How to Harvest Snails
The common garden snail, the Helix aspersa Müller, is considered an invader to many a gardener in the United States. While considered a delicacy in many European countries, these rather invasive slugs cause millions of dollars in damage in the U.S. each year. Snails have been used for food since the prehistoric period but heliciculture, the raising and harvesting of snails, hasn’t yet caught on it the United Sates. U.S. snail exports average $231,000 a year, while fresh beef pushes $1.1 billion. If you’re a snail aficionado who has struggled to find fresh snails for your celebration of National Escargot Day, on May 24, here’s how to harvest your own snails right at home. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Natural space like a garden or park
- Container with breathable top
- Saw dust and/or corn husks
Instructions
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Find your snails. You can eat the snails you find right in your garden. Unlike mushrooms, it is possible to eat the snails you find out in the wild, without worrying about being poisoned. The easiest time to find these slimy creatures is after a rain or watering when the plants are still damp.
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Pick the snails. Pull the snails from their place on a leaf or in the mud, by gently squeezing the middle of their shell. Be gentle and handle the snails carefully.
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Contain your live snails. Place your snails into a container. A box, basket or sack work best, but remember that snails can slither out of just about everything, so you’ll need to have a lid that doesn’t seal out the oxygen.
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Sell your snails. If you are going to sell your snails at a farmer’s market, you should sell them as they are. Fresh snails should not have been cleaned or processed before being sold in the market.
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Keep your snails for yourself. If you want to keep the snails for personal use, you’ll need to store them. Snails must be kept healthy and alive until you are ready to cook them, so you need to store them in containers filled with sawdust or corn husks.
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Store your snails. Cover the bottom of your storage container with a 1/2 inch of sawdust or corn husks. Carefully pour in a thin layer of snails and then cover them with another 1/2 inch of sawdust. Repeat until the box is filled, making sure that the last layer is sawdust. Do not put more that 15 pounds in one box or you’ll kill the snails on the bottom.
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Eat your snails. Now you are free to clean, prepare and cook your snails as you please. If you do not know how to clean and prepare snails, be sure to learn before performing this step.
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Tips & Warnings
Do not put more than 15 pounds in a container during storage or you may hurt them.
Once you’ve stored your snails, you can keep them for up to 8 weeks before eating.
Though it is perfectly safe to harvest wild snails, it is important to note that they must be cooked thoroughly. Wild land snails can carry a rare form of meningitis and if the snails are undercooked the parasite will not be killed.
