look at that S car go

[the_siobhan]

This picture is from one of our pig roasts. We have hundreds of snails in our backyard.



So my question is; does anybody know if they are edible?

(I know they eat really well. Mostly because they eat all my plants.)

Comments

[greylock.livejournal.com]

I have no idea.
I can tell you that they are more colourful than Australian snails, which lack the white stripes.

Anyway, would you want to eat snails?
More specifically Canadian garden snails that are probably brimming with chemicals?

(Where's JV?)

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Damn straight. Snails are delicious.

I don't forsee any problems with them being full of chemicals. They're eating the plants in my back yard, which are pretty healthy.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Snails are bugs.
You are totally sick.
Totally.

Damn Frenchies!

[50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com]

Snails are several different kinds of delicious!

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

Prawns are essentially bugs too, and are damned tasty.

Besides, one can eat anything if it's cooked in enough garlic butter.

[50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com]

Besides, one can eat anything if it's cooked in enough garlic butter

Words to live by

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

So are shrimp for that matter. Have you seen what those things look like?

Also delicious.

[redheaded-pixie.livejournal.com]

I have wee freshwater shrimp in my aquarium. They squick the fuck out of me every time I have to take them out of the tank for a move. Don't mind them when they're in the water, but as soon as they're out, my 'holyshit! it has more than 4 legs, ewwwwwww' response kicks in.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

I don't eat shrimp or prawns. Or crabs. :)

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I forget you are such a delicate little flower. :-)

No worries, man. More for me!

[greylock.livejournal.com]

No worries, man. More for me!

Help yourself: http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.wvagriculture.org/images/Plant%2520Industries/Giant%2520African%2520Snail%25201.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.wvagriculture.org/news_releases/2004/5-17-04.htm&h=735&w=980&sz=94&tbnid=R-7UVIoni6wJ:&tbnh=112&tbnw=149&prev=/images%3Fq%3DGiant%2BAfrican%2BSnail&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=1&ct=image&cd=1

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Somehow, I don't think that's escargot.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Too much of a good thing?

[meetzemonsta.livejournal.com]

omg, I want them to be my snaily friends.

Providing they don't give me the meningitis, of course.

"We're going to need more salt"

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Come to the Pacific! They're a pest here!
Apparently.
Never seen one myself.

[medakse.livejournal.com]

*blink*
*blinkblink*
This reminds me of alt.gothic Days Of Yore when I confessed a fear of butter and whole milk. Someone not-so-gently reminded me that butter and whole milk are two *essential* ingredients in cake.

mmm cake.

So I say that shrimp and crabs (and crawfish! oo cher!) are essential ingredients of The Delicious.

mmm icky nasty dirtbugs. mmm tasty.

Never had the snail, though, but I am deeply fascinated by this thread, Siobhan.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

I'm not afraid by bugs, just squicked by them.

[medakse.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't eat spiders or roaches, so I understand :) I just love crustaceans.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

And, if I recall, you are from NOLA or Louisiana or one of those states. Whio could blame you?

[lilactime.livejournal.com]

There appears to be a variety of sites that will tell you what land snails are edible, but you've first got to identify the species, as none that I came across had images, just the proper latin names.

I don't see why they wouldn't be, though.

peektures

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

They look exactly like this;



It could be a stock shot of a different species, but from what I could dig up they look a lot like some of the various Helix species - all of which appear to be edible.

And they're an invasive species. It's almost like it's my duty to eat them!

Re: peektures

[http://users.livejournal.com/cincinnatus_c_/]

Looks pretty much like Helix aspersa. Uncle Wikipedia says you can grind them up into a skin cream to cure your wrinkles, scars, dry skin, and acne!

I'm pretty sure there were no such snails around when I was a kid. Then, all of a sudden, one year, stripey snails everywhere.

Re: peektures

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I did stumble across a site that was selling skin cream made out of snail slime.

Don't think I'm quite that much of a hippie!

Look at that S car go

[betonica.livejournal.com]

I had no idea anyone remembered that old joke.

They look a lot like the ones we had in Berkeley, except that the stripes are, probably, more distinct (Are they actually brown and white? Or do they have more color? I can't tell from the picture. Ours were brown and white, with perhaps hints of green or yellow, but nothing dramatic). I was told that the Berkeley snails were escapees from someone's batch they brought over from France, so, in fact, they were precisely the same as the French delicacy.

Perhaps a local French restaurant would know? Or the local nature club might have the species so you could look it up. Little old ladies in nature clubs seem to have the most amazing trivia at their fingertips - I recommend asking them first.

Re: Look at that S car go

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Picture above in my reply to lilactime gives you a decent closeup.

I wouldn't be at all shocked if these ones are also escapees.

Re: Look at that S car go

[betonica.livejournal.com]

Yes, they look familiar.

I never did eat any of the invading horde in my back yard when I lived in Berkeley.

I did occasionally suggest they might like to talk to God, and then tossed them into the church parking lot next door.

[rbowspryte.livejournal.com]

Garden snails are perfectly edible just not as big or considered as yummy as cultivated varieties of the same thing.

[50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com]

If they're edible, I'll be camping out on your front porch armed with garlic, wine and butter. I love snails.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

The escargot experiment commenced tonight.

Once they are appropriately prepped, I might get you to help me with the actual cooking. That way if they turn out not to taste very good, I'll know it's not just my inadequate cooking skills.

[50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com]

Love to! I've never cooked snails before, so I'll scour my cookbooks for tips and recipes.

[machineplay.livejournal.com]

I love snails, but not like that! Poor snails. :(

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

It's payback time.

[eveofdstruction.livejournal.com]

Do you guys have a university agricultural extension up there? That is who I would ask. The issue would really be whether they carry any problematic bacteria or fungal infestations. The huge land snails in Hawaii, while technically edible, carry nasty stuff that will make you very sick and that isn't effectively killed by cooking. I believe that is true of some other regional snail populations as well. Otherwise, mmmm, gastropoda.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Everything I've read suggests that the only concern is anything they might have eaten in the prevous couple of weeks.

I have the first round of experimental subjects munching out on lettuce leaves downstairs.

[latemodel.livejournal.com]

If they're edible, you need to process them properly. This involves fasting them on cornmeal for a few days to clean any questionables out of their digestion. That is, you put them in a cage on a bed of cornmeal, and wait until only their slime trail only contains cornmeal (and not other things). One big danger, especially in urban areas, are snail baits. Your neighbors may have put out poison to kill these pests, and you don't want to eat that stuff.

Here's a good article (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2003/05/05/urbananimal.DTL) on eating one's snails in California.

[heresiarch.livejournal.com]

i heard from a catalonian recently that you can also just starve them for a few weeks until they shit everything out. no idea if that's true or not, but he seemed to think they wouldn't die.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I've read about both methods. I think I prefer the idea of feeding them nice clean lettuce and corn meal. Just because I plan on eating them doesn't mean I want to be an asshole about it. ;-)

[meetzemonsta.livejournal.com]

This was just posted (http://community.livejournal.com/food_porn/4661894.html) in food_porn today.