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Flahavan’s Oats
Our family has been milling oats in Kilmacthomas, Co. Waterford for over 200 years and during that time we have developed a unique time-proven milling process that gives our oats their rich texture, toasted aroma and distinctive naturally creamy Flahavan’s taste.
Sourcing locally also helps us deliver consistent quality, as the South East of Ireland has a micro-climate with just the right amount of rainfall and sunshine to create ideal growing conditions for strong and bountiful oats. Learn more about how Flahavan’s has been milling world-class oats for generations below:
The Story of Oats
Oats have been used as a source of nourishment for human beings across the world for thousands of years.
Oats were one of the first cereals cultivated by man, recorded as being grown in China as far back as 7,000 BC. While the ancient Greeks were believed to be the first to make porridge from oats (so it really is a classic breakfast!).
However, it was the Romans who introduced oats to other countries in Western Europe, as well as other cultivated crops which they named ‘cereals’, after Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture.
Up to about the 1800s, the milled oats that people used in their homes were a coarser grain than the porridge oat-flakes we know today. It was around this time that porridge became a more popular breakfast dish and this was helped in no small part by the establishment of commercial oat millers, like Flahavan's, across Europe. Tastes change over time and porridge is now mostly made with the finer-milled oat flakes we all have in our kitchen cupboards.
With today’s busy lifestyles, there’s much more awareness of the value of simple, natural foods. No surprise then that more and more people are opting to include oats in their diet, through porridge oats, muesli, in baking, in desserts and in a range of other recipes.
Since those early days of its cultivation, porridge oats have changed little and has remained a consistent, wholesome food for people all over the world. The humble oat really should take a bow!
A wonderful bounty of nature
The high-quality oats that we use here at Flahavan’s are grown within an 60-mile radius of our home.
Traditionally, they are sown in the winter and harvested when they are fully ripe the following Autumn.
The land here is ideal for growing oats and with their generations of experience, our farmers know exactly when to harvest it for the perfect yield. That wonderful bounty of nature, field-fresh oats, brought to our Mill at harvest time.
We operate to stringent food safety and quality standards, and are FSSC 22000 and BRC certified. As an Irish manufacturer our products also carry the Love Irish Food and the Guaranteed Irish symbols.
Natural & Premium Quality
All of our oats are certified GMO-free under EU standards, and through NON GMO Project Verified.
At Flahavan’s we go over and above the IGAS code of practice, to ensure only the best-quality oats bear our name. We specifically prohibit the use of Glyphosate spraying at any stage of the growing of oats by our farmers.
With pesticides too, our oats are grown in accordance with the code of practice in the IGAS scheme and are strictly monitored.
No artificial fertilisers or insecticides are used in the growing of the organic oats, while the fertilisers used on our conventional oats are strictly monitored. Here at the Mill, we only use 100% oats and no chemicals are used.
We regularly test our oats (both regular and organic) with independent third-party laboratories. These labs can test for residue of 400 different compounds and can detect down to a reporting level of 0.01mg/kg which is well below the thresholds set out by the European Union. The tests that we have carried out across recent harvests have found no detectable levels of these compounds.
We promise to make every effort to make sure our product remains pure, natural and premium in quality.
Our Oats, Explained.
The unique way we roll, kiln and steam our oats here at Flahavan’s means you’ll enjoy the perfect taste and texture every time.
