Appetites are already whetting for next week’s Thursday spread and on everyone’s mind is, what does this year’s turkey supply look like? Ashley Kohls is Executive Director of the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association.
“Sure, just like in previous years, it’s probably one of the first questions that we get asked as we skip over from October into November, is, are there going to be enough turkeys for everybody who wants one Thanksgiving? And the answer is absolutely yes. Turkey farmers do work year-round to raise the turkeys that everybody enjoys, not only during Thanksgiving, but year-round. But typically, the turkeys that you’re going to find in your store today, the frozen turkeys have been raised, you know, some at some point throughout the past year.”
Consumers will find the birds in the store in one of two ways.
“Turkeys are raised year-round, right? So the turkey inventory that we have and we build up over the summer and into the fall are typically what folks consume when they buy a whole turkey in the grocery store. Another is a certain percentage of grocery shoppers that do like to take up a fresh bird, whether it’s the convenience of not having to thaw turkey, or they don’t, let’s say, have the freezer space for turkey. They do purchase a fresh bird. And so the turkeys that are currently, you know, either in barns being raised right now, or are just finishing up getting market ready, are they going to be the fresh birds that folks do purchase this Thanksgiving.”
Kohls has some tips on the best and safest way to prepare the centerpiece of the feast.
“So I think one of the most important things, besides making sure you have enough turkey, is that when you’re cooking your turkey, you do not overcook your turkey. We want folks to enjoy turkey. And sometimes turkey gets a bad rap because the folks, the folks prepare the turkey, over cook the turkey. And so we make sure that folks, when you’re cooking a turkey, you have a thermometer on hand, and you do not cook your turkey over 165 degrees Fahrenheit, hard stop, so you have most delicious, juicy turkey, and your family will enjoy it.”