Food Review: Shady Brook Farms Italian Style Ground Turkey

Rating: *

Before I go into this review, you should know that my husband and I eat a lot of Shady Brook Farms ground turkey products -- specifically the unseasoned Ground Turkey and the Sweet Italian Sausage.  We love them both.  So it came as a big surprise that the "Italian Style" Ground Turkey is such a bummer of a food product.

The first time I used this ground turkey was in an Italian meat ragu tomato sauce.  Unfortunately, the seasonings themselves do not taste Italian at all -- just very heavily seasoned with salt, pepper and hot red pepper.  Therein lies the rub.  The package isn't labeled as a "hot" product.  (In fact, if you're in a hurry, you can barely differentiate the Italian Style logo from the regular ground turkey logo.  Several times I've grabbed one of these packages by mistake when I just want plain ground turkey.)  It's just too spicy, and this is coming from a person who loves and adores hot Thai Green Curry and spicy Indian food.  The heat factor is just the beginning of my Italian Style Ground Turkey woes.

Two weeks ago, I prepared Turkey Sloppy Joes with this Italian Style turkey.  Okay, maybe not the best flavor combination, but I had grabbed the Italian style package by mistake.  I had been planning to make Turkey Sloppy Joes for a few days and presto, this was what I found in the fridge.  When I ate a bite of the turkey sloppy joes made with the aforementioned product, my stomach was immediately "in distress."  I began to have heartburn, burping and belching.  My throat became sore (and had been sore for days....thank you, GERD!) and I had to quickly pop some Pepto Bismo tablets for relief.  Since I make turkey sloppy joes all the time (with unseasoned turkey) without incident, I know that it's not my added seasonings that are the problem.  It's the dreaded Shady Brook Farms Italian Style Ground Turkey.  Also, my husband also experienced heart burn after eating this product, so it's not an isolated incident.

But do not lose hope.  Shady Brook Farms makes a delicious sweet Italian sausage that tastes like real sausage, isn't too spicy, and is wonderful in Italian dishes (I usually split the casings, brown in extra virgin olive oil with chopped onions and add herbs, tomato sauce, etc. for a great sausage ragu.)
Skip this in the poultry aisle and go for plain or the sweet sausage.  You have been warned. ;)