FOOD
Against the grain
Can you tell your bulgar from your buckwheat? We provide a guide to some of the more unusual
grains and reveal the results of our flapjack taste test.
Wheat, oats and rye are often the first to
spring to mind when grains are
mentioned. After all it is not uncommon
for households to rely on pasta, bread
and rice as the staples for most meals.
Basing meals around grains is certainly a
good idea, particularly if you are on a
limited budget. Furthermore, whole grain
foods such as brown rice and whole
wheat pasta are widely known to help
protect against heart disease, some
cancers and diabetes. Whole grains are a
rich source of energy, protective
antioxidants and minerals and offer
plenty of dietary fibre while refined
grains such as white flour and white rice
have had the outer layers of the grain
removed and thus offer less
nutritional value.
Some unusual grains are appearing
more frequently on menus and in
recipes. These often provide a nutritious
and cheap source of calories and offer
great variety to mealtimes. Many can be
incorporated into dishes for breakfast,
lunch and dinner. Some such as quinoa
are even being marketed as ‘superfoods’
but many consumers may not know how
to differentiate between these grains,
where to buy them or how to cook them.
Consumer Choice provides a guide to the
most popular types.
2.5 cups of liquid for 18 to 20 minutes.
Uses: Cereal, pancakes, pasta, added to
thicken stir-fries, soups and stews.
Buckwheat is actually a seed, not a grain,
and is rich in iron and B-vitamins. It is
gluten-free.
Cooking: Bring one cup of buckwheat
with three cups of liquid to the boil, and
simmer for 20-30 minutes.
Uses: Soba noodles, buckwheat pancakes,
pasta, and muesli.
Amaranth contains high amounts of
protein and essential amino acids
including lyseine which is often missing
in common cereal crops. It also provides
calcium and iron and a small amount of
unsaturated fat. It is gluten-free.
Cooking: Boil one cup of amaranth with
Bulgar is a form of steamed, cracked
wheat. It is the main ingredient in
tabbouleh which is a salad traditionally
flavoured with fresh mint, lemon juice,
olive oil and crushed garlic. Bulgar
contains gluten.
Cooking: Bulgar is already partially
FOOD JUNE 2009
consumer choice
AT A GLANCE
Types of grains.
Coeliac disease.
Flapjack taste test.
229
€
make your own flapjacks
It’s easy to make your own flapjacks at home if you want to save money and it also means you can experiment with the ingredients and use
less sugar and fat than you would find in shop bought versions. To vary the recipe, add fruit such as raisins, chopped dates or berries which
will also add natural sweetness. Chopped nuts and toasted seeds also blend well with the other ingredients and add valuable nutrients.
Basic ingredients
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 cups rolled oats
cooked when sold and only needs
soaking in boiling water (1.5 cups of
water to 1 cup of grain) or a short
cooking time of 12-15 minutes.
Uses: Stews, mixed with salads,
alternative to rice, tabbouleh.
Cous Cous is made from semolina, the
hard part of wheat.
Cooking: Soak in hot water for ten
minutes as it is pre-cooked.
Uses: To accompany stews, spicy dishes
and salads.
Millet is a seed but is treated as a grain
for culinary purposes. It has a high
calcium, iron, and B-vitamin content. It
is gluten-free.
Cooking: Lightly dry roast millet to
bring out the flavour before adding
boiling water and cooking like rice in a
non-stick pan, stirring constantly. Cook
one part millet to four parts water for
about 20 minutes.
Uses: Porridge, salads, stews, soups,
puddings.
Report by
Sinéad Mc Mahon cc
Quinoa is treated as a grain but is
actually a seed rich in amino acids. It has
Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a saucepan over low heat, combine the butter and brown sugar.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until butter and sugar have melted. Stir in
the oats until coated. Pour into a 7 or 8 inch square baking pan. The
mixture should be about 1 inch thick. Bake for 30 minutes in the
preheated oven, or until the top is golden. Cut into squares, then
leave to cool completely before removing from the pan.
a slightly crunchy texture and a nutty
flavour when cooked. Quinoa is glutenfree. It contains about 15% protein, is
high in fibre and also contains iron,
calcium, zinc, potassium and
magnesium.
Cooking: Rinse well. Add three cups of
boiling water to one cup of quinoa.
Simmer for 15 minutes making sure it
doesn’t stick to the pot. It should be
light, dry and fluffy when cooked.
Uses: Quinoa can be used as an
alternative to oats when making porridge.
Use water or semi-skimmed milk,
sweeten with honey or fruit and top with
natural yogurt.
Rice of the brown variety is high in Bvitamins and nutritionally superior to
milled white rice as milling removes
protein, vitamins, minerals and fibre. A
mixture of both is a good solution for
those who find brown rice too heavy.
Rice is gluten-free.
Cooking: Wash in cold water and then
bring to the boil using two cups of water
to one cup of rice. Simmer for 45-60
minutes until water is gone.
Uses: Paella, risotto, pilaff, fried rice,
choice comment
Although some of the grains mentioned in this article may be unfamiliar and have strange sounding names they
have the potential to offer great variety and balance to our diets. They are worth discovering, as most are packed
with vitamins and minerals and are great value for money. Once you know the basics about how to prepare and
cook them you’ll find it quite easy to make the most of them. There is a wide variety of wholefood cookery books
available and the internet is also a good source of recipes and ideas. Experiment with different types and enjoy
discovering your favourites. You will find grains in all health food shops at reasonable prices with minimum
packaging and advertisement. Try to choose organic where possible, which means the grain will not have been
sprayed with any chemicals. Six or more daily servings of bread and cereal grains are recommended by the Food
Pyramid. Aim to make the majority of these wholegrains.
230
consumer choice
JUNE 2009 FOOD
salad, stuffing and rice pudding. Long
grain rice is used for savoury dishes and
short grain for desserts. Medium grain
can be used for both mains and desserts.
Spelt is an ancient form of high-fibre
wheat. It is easier to digest by many
people who cannot tolerate modern
forms of wheat. However, it is not glutenfree and therefore is not suitable for
coeliacs.
Intolerances
Gluten intolerance or ‘coeliac disease’
affects an estimated 20,000 people in
Ireland. Gluten is found in wheat, oats,
rye, barley and any products which are
based on these ingredients such as
breads, pastas and many processed foods.
The gluten protein triggers a reaction in
the intestines of coeliacs leading to tissue
damage in the gut which affects food
absorption and can cause bowel
disturbances, anaemia, osteoporosis and
weight loss. A blood test for the
condition can be taken by your GP but
the disease may not be picked up if you
are already following a gluten free diet.
Many gluten-free alternatives are
expensive, with prescription items
available only to those with medical
cards, but coeliacs can claim income tax
relief for labelled gluten-free products,
under section 69 of the Taxes
Consolidation Act 1997. Supermarkets
such as Superquinn and Tesco will give
customers certificates of expenditure,
which show the amount spent on coeliac
foods and which are accepted by the
Revenue.
It is compulsory for all food
manufacturers to list gluten as an
ingredient on packaging.
Useful contacts
FOCUS ON: OATS
The humble oat is not only used to make
porridge during the winter months but in
summertime can be consumed in the form of
muesli, oatcakes and flapjacks.
Oats are a low GI food which keep you full
for longer and also help to keep blood sugar
levels low and steady. They are also high in
soluble fibre which helps to keep the
digestive system healthy and have been
shown to help lower cholesterol levels. Eating
an oat-based breakfast such as porridge
every morning is beneficial for both your
figure and for your finances. Preparation only
takes a few minutes and adding ingredients
such as honey, chopped fruit and nuts,
toasted seeds or yoghurt means you won’t
get bored. If you don’t have time to make
porridge or find it too heavy for summer
mornings, you could make a batch of
flapjacks at the start of the week (see recipe,
opposite).
Taste test/brand comparisons
We decided to do a taste test on a selection
of shop bought flapjacks. Our panel tasted six
unbranded products. After reviewing the
labels we concluded that shop bought
flapjacks might not be as healthy as their
image suggests. They are more suitable as
occasional treats. Many are far too high in fat
and sugar (see table for details).
Price
The flapjacks we tested ranged in weight
from the 50g Kellogg’s Nutri-grain Oat bar to
the 330g tub of Northwood Flapjacks from
Lidl which are cut into 18g bite sized pieces.
We calculated the price per 100g of each
product to make comparisons easier. The top
end price was €1.87 for the Staple Diet
Flapjack while Lidl’s tub of flapjacks came in
at a very low €0.60 per 100g. Interestingly
these were the two most popular products.
Proportion of oats
Oats are the main ingredient in flapjacks but
we found that the actual proportion of oats
across the range of products tested was
much lower than expected. Worryingly, this
leaves more room for added fats and sugars.
The top rated products, Northwood Flapjacks
from Lidl and the Staple Diet Flapjack had a
higher oat content – 42% and 46%
respectively – than the other products which
specified the percentage of oats – Kellogg’s
Nutrigrain with 35% oats and Ma Baker
Hazelnut with 38% oats.
Energy content
Calories per 100g ranged from 484kcal in the
Staple Diet Flapjack to 407 kcal in Kellogg’s
Nutrigrain Oat Baked Bar. A healthy snack
should be filling enough without giving you
too many extra fattening calories. It is
important to be aware that flapjacks are not a
low calorie snack. To make comparisons
easier we checked and found that there are
449kcal per 100g in a Mars Bar.
Carbohydrate and sugar content
Flapjacks are very sweet because sugar is
normally used to hold the bar together. You
may need to cut down on sugar elsewhere if
you tend to snack on flapjacks because all the
products tested were very high in sugar with
golden syrup, glucose syrup, brown sugar,
white sugar and invert sugar syrup all
featuring high in the ingredients listed.
Fat content
Fat is included in the form of butter,
margarine or vegetable oil to make flapjacks
tastier. Fat content per 100g ranged from 15g
to 26g per 100g - all very high in fat.
Overall score
The taste and texture of each product was
considered and then scored out of a
maximum of five marks. Average scores for
each product were calculated. The top rated
products were the Northwood Flapjacks from
Lidl and the Staple Diet flapjack.
Preferences vary so try a few different types.
Make sure to check the label for hidden
ingredients and preferably choose the
products with the lowest levels of saturated
fat and sugar. These are some of the
comments made by our testers.
• Lidl Northwood All Butter Flapjack Bites
‘I like this, biscuity texture and I can taste
the grain’, ‘Harder consistency than others
but tastes good’, ‘Nice, crunchy texture’,
‘Tasty. Crunchy texture’, ‘Looks appealing
and tastes nice’, ‘Nice balance of
crunchiness and smoothness and not too
sweet’.
• Stable Diet Flapjack ‘Sweet taste as if it
was soaked in syrup’, ‘Sweet like honey’,
‘This is the best, I like the crunchy texture’,
‘Nice, right amount of crunchiness and it’s
not too sweet’, ‘Great texture, tastes almost
like it was homemade’, ‘Nice oat taste and
great consistency’,
• Ma Baker Giant Bar Hazelnut ‘I like this,
I can get a nutty taste’, ‘Best so far, sweet
but not overly sweet and has a soft
consistency’, ‘Very buttery taste’, ‘Peanut
butter taste, not very oaty’, ‘Lacks texture’,
‘Doesn’t look or taste appealing, not
very oaty’,
• Kellog’s Nutri-Grain Oat Baked Bar
‘Fresh taste, like a cake’, ‘Much too sweet
and sugary’, ‘Ginger or spicy taste’, ‘More
like a cake than a flapjack, slightly gooey’,
‘Very sweet and tastes like cake’, ‘Looks
nice, good consistency, don’t like the
cinnamon taste’.
• Irish Flapjack & Muffin Co Fruit & Nut
Flapjack ‘Doughy but I like the addition of
the raisins’, ‘A strange aftertaste, don’t like
the raisins’, ‘Tasty’, ‘Can’t taste the oats
but like the fruit’, ‘Raisins add flavour’, ‘Not
very attractive, gooey consistency’.
• Applejacks Oat Flapjack ‘Sweet. Heavy,
sticky consistency’, ‘Slightly dry, a little
boring’, ‘Very soft’, ‘Heavy and doughy’,
‘Strange colour, tastes undercooked’,
‘Bland’.
Coeliac Society of
Ireland
www.coeliac.ie
Irish Nutrition and
Dietetic Institute
Ashgrove House
Kill Avenue
Dun Laoghaire
Co. Dublin
email [email protected]
www.indi.ie
FLAPJACKS (IN ORDER OF POPULARITY)
Product
Price
Size
(g)
Price
per 100g
Oats
(%)
Energy kcal
per 100g
Carbohydrate Fat
Saturated fat
/Sugars
per 100g per 100g
Fibre
per 100g
Average
score out of 5
Lidl Northwood All
Butter Flapjack Bites
1.99
330
.60
42
473
63.6/34.6
2.7
4.2
Stable Diet Flapjack
1.49
80
1.87
46
484
57.8/27.6
25.4
11.3
5.2
3.8
Ma Baker Giant Bar
Hazelnut*
1.29
90
1.43
38
478
56.7/-
26.1
-
-
3.2
Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain
Oat Baked Bar
0.69
50
1.38
35
407
63/31
15
2
3
3
Irish Flapjack & Muffin
Co Fruit & Nut Flapjack
1.39
80
1.73
53
411
61.8/30.6
17.9
5.98
5.6
2.7
Applejacks Oat Flapjack* 1.15
65
1.77
-
425
5702/22.2
18.9
8.3
4.6
2.5
21.6
4.5
*Some nutritional information was missing from the label. Consumer Choice has contacted the manufacturers to request missing values.
FOOD JUNE 2009
consumer choice
231