Can large garden snails be eaten instead of killing them with baits?
They certainly can and are said to be especially good for men of a certain age. But do not use slug pellets, beer trays or sprays if you intend to collect snails. Set up traps and check them regularly. Simple traps are a Spanish brick with round holes, pieces of plastic piping left in the shade, a plastic sack draped over a couple of bricks with damp vegetable leaves underneath. After catching them place in a proprietary snail cage sold in many Spanish ironmongers or a close woven plastic sack and feed with fresh rosemary leaves for a month. Then place the snails in a bucket with a cou0ple of inches of salty water… the live ones will soon climb out , reject any that don’t. Then place in a saucepan of water and bring to the boil, Change the water and repeat twice to clean the snails. They can then be cooked immediately Asturian* style or frozen until needed. *This is rather more tasty than French style with just a little parsley and butter and a restaurant serving is more likely to be a
