Truffle and snails

SNAILS

The original taste of snail farming in Valle Camonica
SNAILS SNAILS
Truffle and snails

SNAILS

The original taste of snail farming in Valle Camonica

Even if the Italian name lumache means slug, when you see it written on a menu, we really mean snails. Snails are mollusks with shells who love humid and shady places and are edible, unlike slugs, which do not carry shells and are poisonous.
Before being eaten, snails must be purged for 2 or 3 days. They can be cooked both in their shell and without.

STORIA
HISTORY
Fin dalla Preistoria si sono mangiate le lumache, e già i romani ne praticavano la coltivazione, detta elicicoltura.
In Valle Camonica si è usi da sempre raccogliere e mangiare lumache, si cucinavano in casa in vari modi, erano un piatto per cene importanti e impegnative.
Negli ultimi decenni la popolazione di chiocciole, in Lombardia, è diminuita drasticamente. Per questo la raccolta di lumache è vietata nei mesi da marzo a settembre, e in qualunque periodo dell’anno nelle ore notturne che precedono l’alba. Tra ottobre e febbraio la raccolta è consentita con il limite massimo di 30 individui per persona.
Tra le aree del nord Italia dove si allevano lumache, la Valle Camonica ha un ruolo importante, si trovano allevamenti “a ciclo completo all’aperto”, dove le lumache nascono e crescono mangiando vegetali freschi e selezionati, coltivati nelle stesse aziende agricole.
Si tratta di una produzione importante di lumache, la varietà principalmente allevata è la Helix, la più utilizzata in gastronomia.
Snails have been eaten since prehistoric times, and Romans used to practice their farming, which is called heliciculture.
In Valle Camonica it has always been customary to collect and eat snails. They were cooked at home in various ways and were a dish for important dinners.
In recent decades, the snail population in Lombardy has drastically decreased. For this reason, the collection of snails is prohibited from March to September, and at night for the rest of the year. Harvesting is allowed between October and February with a limit of 30 animals per person.
Among the areas of northern Italy where snails are raised, Valle Camonica plays an important role, there are "full-cycle outdoor" farms, where snails are born and fed fresh and selected vegetables, grown on the same farms. This is an important production of snails, where the mainly bred variety is the Helix, which is the most used in gastronomy.

CARATTERISTICHE.
CHARACTERISTICS
Una volta spurgate le lumache vengono messe in pentola e fatte bollire; cotte, le carni risultano tenere e delicate; quindi, vengono sgusciate e cucinate secondo varie ricette.
È un’ottima pietanza, che viene cucinata al burro con gli spinaci selvatici (il peruch) o semplicemente condita con un filo d’olio, dopo averla sbollentata (a rael). Sono ottime in umido
Un alimento che fino a cinquant’anni fa era considerato un’eccellenza, un piatto delicato, tutt’ora apprezzato dagli estimatori.
Once the snails have been purged, they are put into a pot and boiled; when cooked, their meat is tender and delicate. Then, they are shelled and cooked according to various recipes.
It is an excellent dish, which is cooked in butter with wild spinach (the peruch) or simply seasoned with a drizzle of oil, after having blanched it (a rael). Also, they are excellent when stewed.
This delicate dish was considered a luxury up to fifty years ago, but it still appreciated by connoisseurs.

SEASONALITY
The harvesting of farmed snails can take place all together or the farmer may decide to collect them several times throughout the season.
The best months to buy and eat fresh snails are from October to April.

 
ANECDOTES
Snails are the best answer to the growing global demand for cheap, easy-to-produce animal proteins with the lowest possible environmental impact.

SNAILS
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Cuisine and territory have always been linked, not so much because of the belief that what is born behind the house is better than the rest, but simply because local products were immediately available to those who had to cook.
Traditional cuisine, which is seasonal, derives from what has happened over time in a place and from the products of that place.