Mock turtle soup from the time of the personal union between the Kingdom of Hanover and the Kingdom of Great Britain. While green sea turtle was popular for soup making in many countries, U.S. recipes included many other local species. Soup made from snapping turtles is still available in parts of the country. Similarly mock turtle soup recipes have a variety of substitute meats. Beside organ meats like the British recipes, recipes in the U.S. often use stewing beef or ground beef but may call for alligator. The Campbell Soup Company once produced canned mock turtle soup made of calf's head. In a
Turtle soup not have enough fat, and a bigger one would have too strong a flavor. In many jurisdictions, turtle soup is illegal because many species of turtle are listed as threatened or endangered, and cannot legally be captured, let alone killed. Generally speaking, turtle populations cannot quickly recover from the loss of a breeding adult; thus, killing these turtles to make soup can depress populations below sustainable levels. The common snapping turtle has also long been used in the United States, especially in the South. In this case the soup is commonly referred to as "snapper turtle soup", or simply "snapper