# Fresh Escargots **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 15, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720 "2005-07-15T21:20:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![drmark2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@drmark2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drmark2000)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720/1 "2005-07-15T21:20:14Z")
I am looking for a source for fresh (not canned) escargots, commonly known as “snails.” Yes, people eat them. Yes, I like them. I live in Washington state. Thanks for any leads! ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720/2 "2005-07-15T21:34:51Z")
> [@drmark2000](#): > > I am looking for a source for fresh (not canned) escargots, commonly known as “snails.” Yes, people eat them. Yes, I like them. > > I live in Washington state. > > Thanks for any leads! Fresh as in live? Or is frozen okay. If it is, I would check out the fish markets in the area. If no one has them, check again in mid/late Decemberm alot of them are sold around Christmas time. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720/3 "2005-07-15T22:49:57Z")
I know it doesn’t answer the question, but can one grow them? Are they a special type of snail? Would your basic garden variety, um, garden snail work? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720/4 "2005-07-15T23:00:06Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > I know it doesn’t answer the question, but can one grow them? Are they a special type of snail? Would your basic garden variety, um, garden snail work? The usual snail used in cuisine is [_Helix pomatia_](http://ipp.boku.ac.at/private/wf/Bilder/Helix_pomatia.jpg) or relatives. However, given the OPs location I might suggest trying out some Banana Slugs. ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720/5 "2005-07-16T03:00:50Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > I know it doesn’t answer the question, but can one grow them? Are they a special type of snail? Would your basic garden variety, um, garden snail work? I’ve eaten snails from the garden before. They may have eaten poisonous plants before you catch them, so you need to “flush” their digestive systems by feeding them for several days. [This guy](http://escargot.free.fr/eng/snail.htm), who is a professional heliciculturalist, uses: > [@](#): > > calcium carbonate 30%, calcium phosphate 4%, soya meal 20%, sunflower seeds 5%, wheat flour 40%, and vitamin mix 1%; whole is finely ground. With 2 kg ( about 4 lb.) of this food, I product 1 kg (2 lb.) of snails . The meal that I used to feed my snails was much simpler (I can’t find the recipe now), but then I only tried it once, and I wasn’t raising them in captivity, just taking them from the garden. I fed them for 10 days, IIRC, then — escargots! They were delicious! ---
**Author:** ![drmark2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@drmark2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drmark2000)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720/6 "2005-07-16T03:30:30Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > …given the OPs location I might suggest trying out some Banana Slugs. Having graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz, I am well familiar with the Banana Slug. Their proliferation is due in great part to their inedibility, distasteful even to birds of prey and other predators. Beautiful to look at; lousy to eat. ---
**Author:** ![drmark2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@drmark2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drmark2000)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720/7 "2005-07-16T15:45:12Z")
> [@Joey P](#): > > Fresh as in live? Not necessarily. I’d prefer fresh as in harvested, ready-to-eat snails, maybe vacuum packed, rather then live. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720/8 "2005-07-16T16:06:46Z")
Yeah, very few snails live in a vacuum. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720/9 "2005-07-16T20:23:03Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Yeah, very few snails live in a vacuum. Cite? ;j (You’d love my patio, btw- fresh escargot everywhere- personally I don’t eat hermaphrodites.) ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720/10 "2005-07-17T02:22:07Z")
Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles cookbook mentions that virtually no restaurant in America uses fresh snails. They are almost uniformly bought canned and stuffed into cleaned, empty snail shells for service. ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720/11 "2005-07-17T11:16:38Z")
Do you happen to have these in your garden?[Petit Gris - Helix aspera](http://www2002.stoke.gov.uk/museums/pmag/Nof_website1/species/creepy_crawlies/other/other_images/gdnsnail01sc.jpg) If not, they’re now found in Washington gardens. These are known to the French as “Petit Gris” and are another of the type used as escargot. They were introduced into San Jose here in California decades ago, and spread from there. I’m sure if you ask your neighbors, they’d love to let you collect as many as you like. Just make sure nothing they are was sprayed with pesticides. A curious thing about these is, for as long as they’ve been in California, none of the native birds have taken to hunting them. Crows will pick at the dead, squished ones, but only the introduced starling makes a meal out of live ones. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720/12 "2005-07-17T14:48:28Z")
> [@Doobieous](#): > > A curious thing about these is, for as long as they’ve been in California, none of the native birds have taken to hunting them. Crows will pick at the dead, squished ones, but only the introduced starling makes a meal out of live ones. I don’t know what kind of snails are in San Bernardino, but here’s what I saw when I worked there. There was a ‘resident roadrunner’ that came to the building in the morning. It would go to the planters to find a snail, then take it to one of the parking abutments and bash it open to eat it. (The snail – not the abutment.) It was neat to see. > [@Shalmanese](#): > > Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles cookbook mentions that virtually no restaurant in America uses fresh snails. They are almost uniformly bought canned and stuffed into cleaned, empty snail shells for service. Trader Joe’s used to have (in the 1980s) frozen snails stuffed in the shells and packed with garlic butter. They were _excellent!_ I wish they still had them. (And I also wish I was near a Trader Joe’s. ☹ ) ---
**Author:** ![drmark2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@drmark2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drmark2000)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720/13 "2005-07-17T23:23:27Z")
> [@Doobieous](#): > > Do you happen to have these in your garden?[Petit Gris - Helix aspera](http://www2002.stoke.gov.uk/museums/pmag/Nof_website1/species/creepy_crawlies/other/other_images/gdnsnail01sc.jpg) > > If not, they’re now found in Washington gardens. > > These are known to the French as “Petit Gris” and are another of the type used as escargot. They were introduced into San Jose here in California decades ago, and spread from there. I’m sure if you ask your neighbors, they’d love to let you collect as many as you like. Just make sure nothing they are was sprayed with pesticides. I can’t say as to whether or not I have the above cited snail around here. It’s technically “mountain desert” where I live, and I haven’t noticed much in the way of mollusks/crusataceans at all. I am looking for something besides canned snails. I assume that such exists, but I haven’t been able to find any, yet. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720/14 "2005-07-18T00:46:47Z")
Some folks here in Berkeley also eat “wild” snails, right out of their yards. They’re flushed not only because of pesticides, but also because what they feed on might give them an unpleasant taste. Saying “neither canned nor live” doesn’t really leave one much choice. 😉 I must try snails one day. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720/15 "2005-07-18T01:15:10Z")
**Snails Gone Wild - Southern Cal Style** Hotter than you might think. ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720/16 "2005-07-18T03:31:51Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > I don’t know what kind of snails are in San Bernardino, but here’s what I saw when I worked there. There was a ‘resident roadrunner’ that came to the building in the morning. It would go to the planters to find a snail, then take it to one of the parking abutments and bash it open to eat it. (The snail – not the abutment.) It was neat to see. I probably should’ve corrected that. At least the native birds around Monterey haven’t taken to eating the snails. We don’t have roadrunners here. ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720/17 "2005-07-18T03:35:57Z")
> [@drmark2000](#): > > I can’t say as to whether or not I have the above cited snail around here. It’s technically “mountain desert” where I live, and I haven’t noticed much in the way of mollusks/crusataceans at all. > > I am looking for something besides canned snails. I assume that such exists, but I haven’t been able to find any, yet. Well, they apparently exist around Seattle, so if you’re willing to make a trip there and ask around, you might be able to score some. Helix aspera actually only live within towns and cities here in California. They haven’t gotten out into the wild lands, as far as I know, and our climate is semi-arid here in Monterey. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720/18 "2005-07-18T13:16:55Z")
> [@drmark2000](#): > > Having graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz, I am well familiar with the Banana Slug. Their proliferation is due in great part to their inedibility, distasteful even to birds of prey and other predators. Beautiful to look at; lousy to eat. My neighbor’s 2 ducks keep the slug population to virtually zero in our little neck of the woods. Except for the occasional pile of duck poop, I don’t mind a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720/19 "2005-07-18T13:48:57Z")
> [@Doobieous](#): > > I probably should’ve corrected that. At least the native birds around Monterey haven’t taken to eating the snails. We don’t have roadrunners here. No need for correction. I took your post to mean that native birds were not eating a particular species of snail. I’m guessing that the snails in San Bernardino were not the same species as the escargots. I just thought it was interesting seeing the roadrunner using a ‘tool’ to get at the soft bits. ---
**Author:** ![Aangelica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Aangelica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aangelica)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720/20 "2005-07-18T14:15:21Z")
You’re probably going to have a hard time in the Spokane area getting them in grocery stores drmark - you might ask if Albertson’s or one of the other chains will order them for you. Or you can order them for yourself online from one of the following: [http://www.gourmetfoodstore.com/othergourmetfoods/escargot-other-gourmet-foods.asp?mscssid=E2GWS9036VJ78N75EMJ3MKEHHRR3CXUD](http://www.gourmetfoodstore.com/othergourmetfoods/escargot-other-gourmet-foods.asp?mscssid=E2GWS9036VJ78N75EMJ3MKEHHRR3CXUD) [http://www.igourmet.com/shoppe/search.asp?cat=51&qry=escargot](http://www.igourmet.com/shoppe/search.asp?cat=51&qry=escargot) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-escargots/312720.md?page=2)