Memories of my Mother – Malt-o-meal

One of the memories I have of growing up was eating Malt-o-meal. For those who are unaware, it is a hot farina of wheat cereal. We didn’t eat it often, but what I “liked” about it was the lumps. They were like finding nuggets of chewy goodness in every bowl.

Every time my mother made malt-o-meal, it had lumps. Sometimes they were small, sometimes they were large, but they were always present. I just assumed that malt-o-meal had lumps in it.

Then I moved out, and years later started making it myself. Surprise, there weren’t any lumps. No matter how I made it, as long as I followed the directions, I had creamy, smooth hot cereal. No lumps.

I began experimenting with it, and it turns out that while stirring is important, the secret to lump free malt-o-meal is to slowly add it to the boiling water, while stirring the water. You pretty much have to just dump it all in at once to get lump formation.

What a strange memory of my Mother, lumpy Malt-o-meal.