Wildcrafting: A gathering of snails

I ordered a dish of snails in garlic butter recently at a nice French restaurant, which reminded me of how very delicious these slimy little mollusks can be.  So I went on a quest for Helix aspersa, otherwise known as the common garden snail, otherwise known as escargot.  Yep, this is the secret that fancy French restaurants do not want you to learn so they can keep charging you $8.95 for half a dozen of them.  There are a few Helix species that are considered primo eating, and one of them is indeed the one which you see all over your garden in much of North America.

Heliculture isn’t all that hard; basically you pick up as many snails as you have room for, put them in a well ventilated container with some tasty herbs for a few days (I recommend rosemary, garlic greens and fennel) then take away all plant material, wash the snails and put them in an empty container for a week or so to allow gastric emptying.  Spray them daily with water.  Wash the snails again when they’re done processing the nice herbs, then let them dry (no water) for another few days.  In a pinch you can skip feeding them anything and simply purge them with a few days of water spraying and a few more days of drying out, but I like putting them on fresh rosemary for awhile and gloating over the plump little beauties in anticipation of a snail feast.