Eating Garden Snails

Keeping your snails while you're away

2011-04-18T15:48:00.003+01:00

What a lot of questions! I hope the answers will help others as well.
Loads of young can hatch from one mating pair, plenty for several meals once they’ve grown up.
To leave them while you’re away:
For the snails to be active they must be kept moist. When it’s too dry for them they aestivate, which is like hibernation but in summer. So keep them in shade, with plenty of water to keep the environment moist. Growing food plants will last them longer. They like grass.
They can dig themselves down into the ground, that’s where they lay their eggs. I'm not sure how deep, but pushing some slate, sheet metal or glass down a foot deep would surely keep them in. I believe the French dig them a pit, which is cool and moist.
In winter outdoors in the UK they hibernate. I let them do that. If you want to them keep active and feeding they must be kept warmer.
I hope this helps, good luck!

A SPRING WEED MEAL

2010-04-24T10:59:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was sunny and dry again, and though the news said some planes were flying, we saw no sign of any. Lovely! Spring is very late this year, and we’ve had a long spell of lovely sunny weather, though often there is a chill breeze off the sea.

I went wandering around to enjoy the wonderful spring growth bursting forth everywhere. It all looked so temptingly succulent I went back to fetch a collecting basket and started picking. Nettles first, just the opening leaves at the top, I wore washing-up gloves not to get stung. Then lots of ramsons (wild garlic), it is getting close to flowering now, and the big leaves are getting coarser. I picked the young ones from the centre of the plants. They’re so abundant here I don’t have to be too careful.

All the time adding various odds and ends of edible leaves. The cow parsley is showing a few leaves in places. I only took one or two from each plant, ribwort plantain is beginning to grow, cleavers (goosegrass) is good to eat if cooked before it flowers. I read that recently in my new book “

I also read there that primrose leaves are good to eat too. I gather a few from the wild meadow and more from the garden, where I have scattered seeds from wild plants. Silverweed has just started coming into leaf, I took that from my little rock garden where it’s too abundant and would like to spread further if I gave it chance, so I was weeding at the same time. Sorrel too is a great addition to a weedy meal, it’s acidity adds a nice piquancy, and it’s nice leafy now before the flower stems start shooting, though that doesn’t stop using them through the summer too. Some young dandelions from the centre of the rosettes went in too.

Alexanders has been green all winter and always available, but I feel since the Romans were keen enough to bring it here with them it’s bitterness must have value, so I picked a generous handful of younger leaves, and noticed I had a flower bud too.

Then I went to boggy stream and picked a few water parsnip leaves, but they’re not big enough yet to be worthwhile, the same is true for the watercress. Both I gather regularly throughout the summer, but I always soak them for a while in salty water to get the tine snails (and any other creatures) to drop off, and cook them thoroughly for fear of liver fluke, as cattle graze there and drink from the stream.

I had a large mass of weeds to take home for supper, but they cook down to a much smaller amount, so you need a lot. I chopped all the weeds up, which takes ages, (I had a brief fantasy about food processors) and threw them in the pot as I did them. I tried to put those that take longest to cook in first. That’s plantain, nettles and any that have thick stems, though I cut off the thickest usually. I made sure the water weeds got well cooked too. The goosegrass and ramsons went in late on. I actually kept some of the ramsons back to add at the last minute because the garlicky flavour gets lost after just a little cooking.

I hadn’t put much water in the pot, and I tasted the dark liquor to decide what spicing I should add. None! The flavour was rich and almost meaty, it tasted better and as strong as any stock cube. Amazing! We had with some mealymeal (ground maize cooked to a porridge, the staple in southern Africa.)

A mass of cooked weeds like this can be used in many ways.

More recipes tomorrow!

See the March 09 archive for details of preparation and recipes

2009-10-21T13:28:00.001+01:00

Eat snails now, no trouble. And More TV

2009-10-21T13:26:00.001+01:00

Autumn is a good and easy time to gather snails to eat straight away. The French do this traditionally. The snails have grown and fattened up throughout the summer, and are now hibernating. This means they have purged themselves and are dormant, but have not yet lost much weight. All you have to do is find them, and kill them in boiling water soon after gathering. Don’t keep them in a warm damp place first or they might wake up again.
If you’re ready for a snail meal, you can freeze or bottle them after boiling in stock. See the March 09 archive for details of preparation and recipes.

Another TV film crew! This time it’s for S4C, the Welsh channel, and particularly for teenagers. Since I can't speak Welsh I was not allowed to contribute any pearls of wisdom or scraps of knowledge directly to the show. I dread to think what the angle is, but I heard a lot of laughter.
Now I think: What a ridiculous thing to be famous for, eating snails. I can't really understand what’s so strange and fascinating about it. There are far more interesting things in my life.

Autumn 2009

2009-10-21T13:24:00.000+01:00

I decided to empty the vivarium of snails for the winter.
I picked out a few of the biggest to keep overwinter, hibernating in a bucket in the shed.
The rest, including some quite small, but mature snails, I cooked in a weed stock. They are in the freezer for future use.
The babies that bred in a bucket I think are too small still to overwinter successfully, but I'm keeping them and we’ll see what happens in the spring.

15.6.9 I meant to cook snails tonight!

2009-10-21T13:23:00.001+01:00

I had decided to eat the runts and small but mature snails. I gently felt the lip of each one in the vivarium, any that were soft are still growing, so I left them. There were several which looked quite small, but had a hard lips, indicating maturity. I wouldn’t want to breed from those, so I could either release them to the garden or eat them. Since there are still plenty around the house I decided to eat them and put them in a dry purging bucket to aestivate, which they did. Following my own instructions I washed them before plunging them in boiling water. As I washed them in a colander under the kitchen cold tap, they started emerging from their shells! It’s been very warm weather, so I suppose they were only waiting for a drop a water to get going. You can still kill them like that, but I don’t like the idea and would rather they were dormant, believing they suffer less. So I cleaned the aestivating bucket and put them back in. (we ate pizza instead!) They’re washed now, so in another few days I will kill them in boiling water without further ado. I think 3 days from today will be OK.
Next time I'm going to wash the snails thoroughly before putting them to aestivate, then only clean them up dry by hand, before killing them. When they’ve been killed I throw away that water anyway and then pick them from their shells. After that, I wash them very thoroughly, particularly to remove slime from the foot. I think this might be partly at least the mucus operculum, which when dry is a bit like sellophane. I actually cook them in good stock, with weeds in. and then bake them in the oven with butter sauce. There are others ways to cook them of course. There are a few recipes on this Blog, more ideas from you, dear Reader, will be posted too.

Other snail websites

2009-10-21T13:09:00.002+01:00

I found an interesting website, from the US Department of Agriculture. It’s about raising snails commercially for food. It’s also got good information on their biology.

http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/AFSIC_pubs/srb96-05.htm#Introduction

Winter hibernation: they can bury themselves up to a foot deep.

I had previously found a good blog by an American malacologist (snail scientist) called Aydin Örstan. You can see a PDF published by the American Malacological Society, written by him on Rearing Terrestrial Gastropoda. His blogsite goes well beyond snails, and is fascinating and fun:-- http://snailstales.blogspot.com/

New Zealand Nights

2009-06-19T11:29:00.002+01:00

Today I was interviewed by Bryan Crump on New Zealand Nights, what a nice man! It’s wonderful to suddenly have a connection to the other side of the world!

I didn’t even realise that Helix aspersa had reached New Zealand from Europe where it originated. Among other things, we discussed whether they got to NZ as gourmet food and managed to get out and settle down, as I think happened in the UK, or whether they hitched lifts unnoticed on imported plants and vegetables. Any ideas? If Bryan is right, about hitchhiking snails, why have other pests not spread so readily? Perhaps snails, particularly Helix aspersa are extra good travellers.

It would be great to get cooperation of ideas on these subjects between NZ and UK, and hopefully linking all over the world. If the snails can do it so can we! I don’t know how to get a forum going, help would be great, but some links might do it, please get in touch through the Comments, become a Follower, add your news and ideas please.

There’s a sister site called Gaia with a link on the right, not about snails but much much wider issues, and I think much more important. Do have a look and get in touch please. I did a FreeMind Mind Map of this too, which is good because you can then read it in the order that suits you, like Gaia, the whole thing is interwoven without beginning or end, it’s not a list really. But as yet, I haven’t managed to get that onto the web.

Any handy computer people or web designers that can help? Please?

Any publishers interested? I'm writing a science fiction novel too.
For recipes and more on preparing snails, go to the bottom of the page to Older Posts.

2009-06-16T00:09:00.000+01:00

15.6.9 I meant to cook snails tonight!
I had decided to eat the runts and small but mature snails. I gently felt the lip of each one in the vivarium, any that were soft are still growing, so I left them. There were several which looked quite small, but had a hard lips, indicating maturity. I wouldn’t want to breed from those, so I could either release them to the garden or eat them. Since there are still plenty around the house I decided to eat them and put them in a dry purging bucket to aestivate, which they did. Following my own instructions I washed them before plunging them in boiling water. As I washed them in a colander under the kitchen cold tap, they started emerging from their shells! It’s been very warm weather, so I suppose they were only waiting for a drop a water to get going. You can still kill them like that, but I don’t like the idea and would rather they were dormant, believing they suffer less. So I cleaned the aestivating bucket and put them back in. (we ate pizza instead!) They’re washed now, so in another few days I will kill them in boiling water without further ado. I think 3 days from today will be OK.
Next time I'm going to wash the snails thoroughly before putting them to aestivate, then only clean them up dry by hand, before killing them. When they’ve been killed I throw away that water anyway and then pick them from their shells. After that, I wash them very thoroughly, particularly to remove slime from the foot. I think this might be partly at least the mucus operculum, which when dry is a bit like sellophane. I actually cook them in good stock, with weeds in. and then bake them in the oven with butter sauce. There are others ways to cook them of course. There are a few recipes on this Blog, more ideas from you, dear Reader, will be posted too.

8.6.9 Today I received an email, via this blogsite, from New Zealand. I am asked to do a live interview for Radio New Zealand. This will be live on Friday 19th June, 8.30 NZ time.
Immediately I searched the web to find out if Helix aspersa are found there. They are, as an introduced species, presumably brought there for food. It’s interesting that a food species had colonised a large part of the world, whereas those humans have no interest in stay where they started (evolved). It’s seems ironic that a creature increases it’s range and numbers by being a popular food! I’m not sure if they are a pest in New Zealand, I expect I shall find out!
I also found another interesting website, from the US Departmentof Agriculture. It’s about raising snails commercially for food. It’s also got good information on their biology.
http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/AFSIC_pubs/srb96-05.htm#Introduction It suggests at least 2 inches depth of damp soil, with plenty of organic matter is necessary for egg laying.
Winter hibernation: they can bury themselves up to a foot deep.

Mouse attack

2009-06-01T14:09:00.001+01:00

25.5.9 Mouse attack!
There are two little breeding setups in the greenhouse. I hope they like the extra warmth there. The mice obviously do. The snails are in washing up bowls, covered with old onion bag netting. Morning after morning I was finding holes in the netting, and all the sunflower seeds gone. I put two live mouse traps near the bowls. I caught a healthy looking woodmouse three days running. Each day, wondering if the same mouse was returning, I took it further away. Then there were less, but still the odd one had been there, bitten through the netting and eating the seeds without being caught in the traps.

WWOOFing

2009-06-01T14:03:00.000+01:00

WWOOF UK holds a list of organic farms, gardens and smallholdings, all offering food and accommodation in exchange for practical help on their land. These hosts range from a low impact woodland settlement to a 600 hectare mixed holding with on-site farm shop, cafe and education centre. Hosts do not expect you to know a lot about farming when you arrive, but they do expect you to be willing to learn and able to fit in with their lifestyle.
A lit of hosts is available by joining WWOOF UK for a membership fee. Once you have the list you can contact hosts directly to arrange your stay. Your host will explain what kind of work you will be expected to do, what accommodation is on offer and will discuss the length of your stay.
WWOOF is a charity; WWOOFers do not pay to stay with hosts and hosts do not pay WWOOFers for their help. Charity number 1126220

Purge for a week in damp weather!

2009-05-13T13:49:00.001+01:00

I planned to make a snail meal, and put a number to purge for 2 days. They were all inside their shells when I took them to cook. BUT they were not all sealed with an operculum. As I washed them prior to putting into boiling water, some started emerging from their shells. These I returned to the vivarium, and only cooked those that were fully asleep. I think it was the warm damp weather that kept them from dormancy. In future I will leave them for longer, a week should be fine, I have seen recommended before. The meal was good!
The snails I chose were not the biggest, as I decided to breed from them. I have two breeding setups, but so far, I have seen no sign of lovemaking. But they hopefully get it together when I'm asleep!

COLLECTING & PREPARING SNAILS

2009-03-23T20:30:00.002Z

FINDING YOUR SNAILS
Snails are nocturnal, and like places which are dark and damp.
So in spring and autumn they are most active, destructive and edible.
When it’s dry or cold they seal themselves up, to hibernate in winter, and aestivate in summer. After being closed up for long they have less fat, but are still edible.
The French used to collect them in autumn, when dormant and already naturally purged and safe inside their shells, in the autumn. This is a good shortcut, avoiding the need to fatten up and dry out by purging.
To see check if a snail is mature, not growing any more, feel the outer, front edge of the of the shell opening. If it has a hard lip it has finished growing, if it's a bit soft, and less prominent, it is an immature one, leave it to grow up!

BEFORE COOKING THEM
Provide them with a home for about a week, where you can give them food and water, exclude soil and grit, and crucially, keep them in. They are good escapologists! An old pair of tights makes a good cover for a bucket. A softwood box is good too. It is important to provide plenty of ventilation.
Feed them with human-friendly food for a week or more, to clear out any grit in their guts and fattens them up a bit. Lettuce, onion greens, apples are things they love, stale bread, bran and sunflower seeds are good. If you keep them for more than a week you must give them powdered lime, from a garden centre or builders merchant if you want a sack!

PURGING
Before cooking they are purged, that means no food or water for 48 hours, so their guts empty and their close up in thei shells with a membrane protecting them. They are washed thoroughly before this stage, and after.
Commercially they just hang them in nets for up to a fortnight.
At home you can use a dry bucket without food, but with some wood or stones, an earthenware flower pot, for shelter. Make sure they are well secured with the tights!
Take the snails out carefully from the home they were feeding in to another container like a colander, wash them well, two or three times. Then put them in the purging bucket for 48 hours. you can use the same bucket, but might need help to prevent escapes while you take everything out of the bucket, wash it, and just return what you used for their shelter, but no food or water.

COOKING

2009-03-23T20:25:00.001Z

COOKING is in 3 stages:
1 Killing: they must be right inside their shells, if not, disturb them by gently shaking the container. Plunge them into boiling water for two - five mins.
2 Then cool them in cold water, and extract them carefully from their shells with a toothpick or pin.
3 Then they are cooked for an hour or so in good tasty stock. The French always include wine. See below
4 Then they are baked with butter and flavourings. This is because they are quite low in fat, and flavour.
5 Serve with bread.
Serving them in their shells requires two extra stages:--
6 Cleaning and drying the shells, see below
7 Putting the snail into the shells with butter sauce, then baking.

THE STOCK cook up for ½ hour or so. This was used on the One Show, a court bouillon or your own stock recipe is fine.
Then add the snails, after removal from shells.
1 lt water
generous handfuls of fresh:
water parsnip leaves
wild sorrel
nettle tips
Some welsh onion/garlic
Carrot
Ramsons (wild garlic)
Thyme, basil,
Peppercorns
Bay leaf
salt
½ bottle of Chardonnay.

SNAILS IN ALMONDS
To melted butter, add garlic cloves
Then ground almonds to make a soft paste.
Put a snail in each hollow of a snail plate and add as much paste as possible.
Bake for 20 mins.
Serve with cubes of bread and salad.

SNAILS IN WILD HERBS
Using a good book, collect seasonal weeds. For the One Show in April, I used those below.
Wash and chop finely, then
Blanch for 5 mins the wild herbs you can lay your hands on.
I used the following:
Water parsnip
Wild sorrel
Water cress
Nettle tips
A little ribwort plantain.
Sieve , pressing out the water.
Finely chopped ramsons
(if in season, otherwise use onion or garlic with the blanched herbs)
Add all these to melted butter.
Put a snail in each hollow of a snail plate and add as much paste as possible.
Bake for 20 mins.
Serve with cubes of bread and salad.

An old French recipe:
“To dress snails:
Put some water into a saucepan, and when it begins to boil throw in the snails, and let them boild a quarter of an hour; then take them out of their shells; wash them several times, taking great pains to cleanse them thoroughly, place them in clean water and boil them again for a quarter of an hour; then take them out, rinse them, dry them, and place them with a little butter in a frying pan, fry them gently for a few minutes, sufficient to brown them, then serve them with some piquant sauce.”
From “Edible Molluscs from great Britain and Ireland” by M S Lovell, a, PDF book that I downloaded from www.EatWeeds.co.uk pages 23 – 27.

Serving in Shells & Eating Weeds

2009-03-23T19:46:00.001Z

TO SERVE IN SHELLS
Wash the empty shells carefully in water with soda added,
Do this three times. Then drain as well as you can.
Put in the oven on a baking tray to dry thoroughly.
Try to match large snails with large shells.
Using a small teaspoon, put a bit of the butter mix into the shell
Then push a snail in, then fill to the top with butter mix.
If you have snail plates, arrange them in the dips.
Special plates not necessary though, you can stand them close together so the opening is upright and the fillings don’t fall out.
Either way, bake for 20 minutes and serve with bread and salad.

WEEDS AS FOOD
Organically grown food is more nutritious and better for us than that which is grown with a lot of pesticides and fertilizer. Wild food is even better. A handful of fresh chopped nettle tips gives a pasta sauce a really satisfying richness. They have much higher proportions of minerals than spinach, and higher protein content than meat.
If you can dry some too, you can use them through the winter.
Many other weeds are good to eat too.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

2009-03-23T19:38:00.004Z

More on keeping snails:

There are no books currently available, publishers contact me, and I will write a lovely one with great photos.

Buying ready to cook snails:
http://www.thefatgoose.co.uk/2-dozen-burgundy-snails--24-empty-snail-shells-393-p.asp
http://sloweb.slowfood.it/sloweb/ita/dettaglio.lasso?cod=3E6E345C1b96d1DC54UOY3599059 from Italy.
On eating weeds and their nutritional value, follow these links:
http://www.prodigalgardens.info/Nutritional%20Analysis.htm From US, check her Articles link too.

BREEDING

2009-03-22T18:24:00.002Z

If you want to eat garden snails regularly, then you should breed them.
A vivarium, a wooden box, bucket or washing bowl are suitable for snails to breed in, if outside, should be placed in full shade. Ideally they are kept at 20o C in damp air to breed, so in a greenhouse or coldframe is better. Spray water in the house to keep it damp. Where it’s warmer in Italy and France the whole life cycle is outdoors. They need good moist soil is a flowerpot or box to lay the eggs in.
Rodents and birds must be kept out.

They are hermaphrodites, but two must mate to breed. You can keep just two fine large specimens together in quite a small container. The eggs take three weeks to hatch if they’re kept at 20o C. In good conditions they are mature and ready to eat after 3 months of growing.

To grow they need lime to make their shells, so for keeping snails long term, it is important to provide lime. Crushed oyster shell is suitable, but I think powdered lime is best, available from garden centres, or cheaper is a sack from a builders merchant. It's good for the soil when growing vegetables too.

They can produce 100s of young, so a bigger house is necessary for them to grow up in. I have an old cracked aquarium, but an enclosed space can be made with special snail netting. I could only find it in rolls. I will buy a roll, and sell shorter lengths to any of you who would like some.

In theory ( I haven't personally done this yet) it is possible to produce edible mature snails by autumn or late summer from a pair put together in the spring. I have paired two up, and wait in hope!