worms snails and slugs

[lofthouse31]

any recipes cooking tips or experiences of the above.
thanks for shareing

 

[JonathanD]

Snails are great and there are plenty of recipes for them somewhere on here. Not too keen on slugs though. When you boil them, a revolting slime collects on the surface and puts you right off

 

[AndyW]

Worms are supposed to be edible but I wouldn't recommend them

I remember many years back there was a program that I think was following Royal Marines through their training and they were shown how frying up some worms with a couple of eggs would help them survive. Well some time later there I was having a drink with a few friends when this subject came up.

End result was a mate had some in his fridge ready to go fishing with but I ended up having them in an Omlette It was like chewing on rubber shoe laces...but then they were cooked up while the worse for a few beers

 

[sten]

Garden snails - eaten them a few times, i boil them in as many changes of water as i need to get rid of the slime, then bake or simmer them in parsley, butter and garlic untill tender. yummy.

The best tip i've been given is to feed then on white bread untill you get consistantly white snail poop. then you know you've got all the earth and grit out of them. It can take a week to ten days.

What i want to know is why they don't fit back into their shells like the bought ones?

slugs - rather you than me!!

 

[bushtank]

Worms are supposed to be edible but I wouldn't recommend them

I remember many years back there was a program that I think was following Royal Marines through their training and they were shown how frying up some worms with a couple of eggs would help them survive. Well some time later there I was having a drink with a few friends when this subject came up.

End result was a mate had some in his fridge ready to go fishing with but I ended up having them in an Omlette It was like chewing on rubber shoe laces...but then they were cooked up while the worse for a few beers

I found that raw worms are better they find their own way to your stomach yum had one worm that tryed to reverse back up from my throat so i had to chop him up being very drunk helped alot

 

[Wayland]

Best method I've come across for worms is to dry them on a hot stone, grind them up and use them like a stock cubes.

Haven't tried it myself but it sounds sensible enough and the source was good.

 

[Goose]

Tried worm ommelette and cooked and raw worms a few times. I was taught to purge them if possible, put them in a container with some safe leaves such as dandelion for a couple of days, or in a saltwater solution and it should clear their system of what they have been munching their way through!Thinking about it ramsoms will add a bit of flavour I suppose. I draw them through my fingers and get rid of what is in their guts, then boil and add to eggs or whatever. Drying, powdering and adding to food is a good one too, but I have just chopped them.
They don't really taste of much to be honest, either raw or cooked.
Never tried snails and to try slugs I would need to be really hungry(or drunk!).

 

[JonathanD]

What i want to know is why they don't fit back into their shells like the bought ones?

Stick them in the fridge for a couple of hours before you boil them, that should keep them in their shells as they are fast asleep when you chuck em in the water.

 

[John Fenna]

I am with Weyland on the worms.
Snails and slugs - both grim (even in French cafes) - a slug is only a snail selling The Big Issue.
I don't like limpets, cockles, Mussels, oysters os any of this kind of "food".......

 

[lofthouse31]

im on a bit of a learning drive about creepy crawley slithery cuisine at the moment.
It seems a very easy source of calories ive been pulling at a root many times and had a worm or two pop up and say hello, similarly ive lifted up low hanging leafs to find snails taking shelter.
Im sure our hunter gatherer ancestors would have seen this as good fortune, i guess to the modern palet this isnt the stuff of gastronomic dreams but if out in the wilds these little guys could be very important.
Its good that snails go good with garlic i have a load of wild garlic up the road and i bet amongst it theres a snail or five waiting to do the honours.
nature sure is a generous beast.

 

[Goose]

There is apparently more protein in bugs pound for pound than there are in beef, and they aren't difficult to catch, a lot easier than those wascally wabbits!

 

[suburban bushwacker]

Eating snails can kill

Shanghai Star. 2003-10-30
SYDNEY - While escargot is the pride of French cuisine, eating common garden slugs or snails can be fatal.

The Medical Journal of Australia made the discovery after a patient with mysterious symptoms was found to have eaten two garden slugs for a dare.

A young man who showed puzzling symptoms over a period of weeks was diagnosed with human eosinophilic meningitis after eating the molluscs, which are hosts of the larval stage of a lung worm parasite, the Journal said.

"Repeated questioning revealed that the patient had ingested, five weeks earlier for a dare, two slugs from a garden in a Sydney suburb," said co-author of the report John Walker of the Department of Medicine at Sydney University.

"Humans become accidental hosts when they ingest the larval stage in raw or undercooked molluscs or crustaceans, or in fresh vegetables contaminated by infected molluscs," Walker said.

It was five months before the patient was able to return to full-time studies and competitive sport.

The Angiostrongylus cantonensis parasite is the most common infectious cause of eosinophilic meningitis worldwide and is endemic in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Basin.

In Australia, the first human infection with the A. Cantonensis parasite was reported in 1971. Since then a fatal case occurred in a child who ingested molluscs in a suburban Brisbane garden.

(Agencies via Xinhua)

http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/2003/1030/he19-4.html

 

[bushtank]

I am with Weyland on the worms.
Snails and slugs - both grim (even in French cafes) - a slug is only a snail selling The Big Issue.
I don't like limpets, cockles, Mussels, oysters os any of this kind of "food".......

a slug is only a snail selling The Big Issue. cheers john that made me ache with laughter

 

[John Fenna]

Eating snails can kill

Shanghai Star. 2003-10-30
SYDNEY - While escargot is the pride of French cuisine, eating common garden slugs or snails can be fatal.

The Medical Journal of Australia made the discovery after a patient with mysterious symptoms was found to have eaten two garden slugs for a dare.

A young man who showed puzzling symptoms over a period of weeks was diagnosed with human eosinophilic meningitis after eating the molluscs, which are hosts of the larval stage of a lung worm parasite, the Journal said.

"Repeated questioning revealed that the patient had ingested, five weeks earlier for a dare, two slugs from a garden in a Sydney suburb," said co-author of the report John Walker of the Department of Medicine at Sydney University.

"Humans become accidental hosts when they ingest the larval stage in raw or undercooked molluscs or crustaceans, or in fresh vegetables contaminated by infected molluscs," Walker said.

It was five months before the patient was able to return to full-time studies and competitive sport.

The Angiostrongylus cantonensis parasite is the most common infectious cause of eosinophilic meningitis worldwide and is endemic in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Basin.

In Australia, the first human infection with the A. Cantonensis parasite was reported in 1971. Since then a fatal case occurred in a child who ingested molluscs in a suburban Brisbane garden.

(Agencies via Xinhua)

http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/2003/1030/he19-4.html

OK that settles it!
NO MORE SLUGS OR SNAILS ON MY MENU!
John