Everything You Need to Know About Turkey

By Michael C. Park

You’re going to hear a lot of turkey talk in the next few weeks, and most of it will sound familiar. Yeah, you’ve heard the myth that Ben Franklin wanted the turkey, not the bald eagle, to be the symbol of America. And, sure, turkey meat does make you sleepy. (But not why you think it does.) But there’s no way in hell you knew more than two of the following 9 facts about the ungainly but delicious bird that brings us together once a year.

1. Turkey meat has more protein per ounce than nearly any other meat. A 3.5-ounce serving of turkey breast has 30 grams of protein, almost as much as beef (with 36 grams). In comparison, pork loin has only 25 grams, tuna and salmon 26 grams.

2. There’s a reason domesticated turkey meat has so little dark meat—dark meat is muscle tissue that stores oxygen in order to maximize efficiency for frequent use. Domesticated turkeys rarely fly (wild turkeys can fly short distances), so their breast muscles are underused. That’s why wild turkey has a lot more dark meat than farm turkey does.

See more:  Game Changers: Quail, Pigeon, Pheasant, and Other Alternatives to Turkey

3. The flap of red flesh on the top of a male turkey’s beak is called a snood, which is interesting enough. But the really fascinating thing about the snood is that female turkeys (or hens or jennies) prefer to mate with males with longer snoods. The same goes for male turkeys (or toms or jakes) looking for some male-bonding time—they, too, prefer to hang out with longer-snooded toms. The reason may be that turkeys with longer snoods tend to have higher resistance to certain infections.

4. If you’re concerned about keeping the calorie count down this season, stick to turkey breast without the skin—a 3.5-ounce portion has 161 calories and 4 grams of fat. If you’re a dedicated dark-meat guy who digs the skin, the same amount with skin clocks in at 232 calories and 13 grams of fat. If your goal is to put on winter weight, go for a full serving 3.5 ounces of just skin: 482 calories and a sopping 44 grams of fat.

5. From 2007 to 2013, turkey tails were banned in Samoa. Samoans have prized the fatty bird parts since a little after World War II, but with the country facing an obesity epidemic (over half of the population is obese), the government decided to make turkey tails and other fatty imports illegal. The island nation agreed to rescind the ban (gradually—there’s still a hefty tariff in place until 2016) in order to join the World Trade Organization.

6. There’s a thriving black market for turkey tails in Ghana. That country also banned the dish (called “tsofi” there), citing links between the fatty cut and high cholesterol, obesity, and heart disease. Now the government makes a point of seizing smuggled turkey tails and destroying them.

See more: The 10 Coolest Gifts to Give Your Thanksgiving Host (for less than $30)

7. Jumbo turkey legs have become one of the most sought-after treats at Disneyland. An estimated 2 million were sold in 2013, and the demand seems to be growing. The New York Times hypothesizes that the booming popularity is thanks in part to their salty curing process, which lends the legs (weighing in at a pound and a half each) a hammy flavor. The legs are Fred Flintstone-size because they come from the larger toms, whereas the Thanksgiving turkeys most people are familiar with are usually hens or jennies.

8. Ebenezer Scrooge sent a turkey, not a goose, to the Cratchits for Christmas dinner in A Christmas Carol. It strikes some folks as odd, given that this is a North American bird and the story came out in 1843. But turkeys had already become available in England by this time, supplanting traditional European holiday meats like pheasant and goose.

9. No, tryptophan doesn’t make you sleepy. Eating a lot does. It’s called a food coma.

More from DETAILS:

What Your Trainer Eats on Thanksgiving

6 Foolproof Wines that Pair With Any Thanksgiving Dish

Are Canned Foods Actually Healthier than Fresh Produce?

5 Foods That Are Making You Fat

photo: Getty Images