Quaker History
Expertise in oats for over 100 years
Quaker has over a century of oat experience and has been milling oats in the UK since 1899. Quaker prides itself on its leading oat knowledge and expertise.
Our oat experts oversee the milling of all Quaker Oats, kilning them for 3 hours to ensure that they are milled to perfection. Quaker works closely with its UK growers, developing the best quality oats through field trials and by continuously improving growing practices.
Growing our Oats
Quaker Oats are usually planted in September or October and are ready for harvesting by early August the following year, these oats are known as winter oats. However, in the more northern parts of Scotland the oats are not planted until March and are harvested in September or October.
Oats are hardier than other grains and cereals so are often grown on higher land. The oat grain is protected by its husk or shell which shelters it from the cold or wet weather.
The Milling Process
Every batch of oats that is delivered to a Quaker mill goes through stringent quality standard tests before being accepted. The most frequent reasons why oats maybe rejected are high levels of discolouration, or because the moisture level of the oats is too high or low.
Once the oats have passed their quality test, they then enter the milling process. Using our special machinery they are separated from the other matter such as other grains (wheat, barley etc) and weeds that are picked up during the harvesting process. The oats are then shelled (or dehulled), so you are left with just the oat grain.
The oat grains are first steamed and cooled to help bring out the flavour of the oat. They are then cut into two or three pieces before they are rolled. The gap between the rollers decides the thickness of the oat, the thinner the oat is rolled, the smoother the texture of your porridge. The oats are then ready to be packed.
Quaker has been milling oats for well over 100 years and today mills oats in over 6 different countries around the world.
Every year, Quaker invests heavily in developing techniques in oat growing and technologies in oat milling. In order to share our learnings we hold an annual Oat-milling Improvement Conference which is attended by representatives from all our milling sites.
Care for the Environment
We have been milling oats since 1899. All our oats are milled at Cupar, Scoltland. We’re proud to say that the electricity used is from renewable energy sources.
Our Quaker Oat Mill in Cupar, Scotland prides itself on complementing the rich arable farm lands that surround the mill.
Smoke emissions from the boilers are carefully controlled and the wet particles from steaming the oats are tightly filtered so what returns to the drains is almost pure water.
The husks or shells from the oat plants are condensed to make animal feed.
All Quaker packaging is fully recyclable.
