NBC

The Heritage Turkey Is Making a Comeback

The turkey grandma is serving at Thanksgiving probably looks — and tastes — far different from what she remembers from her childhood.

But heritage breed turkeys like the Narragansett, which industrial livestock brought to the brink of extinction, are making a comeback, NBC News reports.

They're smaller, leaner, free range, more expensive and can be more challenging to cook, but Anna Dinn of Hamtramck, Michigan, is one of many who has found that the taste and tradition of heritage turkeys made cooking one worth it.

There are over 15,000 heritage turkeys gobbling across the United States, according to the Livestock Conservancy, a 1000 percent boost since 1997, when they were nearly extinct. Of course, commercial farms produce about 280 million each year in North America.

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