Is it safe to eat uncooked oats?
We know that eating raw or uncooked flour isn't recommended, but what about the safety of consuming raw oatmeal?The two processes for milling and processing oats are very different.What is the process of making flour?Grain or other plant foods can be used to make flour.The majority of flour is made from wheat.Dough made from wheat flour can be used to bake bread because it contains a large amount of gluten.The gases formed by yeast, baking powder, or other leavening agents are trapped by the network of gluten.Light, soft bread and other baked goods are created when the dough rises.
In the milling process, wheat that arrives as the mill is first sorted and sifted to remove extraneous matter such as small stones or pieces of straw.To make sure the final flour has the right characteristics, wheat is blended.The wheat is cracked and moved between rollers that separate it from the rest of the wheat to create flour.After milling, some agents are added to the flour.The law requires vitamins and minerals to be added to enriched flour.Leavening agents and salt are added to self-rising flour.The flour can be held for a couple of months before being shipped to market.There is a video showing the inside of a flour milling operation.
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