It’s a specialty product that’s big in Asia and growing quickly in the U.S. Maybe you haven’t tried duck and, don’t "quack up," but some folks in Indiana say their web-footed friends are the next big culinary trend.

"We like to say we sell everything but the quack," says Scott Tucker. And he’s not kidding. Scott’s the co-founder and president of Maple Leaf Duck Farms in Milford, Indiana. There, duck feathers and down make it into pillows and quilts, while selling duck meat makes this the largest producer in the United States.

Founded in 1958 by Scott’s grandfather, Maple Leaf Farms supplies close to fifteen million ducks to restaurants, cruise ships, grocery stores, hotels, and overseas customers every year.

"We raise Peking, white Peking duck," says Scott. "It’s all white with an orange or gray bill. It probably represents 95% of all the ducks grown in the United States. I think consumers prefer it because it’s a leaner duck and it’s much more tender than other varieties of duck. So when people are trying duck for the first time, it’s much more likely for them to try and enjoy."

Unlike chicken, duck — like all waterfowl — is a dark meat. Wild duck often has a strong, gamey taste that doesn’t appeal to many consumers. But domesticated, farm-raised duck has a milder but distinctive flavor, the result of breeding and careful feeding. At Maple Leaf, this means a natural, hormone-free feed of locally-produced grain put together by chemist Annette Doster and staff. She showed Paul the main ingredients.

"This is your corn that the local farmers bring in by wagon and this is your ground corn that’s coming off the hammer mill," explained Annette. "It’s ground up to put in the feed. And this is your soybean meal. And this is ground wheat."

The ducks eat a highly controlled diet and live in a tightly controlled environment. Maple Leaf contracts with local farmers, who raise the company ducks in large poultry barns like one we found in northern Indiana. But here on this duck farm, as with other poultry producers across the country including chickens and turkeys, before you come in close contact with the flock, certain safety precautions have to be taken. That would include "bio-security."

Paul donned a complete biohazard outfit before entering the duck breeding and feeding area. Close to 3,000 ducks live in the barn. They’re "breeders", egg-layers whose job it is to make more ducks. The barn is surprisingly free of odor and very clean. It has to be, since keeping clean is critical to success, says Dan Harper with Environmental Affairs at Maple Leaf.

"By being able to control that there are no wild birds that can come in here that means that avian influenza and different diseases—we can control that," says Dan. "That’s why we’re wearing these uniforms: bio-security. This protects these animals from the elements not only from the environmental, (but) from coyotes and hawks and stuff like that so it’s more humane to raise the ducks inside."

Duck has been positioned as a flavorful alternative to chicken and can be served in many of the same ways: as an entrée, in salads, in sandwiches, on the grill. But its reputation as being high in fat has kept some potential customers away, although the USDA notes that boneless, skinless duck breast has less total fat and fewer calories than a boneless, skinless chicken breast.

Paul had to ask. "Do you think duck meat’s ever going to catch on this country?" Dan smiled. "I use the phrase, ‘we’re the other dark meat’. The other red meat with flavor. If you’ve ever eaten duck, you don’t have to season duck to make it taste like something."

And that’s something Maple Leaf Farms is banking on to prove to potential customers: duck, in terms of flavor, versatility, and nutrition, is all it’s "quacked up" to be.

Contact Information:
www.mapleleaffarms.com