Snails for supper, anyone?

“I really enjoy eating snails,” says Rachelle van Heerden of Anzole Snail Farm in George’s Valley, just outside Tzaneen.

“I hit upon the idea of snail farming under lockdown. Everything was so uncertain then and everyone was looking for new ways of surviving, so snail farming seemed like a very interesting concept.

“After extensive research we started with our first batch of 664 snails imported from Ukraine in August 2021.”

Rachelle and her business partner, farmer Thys du Toit, began their snail farm in a 57m² greenhouse which has since become 264m² and will soon grown bigger.

“Though we started up small-scale to first observe the entire process, from breeders to eggs to juveniles, we soon came to realise that though a snail might be a slow creature, they multiply at a rapid pace. Our snails lay many more eggs than expected according to industry statistics. Their mortality rate is very low and the quality is tops.” 

Anzole is selling locally across Limpopo to restaurants, hotels, caterers and foodies who love to cook at home. They sell 120g packs of 24 snails, the same weight as tinned snails. They’re one of more than 170 snail farms across South Africa, making up a heliciculture (that’s what snail farming is called) industry which, according to Farmer’s Weekly, is ripe with opportunity since snails have both a food and cosmetic value, and overall demand is starting to outstrip supply.

Snail is a healthy meat, with similar protein content to beef and pork and filled with phosphorus, calcium and iron, and low in fats, sodium and cholesterol.

“We need to educate a potential market about the nutritional value of snail meat,” says Rachelle, adding the resistance to eating snails is often a perception issue and a cultural one. “In Nigeria, for example, people eat the giant African snail and the dish is popular and the industry strong.”

The French eat more 16,000 tonnes of snails per year.  

A popular method is to pan fry snails with garlic and butter, but one of Rachelle’s best dishes is fillet mignon topped with snails and served with a garlic butternut purée.

She is also excited about cooking with snail eggs, which are called white caviar or snail pearls. The pearls are typically eaten like caviar, with sour cream and blinis, and with bubbles of course. Because the caviar is produced by land snails, the flavour is earthy and woodsy rather than fishy, with “notes of forest floor”, as the gastronomes like to say. White caviar can also be served with tuna, avocado, vanilla, chilli and lime. It can be infused with sweet flavours and used to top desserts like pannacotta.