In heavy rain we drove to a snail farm and the sky cleared up even. All were curious, in what kind of houses Roman snails are bred. So much the more, we were surprised that this happened under the open sky and for the breeding of 300,000 snails only four gardens are needed with a total size of 800 square meters, which were sealed off on all four sides 50 cm high. The owner of the garden “L’escargot du Fousseret” himself took the lead in front of his empire and ordained us all “secrets” of breeding, cleaning the snails for consumption, the preparation for storage of the still living snails for the winter months and the processing as dine.
From acquired by himself 300,000 eggs of a differently constituted breeding farm a few kilometers away in the course of a year, he can after all reap 150,000 snails. The others disappear in the stomachs of other harvest helpers, such as hedgehogs, rodents and birds. In order to not let this get out of hand, he got himself a special guard, who performed on a leash, making his patrols through the garden, and by his appearing and his intense odor frighten the unloved harvesters. The transport box for 10,000 snail eggs look like and is only as big as a woodchip box for a soft cheese.
So it did not surprise us that the response of the snail breeder Mr Dieu to the question: “Do you like snails as appetizer,” was “I can not see them anymore.”
An answer that you can understand very well when you have to prepare each year 150,000 snails for sale and for consumption.
Spite of other selection options for the following lunch many participants of the group has selected the entree with snails in puff pastry. The prepared snails tasted excellent and were all well.
So all survived good, but unfortunately not the snails.
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