Are Snails The New Super Food?

About 30000 years ago, people started cultivating snails for consumption in Benirdom, Spain. The Romans too were avid eaters of the shelled gastropod. The meat was served inside the shell itself and a special spoon like instrument called cochlearium was used to extract it.

Cochlearium used by the Romans.

Heliculture or cultivating snails was a common practice at that time to meet the high demand for escargots or cooked snails.

Snails were kept in vineyards and often fed meat so that they become too fat to fit back into their shells.

Cultivating snails .

It is widely believed that the snails taste like the food they've consumed . In order to avoid unpleasant tasting meat, snails are starved for about a week or fed cornmeal and water to keep their digestive tract clean. The snail is then washed thoroughly several times to get rid of mucous ejected by it and tossed into boiling water .

Boiling the snails.

Snails have several proven health benefits, especially for those who want to lose weight.

• It is comprises almost entirely of protein which when consumed helps building and repairing muscles.

• It is low on carbs which make it an ideal food for those who want to lose weight.

• Snails are high on iron , one of the most important minerals required in our body and a major component of Red Blood Cells which help transporting oxygen.

• It is high on Vitamin B12 which is vitally important to extract nutrients from other food.

• Snails contain Selenium which is required in very small amount in our body but is extremely important as it improves the immune system.

• Choline , a water soluble vitamin ( a part if Vitamin B) is found in snails. Choline forms an important part of the cell membrane ,maintains brain function, helps break down fats and prevents build up of bad cholesterol.

• Snails also contain some Omega-3 which is good fat.

The most widely eaten gastropods in the world are listed below.

Helix Pomatia
The most popular choice for escargots is the Roman or Helix shelled snail. It's available mostly in gardens but is also cultivated for it's high gastronomical value.

Periwinkles

Periwinkles are common fresh water snails which mainly feed on algae. It is hardly of much economical value as its found in abundance in freshwater bodies.

The common periwinkle.

Cockles and Mussels
These are very common seaside snacks often stored in brine or vinegar .

Cooked cockles.

Mussels cooked with chillies.

However, care must be administered while eating these tasty gastropods. They can often be infested with nematodes or round worms. Also, they have almost no fibre which forms an unmissable part of our diet.

However , looking at the brighter side of things, snails are a power house of nutrients which can do us a world of good.