Capon

A capon is a male chicken that has been castrated or neutered, either surgically or chemically, to improve the quality of its flesh for food, its name tracing to the Latin capo. Caponization removes the bird's testes surgically or uses estrogen implants before the rooster matures, so it develops without male sex hormones, and in places such as Spain capons are further fattened through forced feeding. The resulting meat is less gamey and more moist, tender and flavorful than ordinary chicken, historically a luxury food favored by medieval monks and wealthy Renaissance figures, and referenced by Shakespeare as a marker of affluence in As You Like It around 1600. Caponization dates back to ancient China, Greece and Rome; a notable early record is Rome's 162 BC Lex Fannia, which restricted hen fattening to conserve grain and prompted Romans to castrate roosters instead, doubling their size, and France maintained a significant capon industry into the early 20th century.