My garden is home to a large population of snails. With millions of
people starving, this seems like a waste of good food. How can I
harvest the snails, prepare them as delicacies, and market them to
discerning French people who seem to relish such things?

Greetings!

Heliciculture, or snail farming, is quite a profitable venture.  Did
you know that the United States exports over 300 million dollars worth
of snail every year?

Although most escargot is of the canned variety, it seems that more
chefs are demanding the fresh stuff.  But don't go dipping into the
garlic butter just yet.  You need to be very careful before harvesting
snails from your garden, for personal or commercial consumption,
because they may be contaminated with poisons.  Snails eat plants, and
that includes plants that are poisonous.  We don't want you messing
around with those little buggers until you are sure they are safe to
eat.   More information about that subject can be found by reading a
discussion on that very subject here:
http://www.premiersystems.com/recipes/appetizers/escargot.html

Once your critters are safe, you can whip up a tasty meal from the
recipes you can find by visiting, 
http://escargot.free.fr/eng/cooking.htm

And if you are really serious about starting your own snail ranch,
there are kits available at very reasonable rates.  Because of weather
factors, snail farming is usually done indoors in a climate controlled
setting.

A company called Rider's Ranch Escargot, sell several types of kit
packages, and will send you any information you need concerning all
aspects of snail farming.  They say the company is growing so fast
that they are needing more suppliers.  Rider's website information
says that they will pay you market value for your stock when it is
ready for harvest.  You can check it out by visiting,
http://www.jdsnails.com/about.htm

Have fun wrangling those snails pardner, and Bon Appetit!


Additional links of interest

Food Network's escargot recipes:
http://www.foodtv.com/foodtv/searchResults/1,6281,,00.html

Scroll down homepage for recipes from Provence!:
http://www.thegutsygourmet.net/france.html

Scroll down for pictures of snails:
http://escargot.free.fr/eng/theblond.htm


Search terms

"harvesting snails"
snail farming+united states
"eating garden snails"

Brilliant ... So much info and delivered so quickly. It's the first
time I've tried 'Answers' and I am seriously impressed.

Thank you so much for the compliment, and I appreciate the feedback.

It was a very interesting subject to research, and it almost made me
want to grab a piece of the snail pie...if it wasn't so slimy :)

Good luck!  Come back and visit real soon!

Bryan
Just thought to look at your first question.
I bet it supprised you to get such a good answer for a flippant (I
hope) question. It is such a useful service.
Kemlo

Hi, Kemlo

Thanks for your interest!

YES ... I was amazed by the quality of the answer for what you
correctly perceived to be a flippant question.

I really appreciate the service ... and th dialogues with the various
participants ...

Not least YOU!

Are you based in the UK?

Kindest regards

Bryan

Dear Bryan 
  Yes, I live in Lincolnshire, though not under this name. (a hero of
a fifties children's novel.
as to venue, hows ab't the Royal Pavillon.
Regards Simon   {KEMLO}

Hi, Simon

The Royal Pavilion sounds great.

Incidentally, my Grandmother came from Lincolnshire but then Nobody's Perfect.

Me? I'm from Oldham (Lancashire) originally.

KR

Bryan

This was the first question that I ever asked on GA.

I was just checking to see if it was still around and it was!

Just thought I would follow you around to see what you are up to