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I sent ordering information concerning kosher for passover oat matzah in
a previous message. However there was some information I wanted to pass
on that may be of interest to everyone.

While talking to Rabbi Kestenbaum of London England he indicated that he
had previously used various sources of oats (I don't know how many years
he has been making oat matzah but it is more than 11 years). He was
always looking for the oat with the least amount of gluten. However
several years ago while in Scotland he saw a field of oats that looked
different. The farmer told him it was commercially bad because it
contained alot of fiber. Apparently there is a greater variation in the
different varieties of oats than in other grains like wheat (Rabbi
Kestenbaum thinks this is because oats are used alot for animal food).
He has found that different varieties have different amounts of gluten.
Anyhow he had the oats from this field tested at (I think) the
University of London and they found these oats had NO gluten. I have
requested that a copy of the report be sent to me, however I have not
recieved it to date and will wait until after Passover to request a
copy. When I get the report I will post what it says since it may be
interesting to see what it actually says.

FYI the oat matzah is grown on a dedicated field and Rabbi Kestenbaum
personally drove the combine that harvested the grain. He said that this
year they harvested 60 tons.

Apparently one of the problems they had to overcome when making matzah
form oats is a bitter enzyme in the oats. The flour used for matzah
cannot be washed since this would start the fermenting process that
would make the oats be leavened which is forbidden on Passover. So they
have found that by doing repeated milling of the flour the enzyme is
destroyed (I think he said through oxygenation, however am not sure
since my notes are sketchy).

Just thought this would be of interest to everyone. I personally have
only used the oat matzah for the Seder because Dr. Alessio Fasano told
me to not use oats because the current studies are so small, etc.

Betsey Carus
Baltimore, MD