Abstract MANY poultry processors who market frozen turkeys recommend, as printed on the label, that turkeys be thawed in a refrigerator. Beanblossom and Snyder (1950) recommended that turkeys be thawed in a refrigerator for 2 to 4 days. Hoffert et al. (1952) compared the thawing of half-roasters in an oven, a refrigerator, at room temperature and in water. No significant differences were noted in the palatability of roasters among treatments. Brodine and Carlin (1968) reported that flavor and juiciness scores of cooked breast and thigh meat of turkeys were not affected by the chilling or thawing methods used. Fulton et al. (1967) found that frozen whole turkeys as well as frozen halves, quarters, and cut-up parts can be roasted satisfactorily and would be similar in tenderness and juiciness to those cooked after being thawed. Klose et al. (1961) found that the wide difference in the rate of thawing birds frozen pre-rigor…