My newest home project is raising snails for consumption and I’ll be detailing the why’s and how’s and history behind using snails for food. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while, because I love escargot (and the asian sea snail counterpart—sautéed in black bean sauce.) My kids also got their first taste of snail when we went to visit my parents in Costa Rica and they got hooked as well! So much so that when they came home, they asked about our box of “Gary’s”, the 40 or so Cepaea Nemoralis (also known as grove, lemon, or brown lipped snails) we collected in the Fall.
Why snails?
This is probably where I come up with a smart quip like “why not?” but there are actually a bunch of really good reasons to raise snails for food. I’ve listed my main reasons for doing so below:
- They take up very little space—they say an acre of land can raise a single cow, but it can also raise 10 tonnes of snails (supposedly worth €40,000 or about $45,000 at market price in 2017–and that’s not even getting into vertically farming them, or collecting their slime which is used in cosmetics, or their eggs which have now begun hitting the market as caviar.)
- Easy to care for, breed, and process—they don’t get into much trouble and don’t require much input so long as you provide the proper food and housing. They readily breed on their own even in less than optimal conditions.
- Can be a great supplementary livestock for a backyard homesteader—at 14 grams of lean protein per three ounce of snail meat (and 76 calories), it’s an excellent option for someone who would like to be a little more self sufficient. You can work them into your production loop, especially if you plant vegetables (they can eat scraps and trimmings) and weed them (the weeds can also go to feeding the snails.) I mean, going back and forth and thinking about what self sufficient animal would make for a good protein source in a SHTF scenario, snails are one of the options that make more sense than poultry. (Due to the way poultry have been bred to lay many more eggs than normal, their calcium, protein, and caloric requirements are too high for them to be fully pasture raised—and you’ll have to find a way to feed them over winter compared with snails that can hibernate for periods of time.)
- Educational—kids love them and they’re a low cost low risk “pet” that they can learn to care for alongside you and yours! Their life cycle is also interesting, so it’s an excellent way to teach children some natural science and some responsibility.
- Tasty! This probably doesn’t need to be said since that’s more than likely why you are on this page, but if you enjoy other mollusks like clams and oysters, you’ll enjoy snails which can be prepped the same way. In Britain, they are sometimes called “wall-fish.”
History of Eating Snails
Recent studies indicate that the earliest evidence of humans using snails for food occurred 30,000 years ago in Spain (where snails are still a part of local diet.) Snail farming, known as heliciculture, is known to have occurred at least as early as 49BC in ancient Rome—families often kept their own snail pens in their backyard to raise for food. Quintus Fulvius Hirpinus was the first snail farmer to have their method recorded (in Rerum rusticarum libri III by Marcus Terentius Varro, and later in Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia)—mainly pens (called cochlearia) outside to raise the snails (with a misting system!) and then fattened them up (and purged) with milk, herbs, and corn flour. It was written that they became so fat they couldn’t retreat back into their shells, at which point they were cooked. He even set up a ferry service to import them from other areas. As the Romans expanded their empire across Europe, the introduction of snails for food came along with them and established itself in many countries, most notably France where modern escargot is considered a delicacy.
In many parts of Asia, snails are also considered a delicious meal both as a snack and as a main. According to my mom, years ago in Taiwan, a bag of sea snails would be what you took into the movie theater with you!
Safety and Legality
Snails collected in the wild must be properly purged and thoroughly cooked as they can carry a type of parasite known as the Lungworm, which can infect humans. Purging and then thoroughly cooking them can prevent the infection. Keeping the snails captive for 6 months can also remove the parasites as they cannot continue their life cycle without their next host, and therefore die out.
It is illegal to move most, if not all, land snails across state lines so you’ll need to source them within your home state.
The Edible Snails That I’m Raising
I’m currently raising two species of snails that have had historic culinary significance—Cepaea nemoralis (the Grove/Lemon/Brown Lipped snail) and Helix Aspersa (also sometimes categorized as Cornu aspersum, known as the brown garden snail or Petit Gris/Little Gray).
Some snail farms raise them outdoors in pens with a dusk misting system, after planting vegetables such as nettles in the pen, and others keep them in boxes indoors. There’s pros and cons to both, but I’ll be doing indoors for now since predators and uncertain weather conditions can decrease yield.
Note: Copper is toxic to snails so anything you give them should not contain copper. Water should also be dechlorinated before you mist/provide it!
Cepaea nemoralis—I can’t actually find much information on these for food, but many websites (including Wikipedia) lists them as an edible species. They grow to be about 25mm in diameter (1 inch), come in very many colors, including pink, orange, brown, grey, peach, yellow, banded and not banded. They are categorized by a brown stripe at the lip of their shell. Originally a European species, they hitched a ride over and naturalized themselves in the US.
Mine were collected from my garden—they seem to really like the brick building, possibly due to the limestone mortar (which has high calcium for their shells) or because brick remains cool even in the heat of summer. I originally collected them because I wanted to overwinter them, knowing the survive on their own in my climate but wanting to increase the survival rate, and start a snail pen that way, should I have been unable to find any of the other more commonly eaten species. I also wanted to see how easy they would be to raise and propagate (they turned out to be very easy, and began breeding in the plastic shoebox I kept them in.)
They are mostly nocturnal and eat dead plant matter but will also eat dead worms, bugs, and snails. The snails reach maturity at about 6 months, are hermaphrodites so will fertilize each other, and lay 30 to 50 eggs per clutch that hatch between 2-4 weeks.
They are kept in a plastic shoebox with pinholes, with eggshells for calcium (although eggshells are supposedly not the best source of calcium, and oyster shells, cuttlefish bone, and lime powder would be better), vegetables, and some soaked cat kibble once in a while for protein. I keep them on the topsoil they were found in and provide thoroughly mist (with dechlorinated water) their container when it has become dry and they hibernate to conserve moisture. I don’t personally know if this is the best method, but I attempt to mimic their environment outside and seem to have good luck so far.
Helix aspersa/Cornu aspersum – Also known as Petit Gris (Little Gray) or the Brown Garden Snail, it can get to 45mm in diameter (about 1.75 inches) and is one of the most popular species for escargot due to their size, ease of breeding, and ease of keeping. Their larger cousin, Helix pomatia, is difficult to keep and breed in captivity so has to be collected in the wild, making it difficult to commercialize.
I received a few baby aspersa via a trade for a few of my grove snails—the colors are attractive to snail keepers who keep them as pets. They’re kept on sphagnum moss, fed vegetables (carrots and sweet potato mostly), powdered eggshells for calcium (sprinkled on the vegetables), and also cat kibble for protein once a week. The previous owner said they misted their snails every day, which I will likely keep up—the water should be dechlorinated. They are currently kept in a plastic take out container, but I will likely move them to a desktop plastic drawer organizer once they get big enough.
They reach maturity between 1 and 2 years, are also hermaphroditic, and lay clutches of up to 80 eggs, making them quite prolific. We’ll see how they do in comparison to the nemoralis. I’d eventually like to find some adults in my area as well, but so far I have had no luck.
Cooking Snails
The snails need to be washed and purged when they’re ready to be harvested. Keep them in a covered bucket and fed only cornmeal (and herbs, if you’d like) until their droppings are purely cornmeal, then you can keep them without food for at least a day or so until their digestive system empties. Drop them into boiling water and cook for an hour or so until they are tender. You can choose to remove the innards and keep only the foot meat, but according to some chefs, aspersa can be eaten without this step.
Stuff shells with a garlic, parsley butter and broil until herb mixture is bubbling, and serve.