Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a juicy turkey on the table. But too many of us have been stung by the supermarket deep-freezed variety. Battery farmed with no taste and dry meat. Free range turkeys, on the other hand, taste just as a fresh Christmas turkey should taste and make a fitting centrepiece for any Christmas dinner.

Free range turkeys only come from the best quality chicks. There’s no cramming as many birds into a dark and dingy barn as possible here. Your fresh Christmas turkeys will have been raised in an environment that is both spacious and disease free. As soon as they are old enough, the turkeys are given access to an outside area in which they can roam freely. This means the farmers are able to raise fewer birds per year, which does in turn effect the price: but for that slightly higher price tag you are getting a far superior bird and one which know lived a happy life.

Only the fittest chicks are chosen; some battery farmers are happy to use any old mangy chick, but they only grow up to become mangy turkeys. Free range turkey farmers want their product to be better.

The quality of the turkey is also ensured by only using slow growing strains. Again, some farmers are happy to use fast growing turkeys and while they are profitable and the end product cheaper, the flavour doesn’t even begin to compare. You get what you pay for. Slow growing strains allow the turkeys to develop at a natural rate and retain their flavour. Typically, free range turkeys will have a 22 week growing period; a full month and a half longer than industrially farmed, fast growing birds.

Your cheap, supermarket turkey is likely to have been fed on an array of growth additives and growth promoting chemicals. While there are numerous claims about the health implications of eating chemically promoted livestock, the key point to consider is that it really affects the flavour. Additives do have their place in farming and animal rearing, but it ought to be done in moderation; to encourage development, not force it. Do you really want to eat a turkey that in life was pumped full of steroids? Fresh Christmas turkeys are fed on 70% cereal.

Of course,these birs are still being raised for slaughter. But it doesn't have to be cruel. When the time comes, free ranger farms hand pluck the turkeys on the farms on which they were raised, causing minimal stress to the bird.

Environmental Health and the Traditional Farmfresh Turkey Association regularly inspect farms to ensure they meet the high standards expected of free ranging farming. Their accreditation means you can be sure the fresh Christmas turkey you are buying was raised in the very best conditions.

 No one has greater care and love for animals than free range farmers and they want the turkeys they raise to have the best quality of life. It’s best for the poultry and it’s best for the buyer . A healthy turkey is a tasty turkey.

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Morton’s Traditional Taste is run by third generation turkey farmers. Their farming methods are approved by Environmental Health and the TFTA.Morton’s fresh Christmas turkeys