Family launches Snailed It snail farm for fine dining foodies

Meet the family who have launched a regional farming first with orders already taking off much faster than a snail’s pace.

Forget farming cattle, in 2021 it’s all about the rise of the humble garden snail.

While they might not be the fastest moving creature on the planet, new producers Shari and Wes Hughes are confident they are one of the most delicious, especially when covered in Wes’ mouth-watering garlic butter.

The foodie family launched Snailed It snail farm out of their Greenmount property after former chef Wes used his culinary expertise to woo Shari and it was love at first bite.

“They are actually very close to a mushroom in flavour and texture,” he said.

“I’ve worked with a couple French chefs over the years and they showed me how to prepare them and both Shari and I just love then but they weren’t always the easiest thing to import into Australia and, like anything, the tinned version doesn’t even come close to the fresh stuff.”

The Hughes family from Greenmount have recently launched Snailed It snail farm with (from left) Daisy, Shari, Primrose and Wes Hughes excited to show the Darling Downs how fascinating and delicious these slimy little creatures can be. Picture: Nev Madsen

After years of research, Snailed It was launched last October and has already generated interest from restaurants locally and in Brisbane.

“Snails take about 10 months from hatching to reach full maturity, so after some trial and error and trying a couple new techniques our first lot of commercial snails will be ready for sale by this October,” Mrs Hughes said.

“They are pretty fascinating little creatures and from a dietary perspective they are full of protein, iron, vitamin B12, magnesium, Selenium and omega-3 and very low in cholesterol.

“I have also really enjoyed learning all about how they reproduce and behave, snails are actually hermaphrodites so they have both male and female reproductive organs and they reproduce by stabbing each other with these weird little “love darts” and then they lay these little pearl like eggs which hatch into teeny tiny snails that then grow into mature adults after eight to 10 months.”

“Right now our breeders are still busy laying their eggs and snails lay anywhere between 70-140 eggs each.

“We have started out with just 200 breeders which equals 14,000-28,000 eggs... From those we will select the best to be our next lot of breeders and continue collecting them from around the region.
“We’re looking to expand to 1000 breeders by the end of the year which will mean somewhere between 70,000-140,000 snail and all going well will continue to grow from there.”

Four-year-old Daisy Hughes (front) holds some of the snails from her family’s Greenmount snail farm while younger sister, Primrose explores in the background. Picture: Nev Madsen

You might be wondering where these special species of tasty, mushroom-like snails come from and the answer is closer to home than you might think.

“These are just your regular variety snails that we find in gardens, then go through a quarantine period to make sure they aren’t sick or have eaten any poisons before being released out with the rest of the snails,” Mrs Hughes said.

“You should never ever eat a snail straight out of the garden because they might have worms in them and they have to go through a special detox process.

“When they are fed their special snail diet they actually go from a brownish colour to a light white shade and there’s lots of different ways you can enjoy them and many benefits to their slime as well.”

After realising how youthful Italian snail farm handlers hands are, researchers discovered the foam they produce is full of anti-ageing properties, and snail eggs also known as escargot caviar is fast becoming the next foodie sensation down south in Melbourne.

A Snailed It farm snail is white in colour because of the special snail food it eats. Picture: Nev Madsen

With all of these exciting opportunities the Hughes family are always looking out for the next additions to their snail clan.

“We are actually searching for more snails around the Darling Downs region right now so we’re more than happy to come out to gardens and help people with their snail problem,” Mrs Hughes said.

“If people have snails in their garden they can message our Instagram or Facebook page and we can come and collect them for you or we can arrange for you to drop them to us and for every snail collected over 30mm, Snailed It are donating 20 cents to the Cambooya Kindy and Greenmount State School Playgroup.”

With plans for tasting and farm open days in the near future, the Hughes family are confident the Downs will come to be as fond as these slippery, slimy creatures as they are.

“Our three children (Clay, 12, Daisy, 4 and Primrose, 2) all love helping out and getting involved in the green shed with the snails,” Mr Hughes said.

Daisy (left) and Primrose Hughes from Snailed It farm love helping their parents out with their slimy little friends at home. Picture: Nev Madsen

“Although we’ve made a few mistakes and we’re still learning as we go, we’ve come a long way in our first year of operation.

“We’re hoping that with plenty of tasting days, cooking workshops and demonstrations well as getting out to the fresh food markets and produce open days the Darling Downs and other parts of Queensland and Australia will steadily discover these tasty little creatures and snails will take off everywhere.”

To stay in the loop with Snailed It and all things excellent escargot, head to their Facebook and Instagram pages.

The Hughes family are excited to be embarking on their snail farm journey. Daughters Primrose (left) Daisy (centre) and Wes Hughes from Snailed It snail farm. Picture: Nev Madsen