Geese are interesting birds, but they are not the most popular bird when it comes to hunting.
Nonetheless, around 2.69 million geese were harvested in the United States during the 2019-2020 season. These numbers beg the question: is goose meat edible?
Can you eat geese?
If prepared correctly, goose meat is not only safe to eat but also delicious. Goose meat is becoming more common as a food in the northern region of the United States due to its nutritional value and flavor-enhancing fat content. It may not be the favorite or most nutritious waterfowl in existence, but it does rank relatively high.
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Can You Eat Canadian Geese?
You can eat Canadian geese, but it comes with a catch. It is illegal to sell wild game including Canadian geese in most places, but it is not illegal to eat it.
If you hunt a Canadian goose during a legal hunting season, it is perfectly fine to eat it.
Canadian geese are easy to recognize thanks to their distinctive appearance.
They sport a brown body, a black head and neck, with a white chin. While the Canadian goose is found in Canada, it is also found across the United States as well as Europe.
How Healthy Is Goose Meat?
Goose meat is extremely healthy to consume.
It is full of protein and healthy nutrients. These nutrients and vitamins are essential to staying healthy and keeping your body functioning properly.
Three ounces of goose meat can contain about 24 grams of protein! It also contains iron, vitamin B2, potassium, magnesium and vitamin B1.
Goose meat does contain some fat, but these are mostly unsaturated fats. It has less saturated (or unhealthy) fat than most butter.
Goose fat can be stored and used to cook other foods in the place of butter or lard products. (source)
What Does Goose Meat Taste Like?
The taste of goose meat depends largely on how it is prepared, but it can taste surprisingly like beef.
While many people mistakenly believe it will have a taste like chicken or duck, the high fat content of a goose makes the meat juicier and closer in taste to red meat.
Depending on how you cook it, goose meat can resemble the taste of a beef roast or even a pork roast.
How Do You Cook a Goose?
While some people boil their goose meat, the best way to make the most of your goose is to roast it.
By far, roasting will help to make the goose meat as tender and palatable as possible. It also makes the best use of the goose fat. While it does take a while, the reward is worth the wait.
Goose meat can also be cooked in a crock pot. The trick to tender goose meat is to cook it in a liquid on a low heat for several hours. Some people even cook it in an instant pot and achieve a similar result.
Goose Meat Nutrition vs. Other Poultry
Most birds and waterfowl seem to be relatively nutritious when it comes to harvesting and eating.
They are all low in carbohydrates, making them ideal for the keto diet, but they all have their different strengths.
Goose meat is high in protein and omega-3 as well as fat, albeit the healthy kind of fat.
Duck ranks similar to goose, while turkey and chicken both pack in the protein but are lacking in the omega-3 department.
Quail shockingly outranks all the birds on this list when it comes to nutrition, as it has high protein, moderate fat levels, and high in omega-3.
Pheasant is a close second as it is high in protein, low in fat and moderate in omega 3.
3.5 oz of Specified Meat | Protein Level | Fat Content | Omega-3 Level | Nutritious Rank |
Goose | 15.9g | 33.6 g | 100mg | *** |
Duck | 19 g | 28.4 g | 290mg | *** |
Turkey | 16.8 g | 1.75 g | 24.5 mg | *** |
Chicken | 30.5 g | 3.5 g | 68.6 g | *** |
Quail | 24.5 g | 13.65 g | 528.5 g | ***** |
Pheasant | 23.8 g | 3.15 g | 68.6 g | **** |
Final Thoughts
You can eat geese, and they are extremely healthy for you! While is sometimes get a bad reputation for being tough, with the right recipe, you will discover how tender and tasty goose meat really can be.
If you are looking for a new meat option that is high in protein, high in healthy fats and high in omega 3 among other nutrients, then you should try goose meat.
Sources
- https://deltawaterfowl.org/usfws-report-u-s-duck-hunter-numbers-duck-harvest-decreased-in-2019-2020/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_goose
- https://www.nutritionadvance.com/goose-meat-nutrition-benefits/
- http://www.goosefat.co.uk/page/nutrition-and-health
- https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/sausages-and-luncheon-meats/1390/2
- https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/poultry-products/703/2