i live in scotland, which tends towards acid soil... how closely related to slugs are garden snails? the acid soil doesn't seem to bother the slugs one iota i couldn't believe how HUGE slugs get in scotland, they're massive
can you eat slugs?
don't think i could bring myself to do so, but if it was absolutely necessary to survive it would be a good thing to know if you could
Slugs take a heck of a lot of processing to make them edible. Really, you don't want to.
I always guessed that alkaline soils had a greater availability of calcium, which favours snails rather than slugs. We get shedloads of snails here, back on Tyneside it's mostly slugs.
to be honest with you i really wouldn't want to eat slugs... it's just sort of a SAS survival thing i'm thinking of here. if they take that much processing they are probably not worth the effort here where so much other 'game' could be caught
actually, i did a spot of research on google last night and appearantly they are warning people in austalia not to eat them as after some stupid challege on a american game show that involved eating 5 slugs and then some cow bile kids are challenging each other to eat a slug for money
some uni student did that and died from menningitis. appearantly some slugs contain larvae that harbour something that sets off brain swelling...
Personally I wouldn't eat either unless I was on the verge of starvation. They have 'em on the shelves in the supermarkets here and sometimes they are available fresh on the fish counter. I tried them once in a restaurant but wasn't impressed. We aren't talking garden snails here tho. They are huge things that the french eat.
I love Escargots. Years ago I bought two dozen shells, and the proper bowls etc. Now whenever in France I buy a few tins in the supermarkets to put in the larder. Yummy.
Just the little rubbery snotty, oops I mean fleshy bits in cans.
Treacodactyl Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 25795 Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism
Posted: Sun May 08, 05 9:09 pm Post subject:
tahir wrote:
Just the little rubbery snotty, oops I mean fleshy bits in cans.
So, I'll put you down as someone who's going to try them.
As for the cans, I'm sure I've seen them in UK shops. No shells in the cans AFAIK but I do remember seeing a kit with cleaned shells and a can of prepped snails.
Joined: 07 Nov 2004 Posts: 282 Location: Leicester
Posted: Sun May 08, 05 10:10 pm Post subject:
I'm a bit late to this thread but - I was mulling over the prospect of some local escargots on the allotment this afternoon because I kept finding big'uns. As a result there are now about 10 of the shelled beasties trapped inside (/ between) two flower pots with some spinach for company. The top pot has a small hole for air and the spinach is because I don't have any lettuce kicking around but have lots of spinach. ETE - next weekend. Fried in garlic butter or in a risotto I think.
I'm a bit late to this thread but - I was mulling over the prospect of some local escargots on the allotment this afternoon because I kept finding big'uns. As a result there are now about 10 of the shelled beasties trapped inside (/ between) two flower pots with some spinach for company. The top pot has a small hole for air and the spinach is because I don't have any lettuce kicking around but have lots of spinach. ETE - next weekend. Fried in garlic butter or in a risotto I think.
I don't know whether spinach will go through them in the way lettuce will... Have you considered trying, say, young dandelion leaves, or perhaps smooth sow thistle?
I personally favour risotto; cutting them up in a risotto means you keep the flavour but lose some of the texture, which when you're eating snails is clearly all for the good!
i couldn't believe how HUGE slugs get in scotland, they're massive 
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