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Ronquieres turkey
Red Bourbon Turkey
White Beltsville Turkey

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Wilde kalkoenen    Wilde kalkoen
Wild turkeys 


This nowadays largest and heaviest ostrich comes from North America and Mexico. After the discovery of America, the Spaniards found wild turkeys ('Native American chickens') tamed by the Indians. They brought them to Europe in 1520, where they were soon found in England and later in France, Germany and with us. Turkeys are large birds on high legs, they have a powerful body that descends to the tail, a broad chest and a bare, wart-covered head. Full-grown roosters have a black feather plume on the chest and hens a wart. Turkeys are classified by color and weight. The most
common colors are bronze with a black sheen, completely black with a velvet sheen and white (the white turkeys currently have the greatest economic significance). Certain breeds have a black border on the white feathers. The Red Bourbon turkey comes from America. The red-winged turkey is a cross between the bronze and the Red Bourbon, the black-winged turkey of the bronze and the red-winged turkey. By weight they are distinguished into light (ready to cook 3.5 to 5 kg), medium weight (7 to 10 kg) and heavy turkeys (ready for cooking 10-1 2,5 kg and when they are very heavy up to 1 8 kg). The cocks become sexually mature when they are 31 weeks old, hens with 30 to 32 weeks. Turkeys lay all year round; a total of about 150 eggs weighing 75 to 90 gr. weigh each piece. The fattening of turkeys is done in lofts on the ground floor. There are still many small turkey breeders who let their turkeys run free, but the largest supply comes from a small number of large breeding companies that sell their products to the regional breeders. Criteria that are important in breeding are fast growth, high resistance and a high meat content with the lowest possible weight of bones. Hens from 8 to 1 2 weeks and 5 kg live weight are sold as whole turkey; hens from 15 to 18 weeks, on the other hand, weighing 7 to 9 kg and cocks from 20 to 24 weeks, living 14 to 16 kg, come in parts on the market.
Turkey meat is high in nutritional terms and for that reason is regularly used for diets. The high protein content (breast 24 percent, thigh 21 percent) is rich in essential amino acids and low fat content (breast 2 percent, thigh 8 percent) is rich in valuable polyunsaturated fatty acids. Turkeys are slaughtered before they are sexually mature and until then the meat of the hens is tenderer than that of the roosters. A turkey consists of several different kinds of meat in color and texture. The thighs are dark and firm with flesh, the breast is thin, tender and white and the flesh at the neck and on the sides is fatter. The flesh of the small loin muscles, called the oysters, is considered a delicacy. The range is very varied in comparison to other poultry species. The turkey is sold as whole bird (fresh or frozen), in parts (filet, thigh, drumstick and wing), as schnitzel, goulash meat or rollade or as processed product (meat, pie or jelly). Turkey is available throughout the year.
Light turkeys, also called mini-turkeys, are roasted whole; older ones are processed in one-pan dishes and soups. Small turkeys can be roasted just like chickens (filled or unfilled). Of importance here is that the thighs, especially the lower part, contain many tendons that have to be pulled out for the preparation.



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