Tofurky - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Tofurky is the brand name of an American vegetarian turkey replacement (also known as a meat analogue

Meat analogue

A meat analogue, also called a meat substitute, mock meat, faux meat, or imitation meat, approximates the aesthetic qualities and/or chemical characteristics of specific types of meat...

) made from a blend of wheat protein

Wheat gluten (food)

Wheat gluten, also called seitan , wheat meat, mock duck, gluten meat, or simply gluten, is a food made from the gluten of wheat...

and organic

Organic food

Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.For the...

tofu

Tofu

is a food made by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into soft white blocks. It is part of East Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and others. There are many different varieties of tofu, including fresh tofu and tofu...

.

Tofurky is a trademark

Trademark

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

of Turtle Island Foods

Turtle Island Foods

Turtle Island Foods is the company which produces Tofurky, a popular vegetarian and vegan alternative to turkey, as well other meatless products...

a company based in Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

. Turtle Island has come to also use the brand name for most of their meatless products, such as deli slices, sausages, jerky, tempeh

Tempeh

Tempeh , or tempe , is a traditional soy product originally from Indonesia. It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form, similar to a very firm vegetarian burger patty...

(their first product), burgers, and franks. All of the Tofurky products are fully vegan and approved by the Vegan Society

Vegan Society

The Vegan Society is a registered charity and the oldest vegan society in the world, founded on November 1, 1944, in England by Donald Watson, Elsie "Sally" Shrigley, and 23 others....

, and most are kosher-certified by the Kosher Supervision of America

Kosher Supervision of America

Kosher Supervision of America is a not-for-profit Kashrut organization based in Los Angeles, California, USA. Its primary purpose is to certify food as kosher. The Kashrus Administrator is Rabbi Binyomin Lisbon.-External links:* *...

Purchase

The Tofurky roast is found in health food grocery stores; however, availability is limited in some areas. Tofurky is generally less expensive than a large holiday bird. Inside the box, it comes in the form of a small but dense roast, wrapped tightly in a disposable casing, and is something of a rounded loaf in shape. It comes stuffed with mushroom

Mushroom

A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...

s, herb

Herb

Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...

s, and wild rice

Wild rice

Wild rice is four species of grasses forming the genus Zizania, and the grain which can be harvested from them. The grain was historically gathered and eaten in both North America and China...

. Though the roast can be purchased separately, it is also offered as part of a meal with cranberry

Cranberry

Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. In some methods of classification, Oxycoccus is regarded as a genus in its own right...

-apple

Apple

The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...

-potato

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...

dumplings, gravy, and "wishstix" made from Tofurky Jurky, a meatless jerky product. The Whole Foods

Whole Foods Market

Whole Foods Market is a foods supermarket chain based in Austin, Texas which emphasizes "natural and organic products." The company has been ranked among the most socially responsible businesses and placed third on the U.S...

store chain is a major seller of Tofurky products.

As part of a holiday meal

Tofurky is a popular meat alternative

Meat analogue

A meat analogue, also called a meat substitute, mock meat, faux meat, or imitation meat, approximates the aesthetic qualities and/or chemical characteristics of specific types of meat...

amongst many vegetarians, who avoid turkey for ethical and/or personal reasons. It is also chosen by other individuals for health, environmental, or religious reasons. The product is free from turkey and other meat products, but still allows individuals to celebrate holidays with traditional meals. The product may be part of a completely vegetarian meal that includes vegetarian and/or vegan updates of other classics (such as pumpkin pie

Pumpkin pie

Pumpkin pie is a traditional sweet dessert, often eaten during the fall and early winter, especially for Thanksgiving and Christmas in the United States and Canada. The pumpkin is a symbol of harvest time and featured also at Halloween....

, mashed potato

Mashed potato

Mashed potato is made by mashing freshly boiled potatoes with a ricer, fork, potato masher, food mill, or whipping them with a hand beater. Dehydrated and frozen mashed potatoes are available in many places...

es, and meatless gravy

Gravy

Gravy is a sauce made often from the juices that run naturally from meat or vegetables during cooking. In North America the term can refer to a wider variety of sauces and gravy is often thicker than in Britain...

), or served alongside turkey at a more traditional table to accommodate vegetarian guests.

Nutrition & health

Nutritional information for equal servings of Tofurky and turkey is available online, allowing interested people to compare calorie

Calorie

The calorie is a pre-SI metric unit of energy. It was first defined by Nicolas Clément in 1824 as a unit of heat, entering French and English dictionaries between 1841 and 1867. In most fields its use is archaic, having been replaced by the SI unit of energy, the joule...

s, fat

Fat

Fats consist of a wide group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and generally insoluble in water. Chemically, fats are triglycerides, triesters of glycerol and any of several fatty acids. Fats may be either solid or liquid at room temperature, depending on their structure...

, cholesterol

Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a complex isoprenoid. Specifically, it is a waxy steroid of fat that is produced in the liver or intestines. It is used to produce hormones and cell membranes and is transported in the blood plasma of all mammals. It is an essential structural component of mammalian cell membranes...

, and protein

Protein

Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

.http://www.tofurky.com/products/tofurky_turkey.htm Compared to turkey, Tofurky is lower in calories and fat. The company does not use trans fat

Trans fat

Trans fat is the common name for unsaturated fat with trans-isomer fatty acid. Because the term refers to the configuration of a double carbon-carbon bond, trans fats are sometimes monounsaturated or polyunsaturated, but never saturated....

and the product has no cholesterol

Cholesterol

since it is 100% vegan.

Turtle Foods has indicated that it no longer uses certain controversial soy products and only uses non-GMO soybeans.http://www.tofurky.com/products/tofurkyfaqs.htm. The roast is vegan, which also means it is suitable for those with egg

Egg (food)

Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...

or milk

Milk

Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...

allergies; but for those who suffer from allergies to the soy and/or wheat gluten used in most meat alternatives, Tofurky is not an option (see the end of the page for alternatives).

Preparation

The Tofurky is pre-stuffed and sealed at the ends to enclose the stuffing. It cooks in one hour and fifteen minutes if thawed and three hours & fifteen minutes if frozen. Because the product has a uniform texture, it slices easily.

Similarity to turkey

Tofurky is seitan and soy based and was created to have a texture similar to that of meat products; the vegetable-based turkey-like flavorings are intended to make it comparable to traditional Thanksgiving fare. In order to make the product as similar to flesh as they intended, its creators designed the roast so that it tears off at a forty-five degree angle with the grain.http://www.tofurky.com/aboutus/curd.htm

External links