Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a juicy turkey on the table. But too many of us have been stung by the supermarket deep-freezed variety. Battery farmed with no taste and dry meat. Free range turkeys, on the other hand, taste just as a fresh Christmas turkey should.
Free range turkeys only come from the best quality chicks. There’s no cramming as many birds into a dark and dingy barn as possible here. The tastiest fresh Christmas turkeys are housed in a barn bedded with straw and with plenty of room for them to move around, along with access to roam in an outside yard to range once they are 8 weeks of age (the earliest age at which it is safe for them to do so). This means the farmers are able to raise fewer birds per year, but you are getting a far superior bird and one which know lived a happy life.
Only the fittest chicks are chosen; some battery farmers are happy to use any old mangy chick, but they only grow up to become mangy turkeys. And no one wants to eat a mangy turkey.
The quality of the turkey is also ensured by only using slow growing strains. Again, some farmers are happy to use fast growing turkeys and while they are profitable and the end product cheaper, the flavour doesn’t even begin to compare. You get what you pay for. Slow growing strains allow the turkeys to develop at a natural rate while retaining their flavour. Typically, chicks intended for the Christmas market will come into the farm around the middle of June. This allows for a 22 week growing period, as opposed to the 16 week growing period typical of fast growing strains reared in an industrial environment.
Your cheaper, supermarket turkey is likely to have been fed on all kinds of growth additives and growth promoting chemicals. While there are various claims about the health implications of eating chemically promoted livestock, the most important point to bear in mind is that it really affects the flavour. Additives have their place in farming and livestock rearing, but it must be done in moderation; to encourage growth, not force it. Do you really want to eat a turkey that in life was pumped full of steroids? Fresh Christmas turkeys are fed on 70% cereal.
Of course, there is an inevitable juncture between the careful raising of the turkey and their reaching you. But it doesn’t have to be cruel. When the time comes, the farmers hand pluck the turkeys on the farms on which they were raised, causing minimal stress to the bird.
And just in case there were any lingering worries; the best, fresh Christmas turkeys come from farms which are inspected annually by Environmental Health and the Traditional Farmfresh Turkey Association (TFTA). Their accreditation means you can be sure the fresh Christmas turkey you are buying was raised in the very best conditions.
Nobody has greater care and love for animals than free range farmers and they want the animals they rear to have the highest quality of life. It’s best for the poultry and it’s best for the buyer as well. A happy turkey is a tasty turkey.
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Morton’s Traditional Taste is run by third generation turkey farmers. For fresh Christmas turkeys raised to the highest welfare standards, get in touch with them now. The best fresh Christmas turkeys
