Turkey mutation

[NickFitz]

In normal years our family always have a Kelly Bronze turkey; they're really good

[xoggoth]

There's a few turkey farms near me that I sometimes pass on my walks. Always feel sorry for the poor little things.

[AtW]

The family crisscrossed the country buying up the last remaining flocks of bronze birds. “We got the last of the breed in the UK in 1983, there were just 280 left and we could just about afford them,” Kelly says.

These turkeys are called bronze because they have black feathers. When plucked, the stubs left behind in the skin are brown, giving the turkey a bronze sheen.

“Turkeys were always bronze, the white turkey is a modern mutation and it’s purely aesthetic, in the same way black-haired pigs went out of fashion because people like white rather than dark hairs,” Kelly says. “It’s a slower-growing breed, but it tastes better and I think at the end of the day quality always wins.”

Why turkey farmers are sitting pretty this Christmas

Eat responsibly!