Snail, also called abalone, escargot, caracoles, queen conch, periwinkle snail, tsalingaria, ass’s ear shell, sea-ear, ormer, paua, and marine snail, are mollusks found in sea coasts, fresh water, and land. For thousands of years snails have been used for human food consumption and their shell for jewelry. Snails belong to about 100 species and depending on location different species are used as source of food. Commonly eaten snails include: Helix pomatia and Helix aspersa. In the western world snail meals are generally known as Escargot—a French word for snail.
Snail/Escargot/Abalone as a Food for Humans
Snail is reared in commercial farms for its meat and shell. Snail meat is a delicacy in Asian cuisine, Japanese and Chinese in particular. The French delight escargot as an appetizer. where as in the Americas and Australia, where it is commonly also called abalone, it is consumed also as main meal. In Africa, such as Nigeria and South Africa, land snail called Giant African Snail is also a traditional food. Snail recipes vary from cuisine to cuisine. Studies on the nutritional value of snail have reported that snail is high in protein but low in fat contents. It is estimated that snail is 15% protein, 2.4% fat and about 80% water. This makes snail healthy alternative food for people with high protein low fat diet requirements. Besides, snail is high in health benefiting essential fatty acids such as linoleic acids and linolenic acids. A study on a snail species in Brazil estimated that 75% of the fat in snail is unsaturated fatty acids. That is 57% polyunsaturated fatty acids, 15.5% of monounsaturated fatty acids, and 23.25% of saturated fatty acids.
Nutrional value of snail
Table: list of nutrients and their content in raw, snail. Nutrient values and weights are for edible portion. The following nutrient data is obtained from the USDA National Nutrient Standard Reference, release 19 (2006).
Nutrient contents in seafoods (tuna, salmon, shrimp) Nutrition facts of tuna Nutrition facts of shrimp Nutrition facts of salmon Shrimp Scampi recipes Related articles: Plant food that help lower cholesterol Foods of animal origin high in cholesterol- USDA Cholesterol content in foods of plant-origin List of food totally free of cholesterol List of food high in cholesterol
Related links Fat: List of Food high in total fat and saturated fatty acids
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References:
Su, X. Q., Antonas, K. N., and Li, D. 2004. Comparison of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid contents of wild and cultured Australian abalone. International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, 55(2): 149 - 154 .
Saldanha, T., Gaspar, A., Santana, D. M. da. N. 2001. Composition of meat from the snail (Achatina Fulica) produced in Iguape, SP. Higiene-Alimentar, 15(85): 69-74.
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