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Whether it's turkeys or tomatoes, heirloom varieties are hot, hot, hot. More people are looking for foods that hark back to an era before industrial agriculture and genetic manipulation. You might be one of those people opting for a "heritage" turkey this Thanksgiving. But are you sure you're getting a real heritage turkey? SHOCKER: You might not be.
First of all, a quick lowdown on what heritage actually means: It does not mean organic, all natural, or free range, though a true heritage bird is probably all of those things. Heritage refers to 10 specific breeds of turkey (if you want to know what they are, click here). These breeds were raised in the U.S. prior to the 1950s, when the poultry industry began to genetically engineer (through cross breeding) the commodity, broad-breasted white turkeys most people eat today.
Heritage birds differ from broad-breasted whites in a number of ways: They're smaller and prettier, often with elegant dark or colored feathers. They mature more slowly (24 to 30 weeks, versus about 12 to 18 weeks for a commodity turkey), and can live longer—up to 15 years, as opposed to a year and a half. Broad-breasted turkeys are engineered to grow so big that they cannot reproduce on their own, and at times even have trouble walking. Therefore, they must be artificially inseminated. Heritage birds can have sex normally, and have big, strong legs that can walk just fine. Heritage birds are gamier-tasting, have darker meat, and can be much tougher and harder to cook (we've got some tips here). They're closer to wild birds than the mushier, whiter turkeys bred for obesity and early youth. And heritage birds are more expensive to raise, and more expensive per pound to buy.
So how do you know you're getting a heritage bird? You don't. There is no official certification program for the identification and labeling of heritage birds the way there is for organics. Although turkey producers are required to submit documentation to the USDA showing that the turkeys they're going to call heritage are one of the officially recognized heritage breeds, this process is not as strict and regulated as needed to be dependably reliable. For instance: "I have seen people think they have heritage birds because they have dark feathers," says Frank Reese, a heritage turkey farmer in Kansas. "But the color of the feathers don't mean a thing."
Some grocery stores sidestep the labeling issue by advertising "heritage" birds in circulars, or on signs, but then the birds they're actually selling are standard fast-growing industrial turkeys.
Read the fine print. Others imply that the bird is heritage on the package, when it really isn't. In Whole Foods in San Francisco, for instance, you can buy Diestel "American Heirloom Collection" turkeys, which, the fine print says, are "derived from a Bronze and an Auburn" turkey. (Bronze and Auburns are two heritage-breed turkeys.) However, the heirloom turkeys sold by Diestel are actually an organically raised crossbreed that incorporates both heritage genes and nonheritage. "We have those old breeds, and cross them and tweak them to get a turkey that we think performs well on the table," says President Tim Diestel. The actual heritage breeds, Diestel correctly notes, don't have a lot of meat on them, and can be "disappointing" to customers who are used to big, fat, juicy commodity birds. His bird, he says, is like the best of both worlds: It contains a bit more dark meat and rich turkey taste than a typical bird, but is still big and juicy. And though Diestel didn't say it, his birds no doubt also deliver a higher pound-for-pound feeling of virtuousness among those who feel they're buying something more natural.
True heritage farmers like Frank Reese are at a disadvantage to farmers like Diestel if customers aren't educated as to the difference between real and faux heritage. It's much more expensive to raise an actual heritage turkey, despite the higher sale cost. And the wild-west world of heritage labeling we're living in now isn't helping matters. However, Patrick Martins, the founder of Heritage Foods USA, the sales and marketing arm for Slow Food USA, says he thinks the growing interest in heritage turkeys will eventually lead to stricter rules: "In order to get any term officialized, it first has to go through a blurry phase, and then it starts getting legalized and officialized."
Until then, anybody wishing to get their hands on an actual breed of bird that looks and tastes pretty much as it did 100 years ago is advised to (1) read the fine print and apply critical thinking, and (2) call the farmer and ask what their definition of heritage is. Be sure and mention the natural sex part—don't be embarrassed.
Image source: Flickr member TurkZilla under Creative Commons
As a farmer, there are two things I'd like to point out. Not only do heritage turkeys take longer to raise, the poults (turkey chicks) are often more than twice as expensive as commercial birds (again, making them more expensive). Secondly, a bird's taste is influenced by how it was raised. Commercial breeds raised on pasture and fed a non-medicated/non-soy ration are extremely tasty & have more...+READ
As a farmer, there are two things I'd like to point out. Not only do heritage turkeys take longer to raise, the poults (turkey chicks) are often more than twice as expensive as commercial birds (again, making them more expensive). Secondly, a bird's taste is influenced by how it was raised. Commercial breeds raised on pasture and fed a non-medicated/non-soy ration are extremely tasty & have more dark meat. I've 'finished' Bronze Broadbreasted birds in the woods on hickory nuts and acorns and they were phenomenal. The bottom line is KNOW YOUR FARMER.-COLLAPSE
One could also opt for a compassionate holiday and leave the killing off their plate... No one "needs" to eat turkeys or any other animal in order to thrive. As we learn more, a plant based diet is the way towards better health... These birds (heritage or factory farmed) all wish to live no different than you or I or your cat or dog...
At our farm the average dress weight of our toms at 24 to 28 weeks of age is 20 to 24 lbs. That was the average 50 years ago and it should be that to day as well. Our hens average dress weight at 24 to 28 weeks of age is 12 to 16 lbs. Good heritage turkeys are better know as standard bred turkeys. That is what there where called for 140 years. The standard weight for this old standard turkeys was...+READ
At our farm the average dress weight of our toms at 24 to 28 weeks of age is 20 to 24 lbs. That was the average 50 years ago and it should be that to day as well. Our hens average dress weight at 24 to 28 weeks of age is 12 to 16 lbs. Good heritage turkeys are better know as standard bred turkeys. That is what there where called for 140 years. The standard weight for this old standard turkeys was set 100 years ago. Remember the standard bred or heritage turkey you buy is no better then the breeder of the turkey you buy. Get to know your farmer and his or her breeding program. Look for the APA seal on all standard bred turkeys and you will get a better turkey. We had some of our toms dress out this year at 28 to 30 lbs. Frank-COLLAPSE
What are the chances of a real heritage bird reaching a dressed weight of 20 pounds?
Genetic engineering is different then cross breeding. Cross breeding would mean you would have to have two pure breed lines of turkeys to cross. The industry does not even keep pure lines of turkeys anymore. All the turkeys they breed from are inline breed hybrids. Genetic engineering is a way of approaching an anmial and deciding what you what the animal to do. Genetic engineering has been...+READ
Genetic engineering is different then cross breeding. Cross breeding would mean you would have to have two pure breed lines of turkeys to cross. The industry does not even keep pure lines of turkeys anymore. All the turkeys they breed from are inline breed hybrids. Genetic engineering is a way of approaching an anmial and deciding what you what the animal to do. Genetic engineering has been around from the beginning of the last centary. You begin your breeding program with the idea that the animal is a mechine that you want it to produce your ideal. In turkeys it was fast growth and good feed conversion. Any problems with health would be corrected by science and the welfare of the animal is not important unless it effects your outcome you trying for. Like the animal dieing before you product is ready for market. Selective breeding in hybrids means you are going to isolate a gene that will bring about the outcome you wish for. This is called F2 to F7 crossing. Standard bred turkeys like I have raised for 50 years is about keeping the health and welfore of the animal strong. Birds that reproduce on they own, grow slowly and live a normal life of a turkey. When I select breeders I look for birds that can walk normal, strong long legs with good bone, up right bodys and a over all good healthy animal that I know can live for years and provide off spring well into the future. Frank-COLLAPSE
Hi folks,
"Genetically engineered" is often used as a more general expression than "Genetically modified", and the former can refer to cross breeding as well as gene splicing. However, I agree it was unclear, so I clarified the story a bit and just updated it (to specify cross breeding.)
Just to check, I don't think you can be Oregon Tilth certified on a genetically engineered breed. And crossing a couple of breeds is not genetic engineering.
I do not know who Barbara Kingsolver is but she is so wrong. If the turkey can not breed on its own it IS NOT a heritage turkey. The defination of a heritage turkey written by the American Livestocks Breeder Conservancy states that a heritage turkey must be able to breed on it own. If you are buying turkeys that are called heritage and the cannot mate then you are being taken. Even the USDA has...+READ
I do not know who Barbara Kingsolver is but she is so wrong. If the turkey can not breed on its own it IS NOT a heritage turkey. The defination of a heritage turkey written by the American Livestocks Breeder Conservancy states that a heritage turkey must be able to breed on it own. If you are buying turkeys that are called heritage and the cannot mate then you are being taken. Even the USDA has excepted the defination of a heritage turkey. And that means natural mating. Only genetic lines of turkeys that go back before 1950 can be called heritage. Frank-COLLAPSE
Also, from what I learned in Barbara Kingsolver's book "Animal Vegetable Miracle", even many heritage breed turkeys don't naturally breed, so don't take that as the end all be all answer.
Frank, your birds are delicious! We ordered one from Whole Foods in Napa last year and we have one on order this year too. I recommend people go to your website and educate themselves about your birds and methods. I wish I could order one for my mom in Michigan but she lives too far away from a Whole Foods.
You are right, that all turkeys being raised are not GMO'S. But the way we selective to breed turkeys is the big difference. You can select to breed for a healthy normal bird or select for a abnormal bird. The Broad Breasted White turkeys is a mutation of the obese gene. This means the turkeys grows at a rapid rate. It is not what you feed the bird or how you grow the bird, it is a obese gene...+READ
You are right, that all turkeys being raised are not GMO'S. But the way we selective to breed turkeys is the big difference. You can select to breed for a healthy normal bird or select for a abnormal bird. The Broad Breasted White turkeys is a mutation of the obese gene. This means the turkeys grows at a rapid rate. It is not what you feed the bird or how you grow the bird, it is a obese gene mutation that has be selected. In the old days a farmer paid as much attention to the turkeys ability to reproduce itself for the future and being able to live a long life. The modern turkey of to day have been selected for rapid growth and feed conversion and can not reproduce itself. It is not the color of the feathers that makes a breed or line of turkeys but the body shape and gene pool that you work with. That gene pool you choose makes a big difference on the life of the bird. What I choose to breed from is the total oppsite of what the modern factory turkey farm chooses. Frank-COLLAPSE
If you want a real heritage turkey grab a shotgun, and bag your own out in the woods. Of course you will need to do this during hunting season.
I agree with rockfish42 and el Mitch -- be careful of that "GMO" term. Simply breeding for traits you want is NOT "genetic modification" any more than your Mom cross-pollinating roses in the backyard, hoping to get a prize variety for the County Fair would be. Some wags claim that Canola, a type of rapeseed bred specifically to reduce ecrucic acid content, is "genetically modified", but it isn't...+READ
I agree with rockfish42 and el Mitch -- be careful of that "GMO" term. Simply breeding for traits you want is NOT "genetic modification" any more than your Mom cross-pollinating roses in the backyard, hoping to get a prize variety for the County Fair would be. Some wags claim that Canola, a type of rapeseed bred specifically to reduce ecrucic acid content, is "genetically modified", but it isn't -- it was just crossbred with varieties that had lower and lower ecrucic acid levels, until a strain emerged that had very low levels and was safe to use for food purposes. It didn't have its genes carved up in a lab, like some of Monsanto's Frankenseeds.-COLLAPSE
I was going to say the same thing that rockfish42 pointed out: genetic engineering (splicing "foreign" genes into an organism's DNA) and selective breeding (picking out certain animals to mate with each other, based on desired traits) are two different things. One has to be done in a lab and the other has been around since humans figured out how to domesticate animals. Commodity corn, soy, and...+READ
I was going to say the same thing that rockfish42 pointed out: genetic engineering (splicing "foreign" genes into an organism's DNA) and selective breeding (picking out certain animals to mate with each other, based on desired traits) are two different things. One has to be done in a lab and the other has been around since humans figured out how to domesticate animals. Commodity corn, soy, and cotton are genetically engineered in the U.S. (and GMO salmon is under review), but that's about it.-COLLAPSE
You can also use localharvest to try and find a farm raising and selling these birds in your area, and you should be able to talk to the farmer about what breeds they've got and what that means. I feel ok about paying over $3/lb. for a turkey when I'm literally handing the money to the farmer.
Is this article actually stating that they Diestel turkeys are a cross between an Auburn a Bronze and a standard Broad Breasted White? Carefully reading the Diestel website seems to imply that they're just a cross-breed between the two heirloom breeds. Also AFAIK the standard turkey is not a GMO, just the product of selective breeding.
If want to know for sure you are buying a heritage turkey look for the American Poultry Associations seal of approval. APA seal lets you know that the turkey you are buying is bred by using true heritage or standard bred birds. The APA wrote the standards for these birds 150 years ago and have the only right to say what a pure bred heritage turkey is. Frank Reese