category: food/groceries: poultry: guinea fowl
Guinea fowl, Guinea hen,
zool.: Numididae,
de.: Perlhuhn, Afrikanisches Huhn, Guinea-Huhn,
fr.: pintade, pintandeau,
it.: faraona,
es.: pintata
From the zoological point of view the Guinea fowl are a separate family (zool.:
Numididae)
within the order of
Galliformes. The archetype of the modern
domesticated Guinea fowl is the Helmeted Guinea fowl (zool.: Numida meleagris).
Guinea fowl are native to Africa, where they are still found in the wild
today. The first successful attempts of domesticating Guinea fowl were
probably made in Ancient Greece.
Via Rom Guinea fowl were brought to France and quickly spread through all
European countries with moderate climatic conditions.
When America was discovered they also found their way to the
New World. Today the world's largest producer is France with about 50
million animals per year.
Italy is another important producing and exporting country.
Guinea fowl have a round body and small head. Their wings are short and the
plumage is smooth and clinging. The small white dots in the otherwise black
plumage remind of pearls. The German name Perlhuhn derives from this.
Breeding of Guinea fowl
Each breeding hen lays 170
eggs
per year on average. Guinea fowl are sold in two weight
classes. Young fledglings born in intensive breeding are often slaughtered
after only six weeks and weigh at that point about 600 g.
They are seen as an alternative to
partridges
and are sold as one portion. The standard Guinea fowl is slaughtered at the
age of 10 to 12 weeks and a weighs 1.6 kg. Fully grown Guinea fowl can
easily reach a weight of 2 kg. Breeding takes place in special stalls with
with a bedding of straw or chipped wood. Guinea fowl from farm breeding include animals
of controlled origin from Drôme as well as those with the quality mark
Label Rouge.
For the breeding of animals that bear the Label Rouge, strict quality
standards have to be followed.
Guinea fowl can only be slaughtered, when they are fully grown.
Longer breeding time, high-quality feed and a smaller amount of animals per
flock explain the higher price for animals bearing the Label Rouge.
The birds have a minimum age of 94 days and weigh about 1.8 kg.
Furthermore they are brought up outdoors on pastures rich in herbs.
This makes their meat even more aromatic. Towards the end of their breeding
time Label Rouge guinea fowl are fed with
corn.
Nutritional properties of Guinea fowl
Guinea fowl contain very little
fat.
The meat of their legs has 2.7 percent fat, breast meat only
1.1 percent. It therefore is the domesticated poultry variety with the
lowest fat content. Furthermore their proportion of unsaturated
fatty acids
is high and they have an extremely low
cholesterol content.
Guinea fowl are rich in
protein
of which they contain more than
chicken
or even
beef.
Their
vitamin
content is also worth mentioning. They contain the vitamins
B1, B2 and E and have a high proportion of the
minerals
magnesium,
calcium
and
iron.
Preparation of Guinea fowl
Guinea fowl are available around the year. In Europe they are breed in
France and Italy for the largest part.
Their dark meat is juicy and tender. Its
taste
reminds of
pheasant.
Therefore most pheasant recipes can be used for young guinea fowl.
Tip: To prepare older guinea fowl, it is best to marinate them
(best
tied up)
for one or two days in
buttermilk.
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