Although Christmas Day is still several weeks away, there are certain items that are best prepared or ordered in advance, such as the Christmas cake, Christmas pudding, mincemeat and the festive bird. For those who would like to sample locally-reared turkey and goose, Peach Croft Farm, Radley, is staging its famous Tasting Day from 10am to 3pm this Saturday. This annual event provides us all with a chance to try some of the farm’s scrumptious award-winning Christmas produce, most particularly the free-range turkey and geese that are allowed to develop naturally on grassy paddocks and fields around the farm. By tasting both goose and turkey, visitors to the farm will get the chance to decide whether to go for the nostalgic touch and choose roast goose, as eulogised by Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol or enjoy the glorious white flesh of a Bronze turkey.

One of the main differences between these two birds is the colour of the flesh. The goose is juicer than a turkey and its dark, succulent flesh has a distinctive rich flavour all of its own. The turkey’s flesh offers a more subtle flavour and contains far less fat than a goose, which makes it a far drier bird, but nevertheless just as tasty. The weight of flesh on each bird must be taken into consideration too. If you stand a 5kg goose next to a 5kg turkey it could be assumed that they will both feed the same amount of people. Not so. The turkey will feed almost twice as many people as the goose due mainly to the amount of fat on a goose which melts as it cooks. A 5kg goose should comfortably feed six to eight people, whereas a 5kg turkey will feed far more.

The geese reared at Peach Croft Farm are fed a natural diet and grow slowly to full maturity in a stress-free environment.

Just as their geese flourish best when stress-free, the Homewood family, who run Peach Croft, believe their customers should enjoy a stress-free time too. To this end their turkey and geese come in a carry-home box that contains guidelines and tips on how to prepare the perfect festive bird and the tastiest celebratory meal.

Archaeological excavations in Ancient Egypt suggest that goose husbandry was coming into its own by the third millennium BC. By the Roman period goose meat was being mentioned as a distinct food.

Geese were not reared just for their flesh in those early days. Their exceptional eyesight and wide field of vision, combined with their strident voices, made them excellent guards of the property on which they were reared. Apparently it was geese which raised the alarm when Rome was attacked by the Gauls, and in so doing saved the city. Today’s poultry farmer finds their ability to guard their environment equally useful.

Geese had become an integral part of the European peasant economy by the time the Roman Empire fell as they cost very little to rear, gained weight quickly and produced an excellent meat that came with plenty of spare fat.

By the 18th century, geese were being reared in large flocks and marched to the market, where they were much in demand, not only for their meat but their feathers too which helped satisfy the growing demand for ink quills. The 20th century saw goose fat being used for medical purposes, both as a remedy for chest colds and sore throats. It was applied to the chest as a poultice and swallowed by the spoonful for a sore throat. Today’s chefs prize goose fat for its cooking qualities — roast potatoes cooked in goose fat taste like no other potato due to its tolerance of high temperatures. (See recipe opposite). Its high burning point enables the cook to obtain a gloriously golden crunch on their roast potatoes without the fat breaking down.

Although roast potatoes cooked in goose fat will look beautifully shiny, they will not be greasy. Goose fat, which has a rich silky texture, is a solid fat that becomes fairly liquid at room temperature, its melting point being 25C-37C. Cooking your goose is easy. The Homewoods advise it is cooked within three days of purchase in a pre-heated oven 180C/350F or Gas Mark 4, pricking the skin alongside each breast after 30 minutes to release some of the fat and juices. It should be placed on a roasting rack, or small cake rake inside a deep roasting pan without foil.

Thirty-five minutes per kg should be allowed for cooking. They advise that you test the bird between two-thirds and three-quarters of the cooking time by pricking the flesh. If the juices run clear when the bird is pricked it is done. A 5kg bird should take 2 hours 45 minutes. During cooking you may choose to drain off the excess fat which can be reserved for future use.