Pilcorn Oats! Grand Portage Historic Garden Special for 2026

Numerous journals provide evidence of the Northwest Company growing various grains, at first barley. By 1816, the NWCo at Fort William not only grew a field of barley, but also four fields of oats. The last two years Grand Portage National Monument ventured from growing only vegetables into adding grain. We grew, harvested, and processed a historic barley (Bere). In 2026 we will try oats.

Oats can be a very tricky word in researching fur trade journals. Most commonly it refers to manoomin (wild rice). One needs to be careful when reading journals to keep an eye open for the words describing it being GROWN and not simply obtained by local Indians.

Oat farming is evident when a fur post is fortunate enough to have livestock. Oats can be grown easily for feed. We often think of oats being white - they also exist in red, black, and gray varieties. The old thought was that white oats were for human consumption and colored oats for livestock, reasoning that mold and discoloring could be found more easily on white grain.

References to true oats in fur trade journals:

“…flourish at the factories where barley and oats have been sowed”
~ Joseph Robson, HBC, 1759

“…potatoes, pease and oats grow tolerably well here.”
~ Danial Harmon, Fort William NWC, 1805

“Oats ripened well, made good oatmeal, ground with a steel hand-mill.”
~ George Gladman, New Brunswick House HBC, 1814

”…wheat and oats produced well…”
~ Fort Vancouver, 1825

Illustration from Icones et descriptiones graminum austriacorum by Nicolai Thomae Host

Public Domain / Biodiversity Heritage Library

Naked Grain

Currently under consideration for the variety of oats is Avena Nuda, a hulless or “naked” grain. Grand Portage staff struggled with removing the difficult hull on barley grain. A hulless grain is easier to process. Common names are “pilcorn/peelcorn or pellowes” oat. Some consider this one of the original bread corns of the British Isles.

First mentioned in 1597, Pilcorn is also known as the least productive of all oat varieties. Yet even though susceptible to smut and rot, it is easy to mill, very high in protein, and has a superior and nuttier flavor than common oats.

When folks think of oats, oatmeal and porridge come to mind. The NWCo, founded by many Scotsmen from the old country, knew oat porridge and oatcakes well. Local oats were grown all over Scotland, then carefully kiln dried, and milled lightly to remove the husk through winnowing. This was repeated at a finer grind. A third finer milling resulted in oatmeal.

“Oats are the flower of our Scottish soil and through that magic cauldron, the porridge pot, Scottish oatmeal has been transmuted through centuries into Scottish brains and brawn.” F. Marian McNeill: The Scot’s Kitchen

Grains like barley, oats, and wheat remained after the fur trade era. Many of the trading posts developed into settlements with a need for grains. When the Red River Settlement was established by the Hudson’s Bay Company, sustaining the Euro-families depended on grain. In 1825, Robert Logan, formerly of the Northwest Company, operated a mill for the Red River Settlement.

Porridge & Oatcakes

Sowans & Swots

A unique Scottish dish derived historically from oats is sowens (soo-uns), an oat fermentation made with leftovers ground at the mill or at home. The leftovers, often hulls with bits of the white, starchy endosperm of the berry lingering on, are steeped in water (1:4 oats to water). After fermenting, the mixture is strained, and the resulting white liquid is called swots, the solid is sowen, which can be made into porridge.

Rolled Oats/Groats, Pinhead and Steel-Cut???

People are most familiar with rolled oats, but historically they are a late comer and would not be found at a fur trade post. Rolling and flattening oats through rollers to make a quicker cook was discovered and performed in the late 1870s.

Groats means the entire whole, un-cut, unground oat grain. When a mill busts up the groats into smaller pieces, the product is referred to as pinhead oats. As the world modernizes, eventually hand-mills and stone mills gave way to mechanization. Machines with metal blades, thus the term “steel-cut” oats. This is the same as pinhead and at times referred to as Irish Oats.

Traditional oatcake.

NPS graphic

Scottish oatmeal or porridge, a morning staple, is a medium grind. Ground even finer creates a better meal for oatcakes and other baking purposes.

Oatcakes Recipe

2/3 C. Oatmeal
½ tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Lard
6 Tbsp Water