What You Don’t Know About Turkey

My sometimes inquiring mind has had turkey on the brain as of late (for obvious reasons). For a little bit of Thanksgiving trivia, I thought I’d dig back in the history vaults to find out why turkey is the popular main course on this special occasion.

Legend has it that Queen Elizabeth of the 16th century was enjoying roast goose at a harvest festival when she received news that the Spanish Armada had sunk while en route to attack her England homeland. In a gesture of celebration, she ordered a second goose. From that point forward, the goose was deemed the meal of choice in England during harvest time. Later, when Pilgrims landed in America from England, roast turkey replaced roast goose simply because wild turkeys were in more abundance.

Little known turkey facts:
· A 'snood' is the long fleshy skin that hangs over a turkey's beak.
· A wild turkey's naked head and neck can change blue when mating.
· Male turkeys are nicknamed ‘toms’ while females are called ‘hens’.
· When at maturity, turkeys can have as many as 3,500 feathers!
· Wild turkeys can run up to 55 miles an hour!