Thursday, May 24, 2012

Ancient Shells

Hungry? 
There are over 100 different
 edible snails for you
to choose from! 
It seems that snails
have been eaten for many,
 many years…

 Prehistoric man sat in
his cave shelter
and feasted on snails,
leaving the empty shells behind,
 which lets us know
this cool fact. 
 Some people go hunting
for snails to eat. 
Feel free to do this
only be warned:
some snails are poisonous…
and some snails may have
recently eaten poison,
making them poisonous too. 



Snails are such a common
food source in some countries
that hunting seasons
have been introduced,
in an attempt to protect
 the snail population. 
 (This is almost too late
 for some species,
which are now protected.)


Collecting wild snails,
wondering which poisons
may have been eaten
and following rules
regarding snail season
and protected snails
is a little too complex…
add to that the decline
in snail population
(not so much in my
 vegetable garden!)
and it is no wonder
people have established
snail farms.
Check this site out for
 the details and effort
that go into snail farms.     
It seems pretty easy
to cook snails…
Puree a chunk of butter,
garlic, parsley and shallots. 
Pour the garlic butter
over the snails and roast. 
 Sounds tasty, too. 
It’d be sad to let
Escargot Day
pass by without eating snails!
Photos from here, here and here.
Information from here.


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