You may not have taken note, but turkeys traditionally being owned in
stores these days are now made of white meat primarily. Over the years,
these livestock have been bred and injected with antibiotics the main
reason to develop them faster, and contain more of the lighter meat a
lot of Americans have come to enjoy.
Heritage turkeys are rapidly getting to be a chosen alternative to the
chemically altered turkeys filling store shelves. The term heritage
incorporates a number of turkey breeds, including Black, Bourbon Red,
Royal Palm, Slate and more. These breeds can trace their ancestral
roots back hundreds of years, and are kept as closely to wild turkeys
as possible.
Free from chemicals and antibiotics, these animals appear and taste in
a different way from modern store-bought turkeys, and more often have a
white to dark meat with ratio closer to 50/50, a sizable increase to
common, predominately white options. With the reduction in chemicals
and increase in dark meat also brings you an increase in price. While
you can typically find a supermarket turkey around $1 per pound,
heritage turkeys can cost you up to $7 every pound.
Considering you should get one to one and a half pounds of turkey per
individual, this can result a very costly supper. If you possibly could
afford the price jump, then get heritage turkey cause it can be right
for you.
In the event that you like dark meat, and enjoy the taste of other
wild, game-y tasting birds, then the heritage turkey is exquisite for
you.
The Types Of Turkeys You
Should Know Of
Fresh Turkeys: By simply definition, a fresh turkey has not been frozen
below a specific temperature, but that does not mean it was never
frozen at all. Turkeys can be branded as fresh if they've never been
chilled below 26 degrees Farrenheit.
A note, because fresh turkeys can still be kept at very low temps, they
may have recently been kept at farms or storages for weeks, sometimes
months, before they are offered for sale. Often ask when your turkey
was butchered to be sure the freshest possible turkey.
Frozen Turkeys: A turkey will be marked as frozen if it has been kept
below zero degrees F. Frozen turkeys are mostly the least difficult,
most economical option got at various supermarkets, though they may
lose some of the bird's natural juices, and can be tougher to chew.
Not Recently Frozen Turkeys: This term may easily cause confusion, and
means that the turkey was chilled below 26 degrees F, so it can't be
referred to as "fresh", but above 0 degrees F, so it will not have to
be labelled "frozen".
Kosher Turkeys: Kosher turkeys are raised on grain, and are not given
chemical stimulants. Allowed to graze freely, these turkeys are raised,
killed and prepared according to kosher regulations, with a salt brine
soak. This kind of soak gives kosher turkeys a distinctive flavor, and
increases the bird's overall weight, that might increase price.
Natural Turkeys: Surprisingly, this label does not refer to how the
turkey grew up. Natural turkeys are merely kept unseasoned, basted or
shaded before they are sold. Be sure to remember that before paying
extra for a turkey with this kind of label.
Organic Turkeys: These birds are raised with specifically designated
feed, and without the added chemicals. Whilst many consumers prefer the
idea of an organic turkey, this label will not necessarily affect the
flavor or texture of the turkey.
Free Range Turkeys: This is often a misleading term, as free range does
not always suggest the bird was raised outdoors or even allowed most of
its time outdoors. A farm may label its turkeys 'free range' so long as
the birds were allowed a few minutes per day of outdoor time - a
standard that hardly influences taste or quality.