Chefs, don’t brine your Thanksgiving turkey in Utah’s Great Salt Lake, rangers warn
Don’t brine your Thanksgiving turkey in Utah’s Great Salt Lake, rangers warn — after an entire packaged turkey washed up on the lake’s shores.
“It’s the time of year again!” officials said on the park and marina’s social media pages. “Just your annual reminder not to use Great Salt Lake to brine your turkey.”
A photo shows the turkey on what looks like a wooden pier, with real feathers stuck in its packaging.
“Not only is the salinity too high for a proper brine, the waves can be very strong and there’s a good chance you could lose the entire turkey as this person did,” officials said. “It ended up washed up on Silver Sands Beach and someone went turkey-less.”
The lake is a “dynamic ecosystem” that supports brine shrimp and several shorebirds and waterfowl, Cowboy State Daily reported. So it’s possible the feathers came from birds that call the lake home.
And while the salty water — between 5% to 27% salinity depending on the water level — is great for the wellbeing of wild birds, it’s full of other minerals that are toxic to humans, Cowboy State Daily reported.
“We have a lot of potassium, sulfur and other stuff that you’re not going to want your turkey to be brining in,” Ryan Sylvester, the lead park ranger aide at the state park, told the outlet.
Many people commenting on the park’s Facebook post were disturbed by the discovery.
“That’s absolutely disgusting,” someone said in the comments on the post.
“Calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sulfur should add some interesting flavor to your turkey,” another person said.
That prompted someone else to chime in about the heavy metals found in the lake’s soil.
“Maybe a little cadmium and arsenic too,” they said.
Others were a little more lighthearted about the whole thing.
“Doordash never fails at delivering to the wrong lake,” someone said.
