“Giblet” (usually referred to in the plural) is the collective term for the heart, liver, gizzard and neck. When buying a whole bird, the giblets are often stuffed inside the cavity. These are pulled out before the uncut bird is cooked. In many Asian countries, chicken soups and stews can include the giblets.
What the heart, liver and neck are is self-explanatory. And most people (you included, I hope) know what they look like and what their biological functions are. What about the gizzard? What is it exactly?
Now, things get interesting. Birds don’t have teeth, right? So, how do they chew their food? The answer is: they don’t. Chickens, quails, ducks, turkeys, pheasants and other gallinaceous birds have stomachs that consist of two parts: the glandular stomach and the muscular stomach.
Chances are if you’ve prepared a whole turkey, you’ve encountered the mysterious bag of giblets inside its cavity. Nestled among the neck, heart, and liver is the odd-looking turkey gizzard. But what exactly is this strange piece of the bird? Here’s an in-depth look at the crucial role gizzards play in a turkey’s digestion.
An Overview of Turkey Gizzards
The gizzard is an integral internal organ that helps turkeys digest their food. Located between the turkey’s crop and intestine, the gizzard functions as a powerful grinder, breaking down food into smaller pieces for efficient nutrient absorption.
Without the gizzard, a turkey would be unable to properly digest the grains, seeds, and insects that make up the bulk of its diet. The unique structure and contraction of gizzard muscles substitute for lacking teeth in birds.
So next time you pull that bag of giblets from your holiday bird, know that the gizzard played a vital part in its growth and survival. Read on to learn more about the form and function of this important organ
What Does a Turkey Gizzard Look Like?
At first glance, a raw turkey gizzard may not resemble an internal organ at all It is a firm, dark mass that looks somewhat like a very muscular piece of meat
Whole gizzards are oval-shaped and 3-4 inches long in an average turkey. They have a tough, smooth exterior composed of powerful muscle tissue. When you slice open a gizzard you’ll find its interior lined with a soft ribbed mucosa.
The color of gizzards ranges from dark red to near black. Size correlates with the turkey’s diet – gizzards are larger in wild turkeys versus domesticated farm-raised ones. But flavor remains equally intense regardless of size.
How Do Gizzards Help Turkeys Digest Food?
A gizzard allows a turkey to grind up raw food after swallowing it whole. Turkeys gulp down whole grains, nuts, seeds, insects, and other food items without chewing. All of this food must be broken down for nutrient absorption to occur.
A turkey’s gizzard acts as the teeth and jaws that humans and many mammals possess. Contractions of the gizzard muscles mash and pulverize food against the lining of the organ.
Turkeys also ingest small stones and grit, which accumulate in the gizzard and assist in grinding up food. The combined force of contracting muscles and grit quickly reduces swallowed food to digestible particles.
Unique Structures Make the Gizzard Effective
Several specialized structures allow the turkey’s gizzard to serve as a grinding organ:
-
Powerful muscles – Multiple thick, smooth muscle layers contract rhythmically to crush food.
-
Tough lining – The mucosa contains hardened protein that provides a rough surface for grinding.
-
Grit – Ingested pebbles and sand are retained in the gizzard to aid grinding.
-
Sphincter – A muscular valve controls food passage into and out of the gizzard.
Thanks to these adaptations, a turkey’s gizzard can pulverize even hard seeds or the tough exoskeletons of insects efficiently.
How Does the Gizzard Fit Into the Digestive System?
The turkey’s gastrointestinal system consists of the:
- Crop – Food storage pouch
- Gizzard – Grinds and crushes food
- Intestines – Absorption of nutrients
- Cloaca – Excretion of waste
Ingested food is stored in the crop then passes to the gizzard for mechanical digestion. Once ground up by the gizzard, the food moves to the intestines where digestive enzymes chemically break it down into nutrients.
The combined physical and chemical digestion allows the turkey to derive the most benefit from its meals. The gizzard is key in starting this process.
Do Other Birds Have Gizzards Too?
While especially well-developed in turkeys, gizzards are present in most bird species. Chickens, ducks, geese, parrots, hawks, and songbirds all possess muscular grinding gizzards.
The basic function remains the same across species – to mash up food after it is swallowed so it can undergo chemical digestion. Birds that consume more seeds or tough materials may have larger, thicker gizzards.
Gizzards are one of the distinguishing characteristics of birds compared to many other animals. Mammals generally don’t require gizzard organs thanks to their teeth doing the job of initial food breakdown.
How to Cook With Turkey Gizzards
Once you remove the bag of giblets from your turkey, don’t discard the gizzards! These dense organs are edible and full of rich, intense flavor. Here are some great ways to make use of them:
- Chop and add to stuffing, gravy, or dressing for extra richness.
- Bread and fry for tasty gizzard “nuggets”.
- Slow cook in soups and stews as a flavor booster.
- Grill over high heat and enjoy gizzards’ meaty texture.
- Pickle in vinegar brine for a tangy bar snack.
Next time you roast a turkey, appreciate its hard-working gizzard before incorporating it into your holiday meal for a boost of flavor. Understanding gizzard anatomy leads to creative culinary uses!
The gizzard is the muscular stomach of birds
While chicken in coops are fed commercial poultry feed, left on their own to hunt for food, chickens eat insects, whole berries, seeds, worms and even mice. In fact, pretty much anything they can pop inside their beaks.
When food is swallowed, it goes into the “crop” where it is first stored. From there, it goes to the glandular stomach where enzymes are excreted to begin the digestion process. From the glandular stomach, the food passes to the gizzard where it is smashed with the help of bits of stone or gravel stored in it.
Stone? Gravel?Really?Ah, yes. If you’ve seen free-roaming chickens pecking and swallowing small pieces of stones, sand or gravel, and wondering if they will die because of it, well, the stones, sand or pieces of gravel—commercially sold as “grit”—are simply stored in the gizzard to act as grinder so that the food can be digested.
When the stones or gravel become too smooth to serve their purpose, they are excreted. The gizzard, however, is never without its grinders because the bird continuously collects material quite intuitively. So, the gizzard is tough it’s because it has to be. The muscles must be tough enough to allow the grit to grind the food without causing damage to the walls of the gizzard.
Are turkey gizzards healthy?
FAQ
Is it OK to eat turkey gizzards?
What the heck is a gizzard?
What are the rocks in a turkey gizzard?
What is gizzard made of?