New variety provides healthy eating out of Kangaroo Island

A new product from Kangaroo Island is hitting shelves across the state and offering healthy benefits from a new oat variety.

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Third generation Kangaroo Island farmer Steve Morgan has launched a product featuring a new oat variety Kowari, which offers improved nutritional benefits due to its increased levels of beta glucan.

Mr Morgan farms with his wife Lucy 10 kilometres west of Vivonne Bay.

As well as running sheep, Mr Morgan has grown a range of crop types in the past, but the release of Kowari has led him to base his program around the new variety.

“Kowari is a SARDI-bred variety that has been developed specifically for milling and human consumption,” he said.

“Its beta glucan content is 20 per cent higher than other varieties.”

Beta glucan is important for human health as it is linked to improved cholesterol levels and heart health.

“Last year I grew and harvested by first crop of Kowari and was impressed with the results,” Mr Morgan said.

His oats were milled by Bordertown company Blue Lake Milling and packaged in Adelaide into the new product Kangaroo Island Oats.

“I have always loved eating oats and knowing that Kangaroo Island is a great place to grow oats, I thought it would be great to be able to grow them and then showcase them to world,” he said.

“Knowing where our food comes from is becoming more important and for people to be able to know that their oats have been grown on pristine Kangaroo Island is also important.

“As far as I know, Kangaroo Island Oats is the only company in Australia, or the world for that matter, that is offering 100 per cent Kowari oats.

“We’re very proud of the fact that we have been a market leader in this.”

Mr Morgan said he had received positive feedback on the taste and texture of the Kowari oats.

“I admit I was pretty nervous when I opened that first bag and stuck my nose in there and inhaled deeply like an oat snob, but they smell and taste great,” he said.

Mr Morgan said chefs on the island and around Adelaide are starting to use the product on their menu.

As well as growing the oats himself, Mr Morgan and Kangaroo Island Oats are sourcing oats from another Kangaroo Island farming family, in a bid to spread the geographic risk.

“While it’s still early days in growing Kowari, so far it’s yielding just as well as other oat varieties,” he said.

Kangaroo Island Oats is available through farmgate sales on Kangaroo Island and also in Drakes and other independent supermarkets in Adelaide.