With Christmas so near now many of us will be thinking of ordering and buying the Christmas Turkey, for many it has become the traditional Christmas dinner, but did you know any of these twenty five facts I share below about turkey?
"A turkey is the relation of the grouse.
In Latin, turkeys are known as Meleagris.
The turkey is classed as poultry.
The domesticated turkey is descended from the wild turkey.
It has been a domesticated bird for over 2,000 years.
A male turkey is a stag. The female is a hen, and their chicks are known as poult.
A turkey can weigh up to 20kg.
The flesh that dangles on top of the beak, is known as the snood.
The flesh that dangles underneath the beak of the turkey, is known as the wattle.
Farmers will incubate the eggs for 28 days, whereupon they are hatched, sorted and separated.
The call of a turkey is ‘gobbling’.
They are highly social birds, and the collective term for a group is a ‘rafter’.
The average lifespan of a turkey is ten years.
The Aztec people associated the turkey with the trickster God, Tezcatlipoca, due to its humors behaviour.
The most distinct breed in Europe is the Spanish Black.
William Strickland was the first to introduce the turkey to England – his coat of arms even had one on it.
Thomas Tusser first introduced the turkey to the Christmas fare in 1573.
The Broad Breasted White turkey is bred for its meat.
The turkey is eaten at Thanksgiving in the US and Canada.
It is now seen as a traditional part of Christmas dinner.
Before turkey, the working class ate goose at Christmas until the Victorian era.
In 2009, 7,734,000 turkeys were consumed on Christmas Day, however, fast forward to 2021 and the figure is nearer 10 million.
Four billion pounds of turkey feathers are wasted a year.
Turkey feather fibres are blended with nylon and spun, whereupon they can be used for knitting.
Turkey faeces have been used as fuel in power plants since 2007. 55 megawatts can be produced for 500,000 tons of waste."
Well how many of these facts did you know?
I didn't know them all, but I can now tell friends what turkeys in Latin is š
Above picture and facts from here
Talking Turkey, if you are looking for a fool-proof guide on how best to cook one, have a look here
However, if you would prefer some Christmas / Holiday Season vegetarian choices this here may help, and for vegan choices have a look here. Please note not all recipes on these two links will be low carb.
However, not all the recipes ideas featured in this blog may be suitable for you. If you may have any food allergies, or underlying health issues these must always be taken into account. If you are a diabetic and not sure how certain foods may affect your blood sugars, test is best, i.e. use your meter.
All the best Jan
36 comments:
I'm indifferent to eating turkey.
...turkey is our Thanksgiving dinner.
We love turkey and it has such a good flavor in so many dishes. I love eating cold slices with slices of avocado and mayo! But did you know this? We saw little tiny turkey tracks when we hiked today...must have been quite a flock all along the sandy path. Hugs Diane
I bet you've never heard "Let's Turkey Trot"!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKRmoIDLxNU
The turkey trot was a dance from around 1910.
I'm often a bit of a turkey!
My Christmas will be, by choice, very low-key. I'm not doing anything special...just me and my two furry mates...and perhaps a pile of prawns! :)
Uy conocia algunos datos pero no todos. Te mando un beso
Interesting reading about the turkeys.
We have wild ones around my house.
Turkey takes second place behind ham and seafood here I think.
Just love turkey we eat it often as in a baked meal or the meat as cold.
Interesting post.
I knew at least 12 of those turkey facts, since turkey is more traditional here in the states at Thanksgiving than at Christmas. What bothers me is they are such social birds, yet we are SO willing to sacrifice their lives for a meal and a few leftovers.
Did you know that tryptophan, once thought to be the reason we all like to nap after eating turkey, may now be considered a mood enhancer, easing depression. Seems tryptophan produces serotonin, which is known to elevate our mood.
55 megawatts!!! LOL - I sure did not know that - nor have I ever had turkey.
My Mum used to make the best goose for Christmas, oh, but it´s a lot of work.
Interesting info on the Turkey
I always loved turkey but we never had turkey for Christmas dinner, we either had ham or beef or both interesting facts about the turkey
I love turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but lots of Americans have ham at Christmas. I cooked another turkey since Thanksgiving. I have 4 in the freezer. It is okay with me to eat turkey any time of the year. These were $0.49/lb.
I did not know most of this information! Wild turkeys are really handsome birds. x K
Fascinating. We have both turkey and beef at Christmas.
I love turkey, but a whole one would be too much for just one person! Valerie
Hello,
We usually have Turkey for our Thanksgiving dinner.
Love the turkey photo and thanks for sharing the facts.
Take care, have a happy day!
I had no idea about the history of the turkey. I know only this: it's my beloved kind of meat (Sorry to say it as I'm not for killing turkeys or any other sort of poultry. I'm gradually reducing all intake of meat).
Es la tradiciĆ³n navideƱa, tambiĆ©n aqui ademĆ”s se consume mariscos y los turrones y dulces tĆpicos de la Navidad.
Que tengas un buen dĆa.
I didn't know many of those facts. This was fascinating to read. One time I was driving along a two lane highway here in Connecticut, US (two lanes heading one way, two heading the opposite way), and a wild turkey flew from one side to the other. It looked more like an arcing cannon ball, and barely cleared the car roof tops as it reached it's top height, then descended safely down to the other side. It was stunning to witness.
Some interesting turkey info, thanks for sharing.
I've always heard "gobbler" as the name for a male turkey. I've never heard them called stags. Interesting.
Hi Jan,
Very interesting. I was unaware of several of these facts.
Here at home we like turkey a lot, but as we are only 3 people it doesn't make sense to do it, so we eat other things.
Hugs and all the best
Learned a new word...... poult.
Interesting facts. I have a funny story, well sort of. We were at a petting zoo in Northampton (pre covid in 2019 visiting his dad) and I was feeding the animals...well one of the turkeys nipped my hand! It was probably getting back at turkey dinners but I was the only non meat eater there! I did forgive the turkey and gave it more!
We enjoy turkey for Thanksgiving (in October) and for Christmas, although we're not having one this year!
I only knew four or five of them. If you ever get the chance, watch My Life As a Turkey....it is about a guy that had turkey eggs given to him and he put them in an incubator and hatched them. And raised them. I love the show, Lorelei liked it when she was young, and Roger likes it. Someone else watched it and said they would never look at turkeys the same way again.
Some interesting facts there. Many were new to me.xxx
That's what you call a group of turkeys. We usually do beef for Christmas since we have turkey for Thanksgiving, but I'm not sure what we'll have this year. It was an interesting read.
THANK YOU
Many thanks to everyone for sharing your thoughts, comments and you tube links.
Good wishes for the month of December.
All the best Jan
I will have to say there are many of those facts I did not know, really surprised they used the feathers in blending to make yarn for knitting.
Since we just had turkey for Thanksgiving we will have something else for Christmas.
Todo muy interesante, conocĆa algunas cosas, pero otras no. Besos.
fun turkey talk!!
Nice post for sure. When I lived in North Idaho I would go to my back property and with my bow and arrows bring home Blue Grouse for dinner. It doesn't taste like turkey, it is better.
I love when you give us all these cool facts! Big Hugs!
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