I named one of my quilt designs Turkey Red and June asked about the source of the name.
Turkey red is a color named for the place, not the fowl. Turkey red was the name given to a red dye which had been developed from the root of the madder plant. The knowledge that madder was an effective red dye was not new. The Greeks, Libyans and Romans all used it as did the Moors. After its use was lost the Dutch rediscovered its cultivation in 1494 and for the next three hundred years were the world’s largest exporters. You can read more about Turkey Red here.