Product arrived a day late and thawed. After calling customer service I was told to refreeze the items and they would be "wholesome ". You are not supposed to thaw and refreeze meat without cooking it first. I am not cooking 5 pounds of breakfast sausage and pounds of ground turkey. The lunch meat was just barely cool to the touch but, you guessed it, if it's cool to the touch it's "wholesome ". These people are going to make someone sick.
After emailing customer service, Diestel responded with an offer to replace the order. This raises them and some of their customer support a little higher in my view. Hopefully the replacement arrives on time and still frozen.
MM
Ms Marsha C.
Save Your Money (and your dinner)
We purchased a 14-lb 'Organic American Heirloom Turkey' direct from the Diestel Family Turkey Ranch's website. It was said to be on sale for $110, easily double what we would normally pay for a premium turkey. Given the excellent reviews, we were anticipating this being the most delicious turkey of our lives. Alas, it was not to be.
We have been roasting turkey for over forty years, so it's safe to say we not only love roast turkey, but are also experts at preparing it.
First, the turkey arrived a week before Thanksgiving (not on our chosen day) unannounced. We found it by our front door, without notice. Fortunately, it was still frozen and well-packaged.
When it came time to roast the turkey (Thanksgiving morning 2025) we had dry-brined it 48 hours in advance, and allowed it to sit out for an hour before tucking it into our gas, fan-assist oven, filled with fresh limes, herbs, seasoning, walnut oil, and butter.
After roasting it for three hours at 350F, we were delighted to remove a golden, crispy-skin turkey from the oven, allowing it to rest 30 minutes before carving. Unfortunately, once we started carving the bird we quickly realized it was stunningly tough; so tough we struggled to remove it from the bone.
Ultimately, we had to put the turkey into a giant vat of organic chicken broth and cook it in the stock to tenderize it enough to eat. Even then, after all this, the turkey remained very tough and unusually fibrous. In fact, it was so fibrous, we often had to remove the meat from our mouth rather than risk trying to swallow it.
The next day, we shared our story with Diestel Farm in a detailed letter with photos, appreciating that once in awhile something like this might happen. Unfortunately, they were not interested in offering to replace the expensive, un-edible turkey with meat we can actually eat. For this reason, we cannot recommend this company or their products.
From our experience, it is unusual for a so-called family-owned and operated business to blow off genuine customer complaints like this. There was zero attempt to make amends for what was clearly an un-edible turkey.
I now see they are offering the same turkey we purchased for $110 for $185 on their website. Unfortunately, I doubt my letter detailing our experience will be included on their website.
