One of the trickiest aspects of implementing the traditional method of soaked oatmeal in order to maximize nutrition, eliminate anti-nutrients, and considerably improve digestibility is getting used to the slightly sour taste.
Some of you are even going so far as to rinse the soaked oatmeal after cooking, for example, in an attempt to lessen that slightly sour taste that some find unpleasant. Unfortunately, these efforts are not working very well for those of you that have emailed me about it.
I’ve got a better idea!
In the video below, I talk to you about the single easy step required to quickly adjust your family to soaked oatmeal.
I also talk to you about the huge benefit to your backside of soaked oatmeal and tell you the story about my 3 kids and their experience eating unsoaked oatmeal versus soaked oatmeal.
If you ever doubted the need for soaked oatmeal before, after hearing this story, you may find that you change your mind!
For those of you who want to take the plunge and prepare your first batch of soaked oatmeal, check out my recipe plus video lesson on preparing overnight oats.
How you cook the oatmeal is the critical step that most people completely miss and which determines how much nourishment and benefit you will actually derive from the experience.
Preparation also determines how long the oatmeal will fill you up. Â What good is a bowl of oatmeal if you are hungry again and ready for a donut by 10 am?
Preparing your oatmeal the traditional way as practiced for centuries by ancestral societies will take a little planning on your part, but you will be greatly rewarded with a much more nourishing, digestible breakfast that will stay with you all the way to lunchtime!
Traditional peoples knew through observation that grains were very hard to digest and caused health problems over time for those who consumed them without careful preparation.
Throwing out those toxic boxed breakfast cereals that are at least twice as expensive per serving and replacing them with a simple, nutritious bowl of soaked oatmeal will also help your food budget considerably with no loss in pleasure or enjoyment particularly on chilly winter mornings!
How to Easily Adjust to the Taste of Soaked Oatmeal
In this short video, I explain how to adjust to the unique flavor of overnight oats without any loss of enjoyment.
The process simply involves soaking with water only at first and gradually moving toward the most beneficial soaking medium. The speed of transition depends completely on your unique set of taste buds.
More Information
Soaked Oatmeal Benefits Without the Soaking?
Why ALL Boxed Breakfast Cereal is Toxic
Hi Sarah! Love your blog and videos very much. You have taught me a lot! One thing, though, about oatmeal. If I don’t soak it, I never have digestive issues with it, but when I have soaked it, I get a massive tummy ache. Any idea what may be causing this? I have stomach/digestive issues anyway, so try to limit those things which make me nauseous or have pain. [obviously]
That is certainly a mystery. The only guess I could possibly come up with is that when you eat it unsoaked it passes right through you and is not digested much at all. When you soak it, it becomes much more digestible and when your gut digests it, it brings distress. Perhaps oats are not a good choice for you .. try another breakfast porridge perhaps. I love rice cereal for breakfast also. Try soaking that and see if that works better for you.
Do you have issues with gastritis or ulcers? If that’s the case, sour foods can cause problems. But then other sour foods would do the same thing.
Sarah,
Before running into your blog, we were soaking our oats and beans over night in water only without digestive issues. Since reading about anti nutrients and your blog we attempted to soak our oats, pinto beans and garbazos beans in water with apple cider vinegar and have found that it takes longer to cook our beans and some remain hard. My husband has referred back to our old way of soaking. Any suggestions?
Years ago, I had the same problem with lentils staying hard – even after soaking them overnight. The tip I got which is PRICELESS: put backing soda in the cooking water. I don’t measure, so you’ll have to experiment how much you need to soften up the beans. But I would guess a half teaspoon. It suds up the water. Sometimes I remove the suds, sometimes I don’t. Someone else might be of more help here. I’m not sure what it does to the nutrients, but it does make the beans/lentils soft!
So the fact that vegetarians in India that purposely food combine lentils and rice for a protein source is meaningless then?
Oliver, I think we need some empirical evidence here. I find myself yawning at all the references to nutrient content and theories. It doesn’t prove anything of itself. It needs some back up. What raw vegan population do you know of with an excellent health profile?
You still have not explained how people are able to reproduce for generation after generation on horrible, life-denying food.
Sarah, what ratio do you use for soaking flour?
At work I keep a big container of oatmeal in my desk for those days I don’t have time to bring my lunch to work. When lunch time comes around, it’s obviously not soaked, But, if I have some yogurt, I like to mix that in after I cook it (with milk, in the microwave–i know, i know). It has a very pleasant flavor, really filling. Even plain yogurt gives it a really sweet-tangy flavor. I definitely need to try this at home.
The lemon taste is yummy! I would suggest starting with that acid med for soaking!
Yes, soaking in lemon juice is my fave too 🙂
Never did soak my oatmeal before but I will certainly try this.
After you soak your oats, do you heat it up on the stove in the morning? I like my oatmeal warm (as do my kids) and most recipes for soaked oats I’ve seen just eat it cold.
Yes, I soak a big pot and then cook it up the next morning nice and hot. After that, I refrigerate leftovers reheating on subsequent mornings.
There is no need or reason to ever eat it cold!!
I actually prefer cold oatmeal, always have since I was a kid. All this talk about a sour taste is though is mind-boggling. I have yet to experience sour oats after soaking them. Am I forgetting to add something to the oats and water? Have my oats been pre-steamed (as mentioned above)? Sarah, I would love your feedback. I feel like you’re one of the few who understands me, another food purist. “Everything popular is wrong.” 🙂
So far I am loving soaked oatmeal and have a recipe to share.
Blueberry oatmeal:
Soak oats with frozen blueberries overnight. I combine 1.25 cups oats with ~1/3 cup pesticide-free wild blueberries, and just under 2 cups filtered water.
In the morning I drain the water (am I losing any nutrients by doing this, by the way??) with a strainer, they go back in my bowl, and I add some Seven Stars whole fat yogurt (so delicious, thanks for the tip), 5-10 drops of stevia, and a little coconut sugar. Voila!
Give it a try or spin it your way and let me know what you think.
Cheers,
Mr. Geist
Don’t you need to add some Buckwheat to the Oatmeal while you are soaking it? I thought this was needed to neutralize the phytates??
No, you don’t need any buckwheat. If you want to add some fine, but there is no need to overcomplicate this process to achieve excellent results.
I had read on the WPF website about the buckwheat, as most “oatmeal” (although we use rolled oats in Australia) is “stabilised” (steamed) before it is processed, an this destroys the phytase. I have been able to find organic rolled oats in Australia that aren’t stabilised, and the taste after they have been soaked and cooked is drastically different to soaked, cooked, stabilised oats. My girls refuse to eat the unstabilised oats, and even taste them when I add a small amount to stabilised oats before soaking and cooking.
Have you experienced this? Would this be the phytase at work? Apparently unstabilised oats go rancid more quickly then stabilised oats. Would this be a rancid taste that I can detect?
Does it taste ‘off’? You could call the company and ask whether they store the rolled grains for any length of time. My guess is that oats would store better ‘unrolled’, whole. Any grain with the germ retained will spoil quickly.
I don’t think the phytase is to blame. The more it works, the more sour it gets.
Hmmm, probably is the phytase to blame then. They don’t taste off to me, just very sour, with a different texture- much less chunky and more creamy. Sally Fallon recommends buying pre-packaged oats etc to minimise the chance of spoilage etc, and every time I have tried unstabilised oats, the results are the same. So although they probably are better for us, there is NO chance I can get my girls to eat them!.
It sounds like you’re getting a truly fermented oatmeal, which is good, but apparently not your girls’ liking. You could try and soak them for a lesser time and perhaps don’t add any acidic medium, the water alone should suffice. See if you can get them less sour/fermented.
You could also try and make the fermented oatmeal into something else, like cakes fried with eggs. A casserole etc. And balance the sour flavor with honey or spices.
Okay, can I just say I LOVE your blog! And this post is just what I needed, thanks!
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Hi Sarah, I’ve been rinsing my oatmeal slightly, and never have had any sour flavor. We love it this way, and it is much more filling. But, am I reducing the nutritional value by doing this? Thanks for any help on this!!
Some folks are more sensitive to the slightly sour taste than others … I don’t taste much if any difference either! Some folks really find it sour though. I would not rinse the oats as this is not a traditional step and yes, you would be washing some nutrients down the drain especially if you used yogurt or liquid whey as the soaking medium.