yuck.

Good website ;)

Each morning when I go out to get the newspaper at the end of the driveway, I pass several tiger slugs.

I am very aware of the french passion for escargot but the thought of eating one of those things just about makes me vomit.

No thank you, I'll just pass them by as usual.

Yeah, I guess it is kinda gross...I've liked them when I've ordered them in restaurants, but I probably couldn't eat any from my garden... they seem so unlike snails when they are served up at a restaurant...kinda look like clams.

Hey, maybe harvest them, feed them until they get nice and fat and sell them to restaurants! .... or maybe they would be more palatable if they were dipped in chocolate? You know stick them on the end of a skewer and Fondue them in chocolate.

~Alex

I've eaten sea snails, like king conch babies and such, and the large water snails, but I could never eat slugs. ECK!

Eating snails was like getting married -- once was enough!! Yuck!

Hey!!!! I love snails. I am not sure, however, that I would like to prepare them from fresh as I hear it is a rather slimy affair. I get mine in cans and then procede to put them in a little court bouillon (carrots slices, onion slices, parsley, whole pepper corns, celery, garlic cloves and chicken broth). Once they have cooked in that for a bit (gets rid of the canned taste). I then sauté them in a frying pan with a little garlic butter and white wine. You could use dry vermouth or some brandy if you wish. Then you mix garlic butter (we can buy it already prepared but if you can't, roasted garlic with soft butter and parsley will do) with some fresh cream, bread crumbs and a little parmesan cheese and use that mixture to stuff the snails either back in their shells or into mushroom caps. Pop under the broiler until you hear the butter sizzling. Serve with a loaf of French bread. Yummy!!!

Danni

If I didn't have to prepare them, I might try one or two. I will usually try any food one time.

Just the thought makes me want to hurl! ickickickickicky!

I used to live in Cyprus and they love snails. I don't, I am kind of conservative in food... :-)
You have to collect some, than keep them in closed box, feed them white flour for couple of days and they are ready to be cooked. They are supposed to be delicatesse.
I did not taste, but people were looking very happy eating them...
Alena

I've gathered, prepared, and eaten freshwater snails from the lakes up here, but somehow slugs seem dirty...

I let the turtles eat my snails and slugs

Love them too.
I'm not as patient as Danni - rinse those little suckers from the can- dry.
Get the pen ready with butter, garlic, add snails - fry till there is no juice. Add sliced mushrooms (brown, portabella or any favorite type) and special seasoning for snails- another 3min.in the pen. Top with some cheese (pizza mix will do ) and cover for 5min. then serve with a French brad.
Yummy My kids love that too.
I have to admit  my family in Europe treats them as pests in the garden (they are huge white with cute shells, the kind that goes in cans and gets exported to France). I never was brave enough to cook those when I visited them last year. The can suckers are another storyÂÂ.- you donÂt feel like you had to murder anything to satisfy your apettite.

when I lived in France in the fifties and sixties, after a rain you would see housewives go out and collect snails from under leaves etc.As far as I know all you have to do is drop them in boiling salted water and serve with a garlic and butter sauce. Nobody is more frugal than a french housewife in the fifties, or a better cook. Also in France they would collect dandelion leaves for salads and you never saw dandelions bloom in a public piece of land.

That's a pretty astonishing website. I'll pass on the snails; almost makes me gag to think of it. I did eat one by accident once; it was an appetizer at a fancy dinner.

Let's face it anything would taste good sauted in garlic and butter.

I eat sea snails, but they're not slimy. And they're pre-marinated in all that salt water. The only good land snails are dead ones!

But each to his own.

grody, grody, grody!!

I don't think I've ever eaten land snails (sounds OK as long as they are not carrying parasites) but I grew up collecting/boiling/eating periwinkles and whelks. Lots of work, best suited to little kids, but they actually taste pretty good picked out with a hatpin and dunked in melted butter.
In theory, slugs are the same thing minus shells, but like the writers above, I also find them less than appealing as a food source. No doubt if I were hungry enough I would consider them, but not at this point...

Armageddon:

Maybe if I'm starving for protein, and I have a source of wild garlic or chives, and some wild herbs to dress up the taste. Let's hope it never boils down to that, so to speak.

Gardenpaws, I used to eat perriwinkles all summer long too. boiled in beer, plucked out with a pin and dipped in butter as well.

I'll pass on the garden slugs as well, though. I think its the layer of slime that really icks me.

~Chills

Californian here. I offered to make some from the garden for my boyfriend who likes escargot. He passed. We had a huge discussion on getting rid of AND eating snails on another gardening (California) group I belong to. All I recall is feeding them cornmeal to clean them out. I'll only eat in a fancy French restaurant with someone else paying LOL. Susan

Slugs have a bitter taste that is difficult to get rid of from what I've read. In the course of said reading, if I recall correctly, there is an area of Washington or Oregon where the locals have been trying to find a tasty way to cook up the slimeballs because they have such an overabundance problem with them.

Pass the salt!!

I'll let my hens do the eating, thanks.

Kristin

Suzieh- The Sonoma Co snails are the same as the French ones!
Some of the places that provide "escargot"
are from Sonoma County!
I've had them, they are good, but, blechet, Just the thought of eating SNAILS! BLECHTTTTT!

When I went on a cruise I tried escargot, not bad ! Everyone at the table kept asking me how I could eat snails. I told them I was pretending they were cow eyeballs. Funny thing NO MORE QUESTIONS about snails!!! I also tried some sushi,ok if you like to eat bait.
To each his own.

*shudders.....

Funny that I can eat canned escargots, but I can't stand to touch the slugs with my fingers in the garden... I always pick them up with a stick or leaf and throw them in the woods.

I like snails, prepared and served in a restaurant. Danni, that recipe of yours sounds delish but there are so many other ingredients in it, I kinda wonder if you can taste the snail at all. I also love sushi, and sashimi, and a lot of other things. But I have to admit there are two things that I have tried that I just can't stomach, beets and brussels sprouts. I don't much care for spam either.

I'll cheerfully try anything that's been judged as safe to eat, but I draw the line at eating animals or critters that other people haven't been eating. So bring on the yummy French snails! They taste like shellfish, mmm. But I'll pass on eating the snails in my yard until I find that others are doing it.

Now about those dandilions. . . I'm dying for a recipe that actually makes them tasty, so I can eat the ones in my yard. The couple of times I've bought them at the grocery store. . . yukky. And I like bitter greens!

I can't believe I just came across this thread. We have helix mueller aspersa, the medium escargot snail, all over the place. I'm in Dallas, and it seems that the French actually brought these little suckers over back when Texas was part of France. And they stayed! We have been eating our snails for years. It takes some effort to prepare them the way we like and to ensure that they are very clean, but it's so worth it. A good snail is like a bite of the best steak ever, I am not kidding you. By the way, the best time to eat them is when they first come out of hibernation. Here that is usually early April. They haven't eaten all winter, and they are much easier to clean.

We even set up a raised bed garden years ago in full sun with a large rosemary inside for shade. I loaded it with thyme and caged them in with screen on the sides and top. Those were the best snails EVER!

I've had escargot and enjoyed it. I eat sushi happily. But the idea of frying up those slimy garden slugs -- eww!

How would you gut the things, anyway?

I ate some sea snail babies (king conchs) once, and they were delish! I never tried yard snails, but it might be worth a try. the sliminess is always a turnoff.

Can you eat slugs? Cos that's all I've got.

Though mine are not as big as this Japanese guys are.

Here is a link that might be useful: Om Nom Nom

Well, if you do eat them, cook them first

Here is a link that might be useful: Man's brain infected by eating slugs

missinformation,
In what areas of Dallas can I find helix mueller aspersa? I would love to try this myself but have been unable to find the right type of snail. I am in Texas also and we make a trip up to the Granbury area a couple of times a year. I would love to go snail hunting! Are there other areas of Texas that have these snails? I know that there are restrictions about importing pests across state lines, so I'd like to collect some that are already in Texas. Thanks! This is a great post y'all!