Adopt a snail

Adopt a snail is the latest slogan to appear on our stalls. Jim Hunter of Aylesford, a master wood craftsman, has produced some beautiful snails for us to sell. We have three versions. The top one is sycamore with the pattern of a shell burnt into it. The middle one is plain pale sycamore and the lower one is made in oak. Jim has used the grain of the wood to represent the shell in these two.

We are looking forward very much to appearing at West Malling Farmer's Market www.westmallingfarmersmarket.co.uk on the fourth Sunday of each month starting in November. We will be serving hot snails in garlic butter as well as selling snail canapes and smoked snails for you to take away and eat at home. The wooden snails will be on sale there but can also be ordered by phone or email and sent by post.

Live snails are currently available from Derek the butcher at the Goods Shed Butchery in Canterbury. He has them for sale on Saturdays and they can be ordered at any time.

Rachel's Deli

On Saturday I was at Rachel's Deli (http://www.rachelsdeli.co.uk) to give customers the opportunity to taste my smoked snails. It was a lovely warm day and groups of people drifted in and out on their way to and from the Secret Garden Restaurant, Ibbidi Bobbidi Boo gift shop and all the other outlets.

If you haven't yet discovered Mersham Le Hatch Business Village (http://www.mershamlehatch.com/) then I can recommend a trip. Near Ashford and the M20/A20 it is in a courtyard of attractive outbuildings formerly part of Lord Brabourne's estate. This is a group of shops that definitely deserves a closer look.

Rachel is now stocking my smoked snails and garlic butter canapes in the freezer, both perfect for dinner parties and special occasions at home. A lot of the fresh meats and vegetables stocked are organic and sourced locally but there is also a good range of charcuterie, wine and cheeses from across Europe. The tomatoes are so fresh they are still growing in pots outside the window.

Allotment Escargots

Snails have made a nutritious contribution to the human diet for 17,000 years. If you are concerned about the environment then you should consider using this natural resource from your garden or allotment.

This book is for you if you are interested in:
· collecting free food from the wild,
· growing your own fruit and vegetables
· buying locally produced food,
· reducing food miles
· lowering your carbon emissions
· eating well

Find out how to:
· rear local snails for your own consumption
· keep the snails in and everything else out
· decide what to plant for your family and your snails
· collect, prepare and eat your snails
…and lots more.

Published by H&RH Escargots © 2009 Price £5

Writing the Book

Coming out and saying I'm writing a book feels like a big step even though I've been writing for years: making my living as a writer indeed for some time. but whenever I talk to people about the snail business they ask when the book's coming out. 'There's got to be a book in it', they say... and maybe there is.

I went to a book launch last night for Katherine May's first novel Burning Out published by Snowbooks: http://www.snowbooks.com/author_May.html. You can see all about Katherine and her books on: http://www.katherinemay.co.uk/, see Katherine reading an extract on Youtube and watch her next book slowly develop by following each day's first and last lines on www.twitter.com/mustardpepper. I haven't read the book yet but I am certain it is going to be well written and a joy to read as Katherine's work always is. I am grateful for the invitation to the event because it spurred me on to make as much use of August as I can while other work is on the back burner.

I met Katherine first through Medway Mermaids the writers' group she set up: http://www.medwaymermaids.btik.com/. I joined because I wanted to move sideways from non fiction academic work to experiment with writing fiction. I felt I wanted the support of other new writers to help me make that shift. With the members I experimented with all sorts of writing: scripts, poetry and historical fiction and learnt a lot especially about 'show' instead of 'tell'. We're always happy to see new members so if you are reading this and looking for support with your writing please make contact.

From the beginning of the snail business I kept a daily journal, partly so I could look back and see what worked and what didn't, as there was a lot of experimenting involved in their care. I've now started re-writing some of the early pieces I wrote, to try and weave it into a coherent shape. It seems to be settling into chunks that correspond with months of the year and events in the East Kent countryside. This, so far amorphous mass of writing, has the provisional title: Of Molluscs and Me, but I don't think I'm ready yet to share it with the wider world. Maybe there will come a time when I want to post extracts up on the net but not yet.

On Sale Here

The snails will be making an appearance at two events in August this year.

The first event is in Goodnestone Park on Sunday 9th August from 12 till 5 at the Food Fair for the Best of Kent weekend. You will be able to buy hot snails in garlic butter ready to eat and snails to eat at home, bottled in garlic butter or smoked.

for details see: http://www.ct3events.com/Produce--and--Craft-Fayre.php

The second event the snails will be attending is the Annual Barn Produce Show in Littlebourne Barn on Bank Holiday Monday 31 August.

If you haven't been to the historic barn it is definitely worth a visit just to see the inside: http://www.littlebournebarn.co.uk/

The event is an opportunity for local gardeners and allotment holders to show their biggest pumpkins and straightest runner beans. They will also be showing chickens and other livestock, so the snails are appearing under this category. They won't be winning any prizes, but only because the show committee have no criteria by which to judge them. Nevertheless they will be there to smile for the cameras.

Cooking Kentish Snails with Kentish Cider

Alcohol is an essential ingredient in cooking my locally grown edible snails and here is how to use the local brew Rough Old Wife www.rougholdwife.com/. The flavour will beat anything you've tasted on holiday.

In true Mrs Beaton style: first catch your snails and let them dry off so that they go into temporary aestivation.

Make your cooking stock with the following ingredients:
1oo ml cider
1 litre water
1 crushed clove garlic, chopped shallot, chopped carrot,
sea salt and black pepper
1 clove, 1 bay leaf, small sprinkling of cinnamon and nutmeg,
chopped parsley and thyme (could be dried or fresh)
1 whole bird’s eye chilli (don’t break it up or the stock could be too hot)

(One litre of stock would cook a kilo of snails.)

Make a 10% brine preferably with sea salt

Bring a large pan of water to rapid boil and add salt. Drop the sleeping snails into the boiling water and bring back to the boil for five minutes. Plunge them into cold water after blanching so that you can handle the shells to remove the snail using a fork. Twist the snail with the shape of the shell to remove it.

Drop the de-shelled snails into hot brine and boil for thirty minutes to remove slime.

Rinse well.

Drop snails into the hot stock, bring back to the boil and simmer for about one and a half hours. I use a slow cooker for this part of the process so that I can be sure they will simmer and won’t boil dry. At the end of the cooking process turn off the heat and leave cooked snails in the hot stock while you prepare the garlic butter.

For the garlic butter:
Per 250 gm pack unsalted English butter (taken out of the fridge well ahead of time) which should do 5 or 6 dozen snails, depending on how much you like garlic butter.
20gm chopped garlic
40 gm chopped shallot
Freshly picked parsley – enough to colour it green
Add cider to taste but try 70 ml
The herbs, garlic and shallot are most easily chopped in a food processor with the cider unless you are a skilled chef. Then mix well with the butter.

Drain the snails well and reheat with the cider butter in a hot oven in an oven proof dish until the butter bubbles. Served with crusty bread and a side salad.

Here's looking at you.

I've written before about Regine Petersen, but just to remind you, she is studying for an MA in Photography at the Royal College of Art in London. A few months ago she took photos of our snails for a project connected with her MA. Now she has entered these wonderful photos of their antennae into the Google photography competition. I hope you agree with me that they look great against the dark background. Here is the link so you can vote:

http://www.google.com/intl/en/landing/photographyprize/vote.html#theme28

Let's see if we can win!