Some die-hards take the time to make stock from scratch, simmering turkey wings and backs with aromatic vegetables for hours to release the flavors.

Other folks seek to buy homemade turkey stock. (North Market Poultry and Game is among the places that will peddle it for the approaching holiday.)

Many cooks, though, turn to canned broth or stock.

Most recipes list the chicken variety, but a few companies -- Bowman Landes, College Inn and Kitchen Basics -- make turkey.

To gauge the quality of the three options, we arranged an informal taste test featuring amateur cooks Mary Martineau, director of marketing for the North Market; and Bethia Woolf, food blogger (www.hungry woolf.com).

Both tasters overwhelmingly preferred Kitchen Basics, made in Brecksville, near Cleveland.

"It smells like turkey roasting," Martineau said as she smelled the stock.

Woolf liked the flavor: "It's like it's got some fat in it. It tastes like something you'd make at home."

The next favorite: Bowman Landes, made in New Carlisle -- a Clark County town where holiday turkeys are raised.

The broth tasted like turkey skin, Woolf thought, but neither liked the aroma, which they described as "mineral-y."

The least-expensive option -- College Inn, a subsidiary of Del Monte -- was favored least by the tasters.

It smelled more like herbal tea than turkey, Woolf said, and both found it too salty (although Woolf conceded that it might suit certain dishes).

robin.davis@dispatch.com

What's the difference?

In recent years, supermarket shelves have accommodated an increasing number of stocks and broths.

Aren't they one and the same?

No, according to Annmarie Wong, owner of North Market Poultry and Game in the North Market.

Broth is just bones and water boiled down, she said, and stock includes bouquet garni (an array of herbs and spices) and vegetables.

Her turkey stock, which will be sold closer to Thanksgiving for $5 a quart, is made with whole peppercorns, onions, celery and carrots; and the necks, wings and drumsticks of turkeys.

The folks at Kitchen Basics concur with the distinction.

"Broth is just meat and water -- what's leftover after cooking," said Amy Byers, the Brecksville company's manager of marketing services.

Kitchen Basics, which makes only stocks, slowly simmers the bones with vegetables and herbs. The product is also touted as allergen-free, containing no gluten or eggs -- which some other brands have.

"It's just like homemade," Byers said. "We just do it in bigger pots -- much bigger pots."

Recipes from the Cover

GREAT GRAVY FOR TURKEY