Havregrot or Oatmeal Porridge

Oatmeal porridge is a nutritious meal.

Down through the generations in Norway oatmeal porridge (grøt) was a regular every-day meal. The every-day porridge was most often oats boiled in water, but for special occasions it was the custom to use milk and even an "eye of butter".

It is a perfect breakfast meal, giving the body all it needs in a combination of nutrition. A portion of oatmeal porridge contains protein and calcium, in addition to other healthy substances. It means that it contains a large part of the daily requirements of nutritious ingredients.

Milk and grain complete each other in a wonderful way. What the milk has little of, the oats have in abundance, and vice versa. Grains contain iron, which is not so abundant in milk.

One tip is to soak the oatmeal in water overnight and then cook it with milk. Milk has an abundance of calcium, iodine, and other important nutritious ingredients. In addition the protein in milk and grains complete each other in an advantageous way. Oatmeal porridge cooked with milk one or more times a week is a good, simple and healthy meal habit.

Oatmeal porridge can be prepared in a variety of ways.

There are countless methods to vary how the oatmeal porridge is prepared. One golden rule is to prepare the oatmeal porridge yourself - from scratch. It is simpler than you may believe, not the least because there are so many varieties of ways to prepare it. To the oatmeal porridge you can add apples, raisins or other fruit, instead of the usual sprinkling of sugar. This gives the porridge a sweet and good taste in addition to useful c-vitamins and calcium.

The youngest members of the family are often fondest of the porridge.

Just about everyone has a relationship with oatmeal porridge. It is often the first kind of solid food in a child's experience. Oatmeal porridge seems to be just as popular in any age group according to surveys.

It shows that oatmeal porridge is a traditional dish that is continued from generation to generation. Families with children are among the most enthusiastic consumers of porridge. And when you are open to try new and different ways to prepare oatmeal porridge, it can enrich your experience with it.

Porridge in many ways.

Facts and history of porridge.

Porridge is a hot dish with long traditions in Norwegian culture, and our forefathers used it in everything from breakfast, dinner, dessert for weddings and funerals.

One portion of oatmeal porridge prepared with milk fulfills a great deal of the daily requirements of nutrition.

It is not easy to say exactly how old porridge is, but agriculture and animal husbandry was known already in the early Stone Age.

Bread and porridge are considered as old as agriculture. The first food dishes the northern people prepared were based on the available corn.

It was crushed in a stone mortar, and it produced very rough whole flour. The flour was becoming finer when the hand mills were used from about 300 AD.

Much later in the middle ages (about 1340) we hear of rice for the first time in Scandinavia. And the first rice porridge is served at Bohus castle. At that time rice porridge was only for the affluent people. Christmas Eve, 200 years later, in 1541, history recounts that rice porridge was enjoyed at Malmohus castle.

Porridge has a central place in the fairy tales. For example, Espen Askeladd competed with the troll, while Tommeliten drowned in the "butter eye" (smoroyet).

There was a big difference in the food ordinary people ate and what the rich enjoyed. Ordinary people would eat oatmeal porridge while the rich would eat rice porridge.

Porridge has historically gone from a poor man's nutrition to a dish enjoyed by everyone.

Porridge could be used for more things than people believe, but any erotic aid was not likely. For that it made you too tired and sleepy to inspire many activities.

When a man with amorous intentions came to the farm, you could read from what was served what the answer was likely to be. If he was served water porridge, the answer was a clear no, while waffles could indicate a yes.

Rømmegrøt (porridge cooked with cream) was the big occasion food in Norway in the old days. It was used when a new child was born, when the hay was cut, and at midsummer Jonsok-porridge.

When a child was born, rømmegrøt was served for everyone to recover when it was over, and this was common tradition all over the country.

Why is the "julegrøt" so popular? (Christmas Porridge) Christmas became one of the most celebrated holidays - and Christmas porridge became inseparable from the festivities.

Sankt Hans-grøten (St. Hans porridge) was elaborately decorated, and it should be enjoyed outdoors whatever the weather-gods was serving that day. The same was true of the porridge served for the workers when the cutting of the hay was completed.

In our own time Norwegians have continued to enjoy porridge to just about every kind of meal. The porridge got its name from the ingredients in it, and from the occasion for which it was prepared.

The historian Fredrik Grøn (1942) is of the opinion that grøt (porridge) should be considered Norway’s real national dish.

Havregrot or Oatmeal Porridge

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