Sunday mornings around the Ticknor house would always be ushered in by the amazing smell of fresh oatmeal – made with real natural oats and love by my darling mother. I remember the taste of that oaty breakfast – nothing but oats, water, and sugar – the simplest of ingredients, but pure deliciousness nonetheless. But those were days of simply – when the only worries were if my friends were home to play. Middle school morning mayhem ushered in new kind of oatmeal, the kind that the ingredient of love is cut away from – instant oatmeal. This was the pre-packaged, unloved child of oatmeal – a sloppy mush that could never amount to what its parent is. Whereas with the homemade oatmeal, you could taste each individual piece of oat, with its straight from the farm grainy texture, with instant oatmeal everything is mashed up together to make a paper like pulp that resembled baby food. Gross.
In an article that I found concerning the nutritional information about the two products – to my surprise, one serving of instant oatmeal actually contains more fiber and nutrients than regular oatmeal (although not a significant amount). I found that this was because in the refining process, they add oat flower and nutrients to the mix. The article went on to say that there isn’t much of a difference between the two foods. The main difference that it did point out was texture and flavor (two of the things that I distinguished in regular oatmeal’s superiority).
In conclusion, if you’re in a rush and still want a solid breakfast food and can handle mushy texture, grab the instant oatmeal – it won’t live up to the dynasty of its forefathers, but it will still give the great health benefits of classic oatmeal.
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