Edible snails

[Toddy]

I've been redding out the greenhouse this afternoon, and I found a stuck together clump of these snails under a bin bag full of pinecones.
I didn't kill them but I did put them outside beside one of the compost bins.

We get loads of these big snails, like these :-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helix_pomatia
(I'd take a photo but we've got a hail storm right now )

How come they're protected in England but not in the rest of the UK ? I would have thought they'd be rarer up here than down south on the chalk ?
We don't have chalk, we do have mud, and clay, and damp, and paths and slabs that grow green if not regularly scrubbed, though.
The snails are a pain at night on the path; you have to watch not to crunch them underfoot

M

 

[widu13]

I've no idea but we have a gazillion of them on the South Downs. In summer you cannot walk in my garden without treading on them. The garden is 60'X30' and there are literally 100s of them (that's just the ones that are visible) at a time. We've tried raised beds, egg shells, chemicals, bio warfare, salt basically the lot to stop them eating any veg we attempt to grow. We did find a solution though...we don't/can't grow veg because of them.

 

[British Red]

Its probably another stupid thing like protecting starlings. All birds are protected until they aren't - could be the same with these things?

I guess that means putting slug pellets down is an offence in England.

 

[nitrambur]

From the explanatory memorandum to the wildlife and countryside act :-

7.12. Roman Snail This species is distributed chiefly in a broad band of England running from
the Cotswolds to the Chilterns and is also scattered along the North Downs of Surrey and Kent
with further isolated colonies in central and southern England. The major threat to this species
comes from commercial collection and collection by amateur cooks and ‘food for free’
enthusiasts. Although some restaurants will use wild caught snails the majority use farmed
animals.

7.13. Although the Roman snail is essentially a non-native species its protection is justified under
the WCA as:
i. It is endangered in its native range,
ii. It does not have an adverse impact on important native species or ecosystems, and
iii. It is naturalised and benign.

7.14. Addition to Schedule 5 to the WCA will protect this species preventing both casual and
commercial collection, which is increasingly putting the wild UK population at risk.

 

[Toddy]

Thanks Nitrambur, that makes sense for the big populations down south of here.
Still kind of leaves this area open though.
I'm vegetarian, and Himself is no fan of shellfish and considers escargot among those, so the blooming things just multiply.

Widu13, I found beer traps to be very effective, especially if you put a clay plantpot saucer nearby. They coorie down under it to sleep and are easily picked up and removed elsewhere.
It's the grey keeled slugs that stop me growing more veg

M

 

[Macaroon]

Protect them really wel by putting them safely in your stomach! I remember the travelling women collecting them by the basketful years ago, but I don't know anybody in this country who eats them now......................

 

[widu13]

Widu13, I found beer traps to be very effective, especially if you put a clay plantpot saucer nearby. They coorie down under it to sleep and are easily picked up and removed elsewhere.
It's the grey keeled slugs that stop me growing more veg

M

Honestly Toddy I am not exaggerating, I am talking 100s and 100s, beer traps didn't work. If they were locusts they'd be called a Plague!

 

[British Red]

Get an attack thrush guys


Mistle Thrush by British Red, on Flickr

and have it raise babies


Mistle Thrush Fledglings by British Red, on Flickr

Its amazing how many snails and slugs these beauties get through....I even put out anvil stones for them to beat the slimeys heads against!

 

[Toddy]

Widu13, it's a blooming shame that you can't harvest them for sale to posh restaurants and gourmet cooks

The thrushes don't seem to do so well here. The blackbirds kind of chase them out, and the magpies herrie their nests. Wish they did thrive here.

M

 

[widu13]

We have a couple of fat hedgehogs in summer!

 

[Monikieman]

I eat them.

Takes a wee bit preperation but still very nice when done.

 

[Harvestman]

Just a thought, are you sure these are H. pomatia, and not the common H. aspersa, the garden snail? The lattwer is just as edible, if a bit smaller, but is not protected at all.

 

[Toddy]

The ones in my garden are as big as big walnuts....that's walnuts in their shells, I mean. The other snails that we have are yellow banded shelled ones which are about the size of cobnuts.

cheers,
M

 

[oldtimer]

Snails are one of the many things I like about spending time in France. Down in French Catalunya we go in for the cargolade: I bit like a barbecue but with snails and not sausages. "We chase after the snails" explained a French aquaintance translating accurately but hilariously the French chasse. He fell into the trap of assuming that, as an Englishman, I would be revolted by the idea of eating snails, and thought he was winding me up by offering them to me in front of a group of his friends. He was somewhat dismayed when I helped him eat a significant part of his share: his friends found this highly amusing.

 

[Toddy]

I kind of think on them as land based shellfish tbh.
Do they not cook just the same way ? Surely if folks eat winkles, they can eat snails ?

M....who really wonders though, who first thought that that looked like food ??

 

[Huon]

I kind of think on them as land based shellfish tbh.
Do they not cook just the same way ? Surely if folks eat winkles, they can eat snails ?

M....who really wonders though, who first thought that that looked like food ??

Someone hungry?



I'm with oldtimer anyway. Delicious things and I'm always happy to eat them.

 

[Toddy]

No, not me.
A) I'm allergic to fish, and that includes shellfish.
B) I'm a good vegetarian and even though snails might not have eyeballs as such, I'm not for eating them.
C) I realy do wonder just who thought that that might taste good ?
D) I'm kind of laid back about other folks diet. If they want to eat it, that's up to them.

cheers,
M....who's eating oatcakes with a cuppa for supper

 

[Huon]

No, not me.
A) I'm allergic to fish, and that includes shellfish.
B) I'm a good vegetarian and even though snails might not have eyeballs as such, I'm not for eating them.
C) I realy do wonder just who thought that that might taste good ?
D) I'm kind of laid back about other folks diet. If they want to eat it, that's up to them.

cheers,
M....who's eating oatcakes with a cuppa for supper

I think they look rather lovely

I think a lot of appearance-based food aversion (whew!) is based on conditioning. Snails and slugs get bad PR in the UK. I bet oldtimer's French friends don't think snails look inedible.

Cheers!

Huon

 

[rik_uk3]

Nowt wrong with snails although they benefit from adding a little something to them in the cooking.

 

[slowworm]

Just a thought, are you sure these are H. pomatia, and not the common H. aspersa, the garden snail? The lattwer is just as edible, if a bit smaller, but is not protected at all.

That was my thought. H. aspersa grows about the size of a walnut, pomatia the size of a satsuma.

Sadly I've never managed to find a way of cooking H. aspersa to make them edible and always thought the Roman snails would taste better. I love winkles and I think the main difference is the amount of slime on garden snails.