levels, but the conclusions are clearly deducible from information in grain studies. (If you want to have a look yourself, read the words and quoted studies on the comments of this post (many thanks to Richard!))

This article will explain protein recommendations, what that looks like on your plate and give you 16 ideas for high protein breakfasts.

How much protein do I need?

The sources that I’ve read suggest that, as women, we need one gram of protein for every kilogram of our body weight. If we are very active, breastfeeding, insulin-resistant or peri-menopausal that figure goes up.

Let’s make that more tangible: I weigh 10 stone (140lbs/65kg), so that means I need 65g of protein a day which is 22g per meal.

How much protein is in food?

Here’s some information from Laura Bryden’s ‘The Hormone Repair Manual’:

In order to get 20g of protein, we need to eat:

• Red meat 77g (or 2.71oz)

• Chicken breast 87g (or 3.06oz)

• Almonds is 93g (or 3.28oz)

• Salmon 105g (or 3.70oz)

• Feta cheese 121g (or 4.26oz)

• Eggs 159g (or 5.60oz) c. three medium eggs

• Tofu 167g (or 5.89oz)

• Chickpeas 242g (or 8.53oz)

• Lentils 263g (or 9.27oz)

As you’ll notice, animal sources are generally higher in protein than plant sources. In addition, animal sources are more likely to be ‘complete’ proteins (i.e. include all the essential amino acids – that is the amino acids that our bodies cannot generate themselves). There is certainly a place for plant proteins – but in order to prioritise protein per mouthful, I look to animal sources first.

Why high protein for breakfast?

Protein at breakfast is so beneficial. It regulates our circadian rhythms therefore helps us sleep better, it aids with sugar processing by sensitising our insulin production and it fires up metabolism. In addition, it fills us up, meaning we’re less likely to run out of energy or be hungry during the morning.

How can I eat a high protein breakfast?

If you want to eat a high-protein breakfast make these key ingredients central to the first meal of your day:

Broth

Beef bone broth has 10g of protein per cup/250ml and is so easy to drink or work into other dishes.

Dairy

1 cup/250ml of milk or milk kefir has over 8g of protein, and it is easy to blend into smoothies or simply to drink. Cheese is even higher in protein with just 28g/1oz of cheddar having 7.6g of protein, 28g/1oz of Parmesan having 9.2g of protein and half a cup of cottage cheese having 13g of protein.

Collagen powder

The two problems I hear from people about breakfast are:

1 – I don’t have the time to make a meal early in the morning, and

2 – I just can’t eat that much early in the day

Both of these often apply to me! Collagen powder has 20g of protein per two scoops and is so easy to mix into virtually any breakfast or breakfast drink. 

Collagen powder may seem more costly than other protein options at first sight, but when I sat down and worked out how much each of my proteins cost per gram, I realised it was actually cheaper than all my other sources. 

As it’s not an unprocessed food, I pay attention to how I source collagen (just as I pay attention to where I get meat and dairy from). Many manufacturers state the animals are grass fed but do not give any more details on their provenance and, as a recent article by Tara Couture revealed, hormone-treated animal hides are used for collagen powder. Check your supplier to ensure what you are buying aligns with your standards.

Eggs

Eggs are one of the ultimate healthy fast foods, hence very useful for breakfast protein. One medium egg has 6 to 7g of protein.

Meat

Having meat for breakfast may need a psychological shift, but it’s a great way to get protein without much bulk. Beef can be prioritised over pork and chicken because it is higher in protein.

Oats

This one may surprise you! Oats have one of the highest protein levels of any grain. The ones I source have 16g of protein per hundred grams, which puts them on a par with many cheeses. Being a plant protein, they do not have the full spectrum of amino acids, but they are higher in the essential amino acids than many other cereals.

Now let’s get to how to combine these ingredients:

16 High Protein Breakfast Ideas:

Below you’ll find a long list of breakfast ideas that’ll get you to 20g of protein before lunch. I’ve focused in on the protein, not including reference to fruit and vegetables – do add these to the dishes based on what you fancy and what you have digestive room for!

1/ Cook grains in broth and add a high protein extra. You can do this freshly, or use broth to reheat previously-cooked grains. Click here to access my recipe for breakfast bone broth bowl, which explains my process. You could try one of my favourite takes on this: cooking 55g (2oz) (dry weight) of grains in a cup of broth, mixing in a teaspoon of miso and then poaching an egg in it – it’ll give you a breakfast with around 24g of protein.

2/ Poaching two eggs in a cup of broth will give you over 20g of protein.

3/ Have a cup of broth with sourdough bread and 50g (scant 2oz) of cheese. If you’re having something like cheddar, you’re looking at 25g of protein.

4/ Drink a cup of broth immediately on waking, giving 10g of protein before you’ve even got to your breakfast!

5/ Stir collagen powder into bone broth for the ultimate highprotein drink. Two scoops of collagen powder plus a cup of broth will give you 30g protein.

6/ Two boiled eggs eaten with a small square of cheese will get you over 20g of protein. Soft-boiled eggs cook in a few minutes; hard-boiled eggs can be cooked in bulk and stored in the fridge.

7/ If I want to eat more eggs, I find scrambling them easier. I can often eat three scrambled eggs (remember one egg will give you 6-7g of protein), when I couldn’t manage that many boiled. You can also add left over meat scraps or some flaked fish into the saucepan whilst cooking for higher protein content.

8/ Omelettes are quick, easy and another way to eat multiple eggs. A three-egg omelette with 28g (1oz) of grated cheddar in the middle will give you around 25g of protein.

9/ ‘Special cheese on toast’ is one of the breakfasts my husband, Rob, often makes for me! Mix 50g (2oz) of grated cheddar-style cheese with a beaten egg and dollop it onto a large piece of sourdough bread before putting under the grill. This comes in at over 20g of protein.

10/ Beef patties or meatballs cooked in advance and frozen can be taken out of the freezer before bed to provide a high protein breakfast. In my house a beef patty usually weighs just under 100g (c. 4oz), so I know I’m getting 25g of protein from just one.

11/ Sausages are another good option. A 75g Italian-style sausage will have 13.6g of protein in. One of these with a fried egg or a cup of broth (or both!) makes a great breakfast.

12/ A small portion of oats cooked with a cup of milk will bring you close to 20g of protein (you can previously soak the oats in minimal water to ferment if you like, see my instructions here). If you add an egg to the saucepan a couple of minutes before you serve, you get to around 23g of protein.

13/ Collagen can be stirred into oats so easily. Sourdough porridge plus two scoops of collagen powder will give you almost 30g of protein. Adding some nuts and/or seeds will boost protein and give you more texture. If you prefer a sweet breakfast, this is a good option for you.

14/ Savoury oats are amazing! Cook your oats in a cup of broth and you’ll have almost 20g of protein. To up the protein more, add in an egg just before they’re done or sprinkle some cheese on top of them.

15/ Stir collagen into whatever you are drinking or eating – your coffee, your orange juice, your yoghurt, your grains cooked in broth. On days that are super busy this is such a great fall-back.

16/ Smoothies: using milk or milk kefir as a base for a high-protein smoothie is quick and delicious. A cup and a half of milk plus a raw egg and a spoonful of flax seed and you’re at 20g of protein. Adding collagen, perhaps just half a scoop, can up this further.

I hope this helps give you some high protein breakfast ideas! Each of the suggestions above is open-ended and can be a springboard for new combinations – let me know your own ideas below, by email or on Instagram.

And importantly – don’t stress about your breakfasts! Being the healthiest we can is so much more than a counting game and is achieved by our consistent daily choices (which must be achievable to be repeatable!). Eat what you enjoy, and can manage. Be gentle with yourself. 

If you enjoyed this article, you’d like the other ancestral food content I send out bi-weekly in my newsletter – you can get on my mailing list here!

You may also enjoy:

Breakfast Bone Broth Bowl

My 5 Favourite Ways To Use Bone Broth

Collagen and Gelatin Made Simple