Adventure in Eating Snail Eggs
Snail Caviar: An Unexpected Adventure in Eating Snail Eggs
Snail what?
Yes, you read that correctly. Snail eggs are a thing. They are a delicious, salty, savory, and fantastic thing.
Snail caviar is the pearly white eggs. They come from two different species of snail that are raised on snail farms. Yup, snail farmers exist!
Are you all that surprised, though? We are Global Seafoods, after all. Searching the world for global delicacies that are sustainably harvested is our thing. And have we found something unique and amazing for our caviar lovers and enthusiasts.
We are a seafood company, but when we find something this cool, we just can't resist, and snail egg caviar has to be on the list of the world's most exciting caviars.
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Caviar is the roe or eggs from reproductive animals, typically seafood, but today, they come from a cute, slow-moving land creature, the snail. Escargo and snail generally are lumped together in the seafood category, and those pearly white snail caviar eggs are no different.
Snail eggs caviar might be different than fish caviar. And caviar snobs would snub our referring to them as caviar at all. But our goal is to make seafood and culinary delicacies more accessible to everyone, so pardon our ignoring of the rules while we discuss this excellent food that you probably should plan on trying as soon as you can.
Escargot and snail have been a delicacy served around the world for centuries. Unlike salmon roe, although similar in size, snail caviar features a distinct and unique earthy flavor. Think of the most delicious mushrooms you've ever tasted in the form of tiny little pearls that pop in your mouth. The snails that produce snail caviar eggs are land snails, so rather than tasting the ocean, you'll taste the forest.
Chefs and caviar lovers around the world find snail caviar as exciting and delectable as many top-tier black caviars.
What is Snail Caviar, and where can I find a Snail Farm?
First, you can't just buy a small tank and a few snails and call yourself a snail farmer. If only it were that easy. Snail farming is a centuries-old job that farmers throughout Europe have perfected over generations. In fact, there are only a handful of qualified escargot farmers ALLOWED to grow live snails in the United States.
The USDA considers edible snails an invasive species, so they place strict restrictions and guidelines on importing and farming live snails in the United States. US-based snail farmers have to create maximum security prison like safe-guards around their snail enclosures to ensure these little invaders don't escape and destroy our ecosystems.
Snail caviar is produced on snail caviar farms, primarily in France, Poland, and Austria. A snail caviar farm raises land snails to harvest the roe or eggs for your enjoyment. The snail roe is hand-harvested in a meticulous and painstaking process. The delicate process involves sorting, cleaning, and preparing a brine to preserve the unique flavor and texture of the pearls.
But here is some good news about eating white caviar snail eggs.
A sustainable eat.
When you buy snail caviar, you can be comfortable knowing that you are eating a product produced and processed using sustainable harvesting techniques. Unlike seafood roe, which is difficult to harvest without killing the fish, snail caviar farmers can bring the escargot pearls to your plate without harming any snails. In fact, snails in captivity live longer than wild snails!
Snail farming is also a low carbon footprint venture. Snail and snail eggs are an environmentally friendly food source! Snails graze on greens, herbs, and other herbaceous plants, but the carbon footprint of running a snail farm is much lower than other animals.
How Much is Snail Caviar?
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of the cost of our snail caviar, you should know that the process for farming and harvesting snail eggs is painstakingly complicated and on a micro level.
Snail farmers raise snails to harvest the eggs they lay just once per year! The good news is that gathering those snail eggs doesn't require killing the snails! Snails can go on to lay for up to 25 more years in captivity! Fishers are working on ways to sustainably harvest roe without harming fish, but for now, the process most often ends in processing the entire animal.
Snail caviar lands on a similar price point as many top-tier caviars, averaging some years as high as $75/ounce but sometimes going even higher. But we can explain the snail caviar cost.
Like we pointed out earlier, one snail only produces 50 to 100 eggs per year! The process of harvesting those snail eggs and preparing them for your dinner table is a delicate one.
First, the snails must lay the eggs. Typically, snails lay their eggs in the soil. Then farmers gather the eggs by hand, usually using tweezers. One by one, the eggs are sorted, cleaned, and prepared for their brine. The eggs are preserved in brine rather than pasteurized to maintain their flavor, texture, and integrity.
Snail farmers control every aspect of the snails' environment. Farmers controls:
- Humidity
- Temperature
- Lighting
And on top of that, US farmers must provide the USDA with assurances that their snails won't escape their enclosures and decimate local ecosystems.
Our snail caviar for sale comes in a 30-gram tin, giving you just over one tablespoon of white caviar snail pearls. We know the snail caviar price isn't for everyone, but for the snail caviar enthusiast, the experience of eating these delicious and delicate pearls is priceless.
Fun Fact
The land snails used for producing snail eggs are hermaphrodites, meaning all snails have both male and female sex organs, and all of them produce eggs!
People have used snails throughout the world, dating back centuries. Their use ranges from high-end spa treatments using snail slime to finding escargot and snail eggs in high-end restaurants. Now you can enjoy fresh, never frozen, snail caviar pearls at home and impress all of your most sophisticated dinner guests.
How Does Snail Caviar Taste?
While the taste of roe is fairly similar across species, snail caviar eggs have a very distinct and earthy flavor. Many snail farmers like to finish off their snails by grazing them on herbs such as basil and tarragon to improve the flavor of their roe.
Snail eggs are best described as tasting like the earthy undertones of the woods combined with the taste of your favorite wild mushrooms.
Snail caviar pearls have a smooth, silky texture and can be a bit crunchier than salmon roe. As the eggs pop, your mouth floods with pleasant earthy flavors and the woodsy essence of baked mushrooms.
Some Europeans also describe snail eggs as tasting like baked asparagus. The bottom line is that snail eggs have a unique and earthy flavor that is worth trying!
In France, they have entire festivals dedicated to these unique and delicious animals. Snail might sound like a new food for you to try, but humans have been eating snails and snail eggs as far back as 12,000 years ago!
Snail Caviar for Sale with Global Seafoods
When you order from Global Seafoods, our fresh snail caviar is brined in saltwater and packed in 30-gram tins. An unopened tin has a shelf-life of up to three months. Once opened, you should consume your snail caviar within a week, but we doubt they will last that long.
How to Serve Snail Caviar?
Snail caviar is a culinary trend spreading throughout Europe, and it's reaching the US and taking chefs and sophisticated home cooks by surprise. And honestly, why wouldn't it? For how much we love the earthy flavor of mushrooms, a fungus, why wouldn't we want that in a tiny pearl that pops in your mouth! You can't compare the sensory experience of eating snail eggs caviar to anything else.
Some of our favorite ways to eat white snail caviar include:
- On toast points
- Served over soft boiled eggs
- As a garnish to your favorite dishes or even cocktails (floating in your champagne or morning Bloody Mary)
- Served with creme fraiche
- Served over avocado toast
- A garnish to your favorite sushi
- By itself on a spoon!
You can serve a few pearls to your dinner guests as an appetizer or in between courses for a delicious pallet cleanser. Be sure to check back frequently as our recipes may change as our chefs learn more about this fantastic delicacy.
Ordering Snail Caviar Pearls from Global Seafoods:
When you order from Global Seafoods, your order ships expertly packed in dry ice so that your food arrives safely at your door. As always, and even more so now that we offer a fresh online market, we follow strict shipping schedules to guarantee your order arrives fresh. You receive a tracking number so you can track your order all the way to your door.
For more information about our shipping policies, please see our shipping page.
For more exciting ways to cook with some of the world's most unique and delicious foods, stop by our blog and recipes section!
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