Latimer, Iowa (north central) | Much of the difference will come from the milling process and when the flakes are made. Consistency of raw product is important for mill efficiency. There is a multitude of ways to process an oat.
In general it starts with cleaning, then dehulling, color sorting, and kilning. The oats must be kilned to deactivate the enzymes in them that will cause them to go rancid. The temperature and characteristics of the kiln will determine alot of the flavor differences, more of a nutty flavor. After they are dehulled they are considered oat groats. The groats can then be flaked as whole groats or steel cut into smaller pieces. Sharpness of the cutters can change out a product behaves. The number of pieces a groat is cut into will change many factors of how the flakes turn out. Ie, quick oats/old fashion oats/etc.... Flake thickness and moisture will also come into play, machines can be adjusted to tenth of a mm. Bran can be separated out. Flakes can be sorted for size. Groats can be pearlized.
Different growing regions have much different mouthfeel and tastes a fat levels of the grain tend to vary in different parts of the world. I just spent a week at oat milling specific training and could get into much more detail****
Edit to add pics of different looks of flakes from same raw product with different flaking roll spacing.
Edited by Green Acres Guy 5/12/2024 18:20
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 IMG_3228 (full).jpeg (107KB - 16 downloads)
IMG_3219 (full).jpeg (126KB - 17 downloads)
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The difference in the way oats cook
