slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) (10/29/85)
>There seem to be many snails around my house and this year, instead >of trying to poison them I am going to collect them and eat them. You might not want to do that. The snails that you eat in restaurants are a particular variety (a tree snail from France). It is very possible that the ones in your yard are poisonous--or at least yucky tasting. >Any advice on how to do this? I suppose I ought to feed them a known >diet for a while to get all the bad stuff out. What is recommended? My daughter spent a month in southern France with a rural family. Before she left, they asked her what she'd most like to have to eat. She said snails. They dug in the freezer and pulled out several hundred frozen snails. They baked them in the oven, basting with garlic butter. That was the whole dinner--all the snails you could eat, bread, cheese, and wine. She got stuffed with snails. They were really amazed when she told them how much that meal would cost in the States. At any rate she said they went out and hunted snails often, plucked them off the trees, and then froze them. So, if they are the right kind of snails, you shouldn't have to feed them anything. -- Sue Brezden ihnp4!drutx!slb ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I march to the beat of a different drummer, whose identity, location, and musical ability are as yet unknown. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ems@amdahl.UUCP (ems) (11/01/85)
> >There seem to be many snails around my house and this year, instead > >of trying to poison them I am going to collect them and eat them. > > You might not want to do that. The snails that you eat in restaurants > are a particular variety (a tree snail from France). It is very possible > that the ones in your yard are poisonous--or at least yucky tasting. > I am not sure where the original poster lives; but folk wisdom (rumor?) in California holds that the snails which consume our gardens were introduced by the French as a food source. Prior to that there were none here. Major worry factors should be parasites, diseases, and what Mr. Snail had for breakfast. Purging and cooking well should do it. There was even an interview with someone from France on a local radio show. He makes a business out of having folks catch snails here that he buys, purges, and sends to France. As I remember it, one should look for mature snails where the shell lip has started to curl back somewhat (The better to mate with...) Any mollusc-ologists out there who can give us a true story of 'The Snail in America' ?? -- E. Michael Smith ...!{hplabs,ihnp4,amd,nsc}!amdahl!ems 'If you can dream it, you can do it' Walt Disney This is the obligatory disclaimer of everything. (Including but not limited to: typos, spelling, diction, logic, and nuclear war)