| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 6/25/2009 12:00:59 PM | I'm CONSIDERING the possibility that I mite want to eat my garden snails ... I know ... the very thot gags me, too ... but I pay big bucks to eat escargot from a local restaurant ... I've researched it and those are the SAME type of snails that roam around "wild" in my garden ... in fact, they were INTRODUCED here and are not native to California ...
the prep is fairly intense ... first, you gotta collect the things ... (gag) ... then there's a purification period to make sure they haven't ingested pesticides ... during which you gotta keep them in a container with air holes, water, etc. where they can't escape ... (yikes!) ... then you feed them for at least two days ... there's then 5-6 days of no food, only water ... then you gotta drain, wash and cook ... (double gag) ... rinse the boiled snails ... pull them out of their shells, cut off the hepato-pancreas ... (which sounds even worse than the other steps) ... THEN you cook them however you like ...
I've found recipes for snails and brussles sprouts that sounds interesting ...
but ... truthfully ... I'm not sure I'm up to all that ... so I'm working at wrapping my mind around it ... it sounds pretty grisley, tho ... what if they screamed when I threw them into the boiling water?!!!
anyone else have thots on eating local garden snails?
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| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 6/25/2009 12:08:54 PM | take the snails...put them on a #2 trout hook...with 6-lb test line...go to your nearest trout stream and catch your dinner...just sayin...just cuz a snail might have a fancy name when its cooked doesnt change the fact that its still a snail | |
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| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 6/25/2009 1:24:14 PM | Maude, Maude, a woman after my own heart.
At certain times of the year those things are crawling all over the sidewalks and streets in San Francisco. I and friends gathered some up and washed them good and broiled them with butter and garlic. Later I wondered about the pesticide thing and never did it again.
Now I read your post. Hmmmm, you didn't elaborate on how you know if they have been into pesticides or not. How do you? How is keeping them and feeding them and watering them going to tell you or help the process? When we cooked them they came out just great. Please explain the reason for your process more.
Thank You,
SS | |
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| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 6/25/2009 1:50:48 PM |
Later I wondered about the pesticide thing and never did it again.
Exactly. You have to take into consideration the environment the creature lived in order to assess what contaminates it may have. The escargots you find in restaurants are horticulturally raised on a farm and fed specific food diet. Eating snails found in you backyard is not safe unless you are on a rural farm.
Think I lost my appetitive for dinner! | |
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| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 6/25/2009 1:57:22 PM | Thank GOD I'm not the ONLY ONE!!
I was just reading the directions online ... apparently, you keep them in a container where they can get air ... with cornmeal and water for several days ... I'm thinking it was maybe 7 days? to see if they've been exposed to pesticides ... if they HAVE, they DIE ... if they haven't, they live and you can then put them on the water only diet ... don't know why you'd do that either ...
THEN you cook them ...
so you and your friends just gathered them up, rinsed them off well ... and BROILED them? how did they turn out?
the recipes I found all indicate boiling first ... I don't know why ... this is a new thot to me ... our summers are generally too hot for snails ... (San Joaquin Valley ... think Bakersfield or Fresno) ... but this year, we've had a mild winter and a lovely spring and ... MAN! they're all over the place! eating my flowers!
what grosses me out most is the tender caring prior to cooking them and eating them ... without the tender care and feeding, I mite be able to cook and eat them ... somehow, I'm afraid I'd BOND during the care and feeding process and then not want to eat my "pets"!!!
thanks for letting me know I'm not the only one who sees snails and wonders how they'd taste!
now to find recipes for the seed pods from my Acacia trees!
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| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 6/25/2009 8:37:43 PM | Oh Maude,
You have just hit on one of the dilemas of humankind.
I am Jewish and I have always done a biblical Passover, except for a few years lately when I simply did not have enough people to do it, because you are forbiden from wasting the meat. Anyway, you buy a sweet perfect little lamb and keep it for three days feeding it and caring for it, then at twilight on the third day (which usually ends up really being the 4th day) you slit it's throat and drain the blood, skin it and roast it over fire, eat it and burn ALL remains before sunrise. It really gets bad if you have gotten a lamb you have bottle fed because even though it was supposed ot be weened, it wasn't totally ready to be weened AND removed from it's mother.
There is a deep lesson in there about the connection to ALL living things, how we are all parts of ONE creator, and how the fall from grace and paradise has a steep price. I for one think snails and all that we eat, veggies included, (for all of the advocates of vegetarianism due to animal slaughter), are an all too often unrecognized sacrifice for our survival. It is said that anything that breathes takes in the spirit, therefore all living things are a part of the spirit and all things breathe... | |
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| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 6/27/2009 10:06:07 AM | Hi Molly,
My family and I eat plenty of garden snails! The kids love them and can't get enough.
First we go snail hunting on rainy days when they all come out of their hiding spots. Then we keep them in containers (sometimes old wicker baskets or any plastic container with air holes). We feed them flour for about a week. This is done to clean out their digestives tracts of earth and grass etc.
We wash them well to before cooking. We place them in a pot with cold water and cover with a lid. Put the pot on the stove and heat the water. It is very important that you place them in cold water. If you throw them into a pot of boiling water they will retract into their shells and you will have a much harder time eating them. A couple of minutes later they will be steamed.
Once they are cooked, you drain them well. In a skillet you heat up some olive oil and butter on med high heat. You toss in some minced garlic and hot chilli flakes and stir for a minute. Add a splash of white wine and reduce slightly. Throw in the snails and finely chopped parsley and heat through. You will have a delicious meal.
We pull the snails out of the shells eat the main body and pinch the last bit of intestine off and discard.
The kids can eat kilos of these little nuggets.
Enjoy | |
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| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 6/27/2009 10:57:46 AM | THANK YOU, Roman Cactus! sometimes I think I'm the only one who thinks of such things as dealing with garden pests by EATING them! I HATE poison ... I HATE waste even more! ... and somehow, poisoning a pest that could be eaten ... seems a huge waste!
thank you so much for the helpful tips ... the articles I was reading said to just dump the snails into boiling water ... but your way is much more logical ... I was a little unclear as to what to do with the boiled snails, also ... so again ... thank you! it cheers me to think there ARE other prudent people out there who are willing to think outside the box a bit ... to deal with problems by making them into positives!
Smiling Salmon, your comments are variations of thots I've had ... especially with regard to everything in life BEING God ... as I believe it, God created ALL ... therefore, all IS God ...
I've also considered the ramifications of taking a life to provide food so that my life would continue ... if a person has so little respect for the well-being of their own life that they wouldn't sacrifice the life of another living being (plants, snails, fish, baby lambs, etc.) to nourish their own bodies ... because they are honoring the life of the other being ... MORE than they're honoring their own life ... well ... following that train of thot, eventually you would come to the conclusion that you could only eat dry leaves and bark ... and, of course, even dry leaves and bark are intended to nourish the soil ...
so I think I'm gonna "man up," catch, cook and eat those snails that are killing and eating my plants!!!
I congratulate you, Smiling, on the whole cooking of the lamb thing ... I'm struggling enuf with the concept of killing a snail ... I have serious problems killing fish to eat ... don't think I could manage a lamb! I'll keep working on it!
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| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 6/27/2009 7:23:40 PM | trout and snails sound so good right now...........................both roasted slowly over a fresh camp fire sounds deelish. i want me some fishy
maybe toss in some crawfish and then i may be in southernly heaven | |
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| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 6/28/2009 7:08:36 PM | This thread is a hoot but it's a really, really good one for someone like me who's a bit of a food anthropologist. We in NA have become so accustomed to only store bought things and are so disconnected from our real food sources. I am dead serious when I tell you a person I know had a fit when the company moved over here from the Bay Area. This person was having a cow because I bought fruit at a farmer's roadside stand. She honestly believed that the produce she was buying in the grocery store had been through some sort of purification/certification process. Eventually she tried the tree ripened fresh fruit from the roadstands and fell in love with it. But it's a good illustration of how disconnected people become from their food.
I can't say I'm capable of eating domestic snails, but then I've never had escargot before either. I have no problem with hunting and fishing and have helped dress out both, so its just a matter of getting my head on straight. But I don't see it happening without some sort of major food catastrophe though. | |
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| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 6/28/2009 9:19:51 PM | I'll admit I'm not sure I can try the "domestic" snails (as you so delicately referred to them!) ... and I LOVE escargot in fine restaurants ...
it's just difficult to wrap my mind around the thot of the snails sliming their way across my yard ... and becoming something to eat!
BUT ... it's just so completely PRACTICAL ... I mean ... I don't want snails in my garden ... and I love escargot ... I'm working on getting it into my head that I CAN DO THIS!
ok ... maybe I can't! | |
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| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 6/28/2009 11:39:53 PM | | have you ever eaten escargot with out the garlic? it's like chewing a rubber band. You'd do better eating grass | |
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| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 6/29/2009 12:50:17 PM | the entire IDEA came from the fact that I DON'T WANT the snails to be in my garden! I dislike pesticides ... that's the motivation behind my entire concept ... to take a "pest" and turn it into something positive ...
I do that sort of thinking whenever I have a "problem" ... I try to turn it into a positive! as in that whole concept of making lemonaid when life throws you lemons ... (not to mention lemon PIE!)
according to the websites I've found ... in addition to the posters here ... quite a few people DO "harvest" their garden snails for eating ...
I'm not sure I'm up to doing that emotionally yet ... but I'm working on it! | |
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| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 6/30/2009 4:35:14 PM |
have you ever eaten escargot with out the garlic? it's like chewing a rubber band.
Garlic has nothing to do with the tenderness of the snail. If it's rubbery it's overcooked. Same thing happens to clams, prawns and lobster. | |
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| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 7/8/2009 4:36:52 PM | well ... I couldn't do it!!!
I started this thread June 25, 2009 ... I spent a LOT of time gathering information, TRYING to get myself into a frame of mind to actually EAT those SNAILS ...
I gathered the snails from my garden ... cared for them dutifully for several days ...
then, this morning, GAGGING ... I dumped the things ... free! you're free! run away quickly, little snails ... oh, yeah, can't run ... no feet ...
sigh ... I feel like a failure ... and NOW I'm afraid I'll never be able to eat them in a restaurant either!
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| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 7/8/2009 6:36:10 PM | Molly, thanks for a great bit of entertainment. I, too, love escargot in a restaurant, but I could NEVER eat a garden snail! Too close to reality, I guess.
Fun With Snails
When I was a kid in L.A. we used to pour salt on them and watch them "cook".. Gag! Or we would put out a dish of beer at night and collect the drowned, drunken snails in the morning to toss over the bank of our hillside yard. (My dad always thought this was a waste of good beer.)
EAT them?? NO Way! | |
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| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 7/9/2009 11:41:07 AM | thanks for your support, Boomer California Girl! I tried ... sigh.
when I was a kid in Santa Cruz, I gathered snails in my red wagon ... brot them to the garage where I painted their shells with poster paint ... then released them back into the wild ... in a scientific experiment to see whether their shells grew from that point at the top downward ... or from the base upward ...
I never found out ... cuz I never found painted snails again ... as an experiment, it was a dud ... sort of like my eating them turned out to be!
maybe eating something that you've played with is just too difficult! | |
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| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 7/9/2009 4:01:18 PM | MllyMaude, thank you for one of the funnest threads to read in a long time.
To bad you couldn't do it. It was a nice try though. Personally, after playing with snails and salt as a child, there is no way i'd ever eat any snails. There are so many yummy things in this world to eat. Why would I eat a snail???
I grew up in a very multi-cultural family, Dutch, Indonesian, Korean, German, and dinner was always a mix of so many different dishes. It gave me a very open mind about foods to eat.
BUT, I will draw the line with snails... LOL
Thanks again for the fun read.
I Would Love to hear if someone else tried this while you were.
Did anyone else have recent success, and if so. What was your method?
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| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 7/10/2009 7:32:14 AM | | Just think of the war stories the escaped snails will tell their grandkids! Funny thread! | |
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| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 7/10/2009 7:18:39 PM | I work as a speech therapist in public schools, and this reminds me of the book entitled Some Smug Slug. ( I realize that snails and slugs are not identical creatures). When my students who have difficulty producing the /s/ sound can generalize the sound and produce it in sentences, we read the book together, as it is great way for them to practice in a fun way. I will now think of eating snails when I read the book....
I recall pouring salt on them when I saw them in the backyard when I was in the 3rd grade. I made money that year by selling home baked cookies, when I could have made money by selling snails? | |
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| recipes for garden snails ???
Posted: 7/26/2009 9:49:08 PM | Honestly, I would not eat snails from a garden. Snails in some warm climates are known to be infected with Angiostrongylus cantonensis, a type of nematode, that can cause a rare form of meningitis.
Be well....... | |
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