They eat your plants you eat them!

[Paganwolf]

I thought id give you this tit bit of tasty info to tantalize your tastebuds! SNAILS! yup the ones that slither around in your back yard, Helix Aspersa or petit gris or little grey snail are the biggest most common one in the uk(See pic below), easy to catch :roll: little tasty morsels they are too, the best time to go on a big snail hunt is after night fall when it has rained, or you can make snail traps out of up turned plant pots resting on a couple of stones so the snails can crawl up under them in the back of your flower borders ,they are best collected when they are at a size where a lip appears around the mouth of the shell when they are adult, any smaller and they are not worth bothering about. Collect them and store them in a bucket with a thin layer of compost for a substrate covered with netting and feed them oat meal, herbs, lettuce, garlic ect and provide a shallow water dish this will purge the snails of any grit or paper ect they have been eating i usually leave them for 7 to 10 days, longer wont hurt. once purged cook the snails by placing in boiling water bring to the boil then simmer for 10/15 min's the snails can then be taken from the shells for the final cooking,I have also herd of people putting them in cold water first so they emerge then plunging them into boiling water so they are fully extended when cooked i've not tried this method yet. There are many many different recipes for snail snacks, you can fry them in butter and garlic and eat them with crusty bread, or put them in a bowl with finely chopped garlic a squeeze of lemon some butter and grated parmesan cheese mix them up and stuff them back into their shells with a dollop of the mixture in the shell entrance and sprinkle a little breadcrumb mixed with more parmesan in the opening and place in a hot oven till the breadcrumbs go golden brown and the butter bubbles. alternatively if you can wait longer simmer and remove the snails from the shells and simmer on a low heat in stock, chicken or veg, for about an hour this will make the snails more tender and you can add them to a risotto or soup. Out of interest here is the nutritional value of a snail;The nutrient composition of raw snails (per 100 grams of edible portion), according to information from the nutrient databank of France, is:
Energy (kcal): 80.5
Water (g): 79
Protein (g): 16
Available carbohydrates (g): 2
Fibres (g): 0
Fat (g): 1
Magnesium (mg): 250
Calcium (mg): 170
Iron (mg): 3.5
Vitamin C (mg): 0

and a picture of the snail your after

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v479/jlamour1/75D13HelAsp2.jpg

France and spain eat snails in their thousands i wonder why we don't take advantage of this easily collectable and simply prepared food source :?: if anyones got any other snail recipes id love to hear them :biggthump

[Kim]

Ok, eating snails, fine, not a problem, but the only one I ever ate WAS GROSS. However, not to tarnish a whole species because of one bad egg, do different types of snails have a different taste? Are there any you shouldn't eat? Like someone said about a squirrel, do they taste of what they eat?

THERES SO MUCH ABOUT SNAILS I DON'T KNOW...apart from the salt thing...well, for goodness sake, who didn't as a child???

Should I just be wandering about picking up these things for a snack?

[Tantalus]

i posted earlier somewhere........

all british snails are edible

now i just need the courage to try them :rolmao:

i guess if i get hungry enough

actually i have eaten a variety of shellfish and whelks (both raw and cooked) and am not too squeamish about things like that

at worst they are a bit like gristle

but hey.... bung on a tasty garlic sauce and just about anything becomes edible right?

Tant

[Paganwolf]

i've found if you feed them strong tasting herbs they get a hint of flavour to them,but as flavour goes they are best slow cooked with herbs and butter in a stock, other snails are not worth bothering with because of the size, the Giant African land snail is a popular african delicacy and provide quite a meal, and they come in their own saucepan :wink: my little fella Conner has 3 as pets, I don't think he would appreciate me munching them though :shock:

[Tantalus]

:rolmao: @ pet snails

do they have names too?

Tant

[Kim]

They probably have names, but PW just needs to remember to replace the ones he eats with others THAT LOOK EXACTLY THE SAME.

[Paganwolf]

no names but there blimmin big!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v479/jlamour1/bigsnail1.jpg

[Kim]

JESUS CHRIST...WHAT'S HE FEEDING THEM ON!!!!

That's like...Stephen King horror size that is...

[Paganwolf]

they do make interesting low maintainance pets, breed like wild fire! if your into exotic pets that is :?:

[CLEM]

I have eaten snails and i have to say their not half bad either,kind of like a slightly firm chewy mushroom.Give em a go. :-)

[Snufkin]

Thanks for the tip, I didn't know common old garden snails were edible.
On my holidays in France, I once had snail pizza, hows that for fusion cuisine.
If you starve them for a few days you can get them to eat rosemary which is supposed to enhance the flavour.

[match]

I've eaten snails on many occasions while in Europe when I was younger - and always enjoyed them - if you like mussels they're very similar, but obviously more meaty, less fishy! My favourite moment was in a small local cafe in Portugal where they served them as a bar snack - I was 14 at the time, and asked for some, so the guy behind the bar brought them over, and he and the other locals at the bar sat there waiting for me to throw up. They were most surpised when I scoffed the lot!

Referring back to my new (and currently favourite) old book - "Food from the Wild - Joan Urquhart":


There are three kinds of snail in the UK of which Helix Pomata is the largest. It is said to have been introduced to Britain by the Romans expressly for eating. All snails should be made to disgorge their last meal by putting them in a bucket of lightly salted water and changing the water several times over a 6 hour period.

I have also heard that a good way to ensure they're clean before eating is to place them in a shoe box which has been lined with slightly damp white bread, which they will munch on happily, cleaning out their systems and fattening them up before cooking!

I've never tried making them myself though.... :shock:

[tomtom]

if you collect them in the feild can you eat them straight away... as they would not have eaten paper and suchlike or could they pass on poisons from poisenus plants?

[Realgar]

There is a risk that they've eaten something that you can't. Hibernating snails come ready purged and are easier to catch as they don't run away....

[MagiKelly]

and are easier to catch as they don't run away....
Yeah, cos i've found that a big problem up till now.

[Paganwolf]

if you collect them in the feild can you eat them straight away... as they would not have eaten paper and suchlike or could they pass on poisons from poisenus plants?
you should purge them really as they can rasp up sand and grit when feeding,as well as other things, just bring them in and feed them some goodies to clear them out just to be on the safe side.

[Keith_Beef]

Well, although I regularly eat whelks, I just can't bring myself to eat snails because of the overpowering garlick butter that they're served in over here (in France).

I visited a snail farm a couple of years ago, down in Dordogne, at a little hamlet called Vaunac.

Purging is necessary if you catch wild snails; most texts I've seen recommend giving your snails nettles to eat for at least three days.

I would definitely not eat raw snails or slugs. They can carry parasites that can lead to meningitis. This happened to an Autralian student last year or the year before (BBC web site carried the story). I imagine European snails would carry similar parasites to Ausie snails.


Keith.

[Realgar]

I would definitely not eat raw snails or slugs. They can carry parasites that can lead to meningitis. This happened to an Autralian student last year or the year before (BBC web site carried the story). I imagine European snails would carry similar parasites to Ausie snails.
Keith.

They certainly carry liver fluke which you really don't want to end up with, also a good reason to be wary of wild watercress if you intend to eat it raw.
Realgar

[tomtom]

does cooking not kill it?