You Can Order a Fresh Thanksgiving Turkey From These Connecticut Farms

If you want to up your Thanksgiving Dinner game, get fresh turkey, not frozen. Sure, it's going to cost you maybe double, sometimes triple the price of the one you get when you spend $400 between now and November 23, 2021, but it's worth it.

A turkey is considered "fresh" only if it hasn't been chilled below 26F. Turkeys chilled at 0F must be labeled "frozen", while if it's stored between 25F- 1, it must be labeled "previously frozen".

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For the past few years, we've bought our Thanksgiving turkey from Whole Foods, their pre-brined Turkey Breast is outstanding and perfect for just the two of us to enjoy. We used to order the Willy Bird from Williams-Sonoma for our big family Thanksgiving dinners, also a great choice.

Fresh turkeys will hold their moisture better and produce better flavor, compared to frozen. Buying a frozen turkey? You really have no idea how long it's been frozen, or if the bird was thawed and re-frozen along the way. Worse yet? Freezer burn. Ice crystals can form in the meat, making it tough.

If you have a few extra bucks in your pocket, consider giving your hard-earned Holiday money to a local farm. The fresh turkey you purchase from them will feed their family, and it should taste a lot better than one that has been sitting like a block of ice for a month.

Here are some local Connecticut farms that are accepting pre-orders right now for their fresh Thanksgiving turkeys. Act fast, most are already posting that they are close to being sold out.