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Original poster

'farming' garden snails- weird or not?

121 replies

BobbyBiscuits · 15/05/2024 20:31

I've been 'farming' garden snails for eating for several years, but what do people think about this? Most of my immediate family think it's both cruel and gross. Others think they taste lovely, and don't see an issue.

I have a patio garden that gets infested with the wee feckers. They ate my new plant to a stick before in a day. Did beer traps etc but no avail.

I researched a great deal and found a method to use them to eat, and proceeded to do so.

Basically, I catch them, put about 12 in a big outdoor container with breathing holes, and put a carrot in to feed them. I clean their area out each day and then when it's time to eat them I withdraw the carrot till they make no stools. Then I can prepare them for cooking humanely by putting them to sleep first in the fridge.
I think it's a great way to get rid of garden pests and get protein.

Then I make lovely escargots.

Apart from the fact I already eat cows and other animals but not very often, aibu for doing this?

OP posts:
Original poster
BobbyBiscuits · 16/05/2024 00:25

@youlied I think I've the opposite. I love the shape of them. The shells etc. the taste..I also love octopus tentacles, the shape of those are so cool, with all the little suckers. Coral, sharks, puffer fish..It's just so visceral, visual, so tactile seeming. So cool to see..like scientific looking. Crustaceans as well. I loved drawing them in art class as a kid.

OP posts:
youlied · 16/05/2024 00:17

Moluscs make me heave. I have a real phobia. Even looking at one makes me physically sick

Original poster
BobbyBiscuits · 16/05/2024 00:16

@SocksAndTheCity I'm zone one as well, terrace 'garden' only.
Get a windowbox or 2, those bastards will be knocking. They seem to run away from mine once 'farming season' kicks in! When it rains, pm me, I'll bring a bucket.

OP posts:
Speakinginsign · 15/05/2024 23:36

My parents are Italian & I was encouraged to eat snails from a young age, and also taught how to catch them after the rain. Did it in Italy more than in England but also I remember once opening an ice cream tub at my Nonna’s house & it was full of the things. They were being “dried out” ready for cooking. The ones in our region are traditionally smaller and whiter than garden snails here, but the bigger ones like escargots are also eaten, and encouraged to feed on herbs for a few days before they hit the pot.

I am grossed out by it now, but as a kid, I just treated them like farmed mussels or other shellfish.

You should see how they prepared eels for Christmas! Shudder.

Lilacdew · 15/05/2024 23:24

I don't eat snails, but I read ages ago that you just keep them and feed them iceberg or lettuce for about two weeks and then they are safe to eat. Sounds like you are doing something similar with carrot. If you enjoy eating them, why not?

MrsApplepants · 15/05/2024 23:23

Can I just say, I’m really enjoying this thread, it’s amusing, a bit weird/ gross and I really feel like I’ve learnt something.

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 15/05/2024 23:17

Lots of people do this in Touraine and Anjou ( probably other parts of France as well but I don’t know about them). We had a friend who kept quite a lot in two decommissioned chest freezers in his garden, they were good because the snails couldn’t get a grip on the inside and climb out. Or so he said.

He purged them as you have described though I don’t think he used carrots. Anyway, they tasted okay, or rather , they were a decent vehicle for the garlic and parsley butter.

Celticliving · 15/05/2024 23:12

BobbyBiscuits · 15/05/2024 23:10

@Celticliving I'll donate you all the herbs and veg them bloody snails would have eaten in the wild? 🤣
Those bastards do need butter. No way round it sadly, lol

Edited

You got yourself a deal!

Original poster
BobbyBiscuits · 15/05/2024 23:10

@Celticliving I'll donate you all the herbs and veg them bloody snails would have eaten in the wild? 🤣
Those bastards do need butter. No way round it sadly, lol

OP posts:
Celticliving · 15/05/2024 23:08

BobbyBiscuits · 15/05/2024 23:04

@Celticliving @MyBrownEyedHandsomeBoy
Haha, very low. It's protein. And tiny. The butter you need to sort out the flavour is an issue, but you could say theyre keto. 🤣

Yeah, the butter ain't workin' on Slimming World.

Shame, cos I would be all over this snail farming lark!

Original poster
BobbyBiscuits · 15/05/2024 23:08

@CinnamonJellyBeans I don't live in suburbia. If I did I'd probably try and hunt gazelles lol.
I don't need to do it for food. But it's really satisfying to know what effort is like compared to just buying a can of beans and mindlessly eating them like I do most of the year!

OP posts:
Original poster
BobbyBiscuits · 15/05/2024 23:04

@Celticliving @MyBrownEyedHandsomeBoy
Haha, very low. It's protein. And tiny. The butter you need to sort out the flavour is an issue, but you could say theyre keto. 🤣

OP posts:
CinnamonJellyBeans · 15/05/2024 23:04

There's no scarcity of affordable protein in the UK, such that you'd need to go to the time and effort to source, feed, breed, kill, dress, clean and cook (horrid tasting) snails, other than patting yourself on the back for being Bear Grylls of suburbia.

Celticliving · 15/05/2024 23:00

MyBrownEyedHandsomeBoy · 15/05/2024 21:23

How many syns would garden snails be? Can only find Lidl ones on the SW app

You beat me to it 🤣

dizzydizzydizzy · 15/05/2024 22:55

I'm very impressed but probably a bit weird.

KreedKafer · 15/05/2024 22:54

I love escargot but I couldn’t be arsed with all that faff. And garden snails aren’t big enough to bother with, in my opinion. But if you can be bothered with all the effort, all power to you.

You’re also not doing anything cruel. Molluscs don’t have a brain or a central nervous system. They don’t have the capability to feel emotions or physical pain. They just have reflex reactions. They don’t have consciousness in the same way that vertebrates do.

Cooking and eating snails is no different from cooking and eating shellfish. The mussels, oysters and scallops we eat in restaurants are just aquatic molluscs, as are cockles, whelks and winkles from a kiosk at the seaside.

StickyStones · 15/05/2024 22:51

I didn't intend to eat them @BobbyBiscuits just wanted to kill them to stop them eating my plants 🌱

Original poster
BobbyBiscuits · 15/05/2024 22:48

@GoodVibesHere do I have a family?
BC a person with living relatives couldn't possibly cultivate garden pests to eat as opposed to kill them or throw away?
Wtf?

OP posts:
Wrapunzel · 15/05/2024 22:35

My BIL does this, too. He's a country lad!

Original poster
BobbyBiscuits · 15/05/2024 22:35

Definitely don't microwave them. Boil in stock then hot oven in shells w garlic herbs butter.

OP posts:
NewmummyJ · 15/05/2024 22:35

I wish you'd come to my garden and eat mine, they are causing devastation to my hostas currently.

Kelly51 · 15/05/2024 22:31

Humane? starving them and shoving them in a fridge? nothing human there.

Original poster
BobbyBiscuits · 15/05/2024 22:30

@AdaColeman thank you! Try it? 😁

OP posts:
Original poster
BobbyBiscuits · 15/05/2024 22:29

@DuckyShincracker crikey, I think my liver will fluke from worse than snails tbh 🤣
Reminds me of my mum talking about old school illnesses jokingly like 'st vitas's dance', 'dropsy' etc. lol. I hope my snails don't have that.
You'd have to eat so many though, each one is less than a bite practically!

OP posts:
AdaColeman · 15/05/2024 22:26

I once had snails in a very fancy restaurant in Amsterdam, they were in a wine & herb sauce and were the filling for a large vol au vent, served as a starter.

Another time, in a bar in Brussels, an old boy was selling bowls of snails in spicy gravy, delicious!

It reminded me of years ago when they used to sell cockles, winkles and whelks around the pubs on a Saturday night.

I usually have some escargot with garlic butter in the freezer ready for a quick treat, so I'm impressed with your snail cultivation @BobbyBiscuits ,
🐌 🐌 🐌 🐌 🐌 🐌 🐌 🐌

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