Fancy some true blue Singaporean escargot?

Well, it turns out, some people in Singapore have been eating the common snail you find all over the island during rainy season.

And they are quite a delicacy.

Say what?

According to this Into The Ulu blog post on July 10, 2017, the snails picked from Canossian School garden near MacPherson Road over the past few months have been consumed by some people in Singapore.

And no one has died yet.

The snails are known as African Land Snails (Achatina fulica).

They are a pest as they feed on the seedlings at the new garden that was being set up in the school over the past year.

The natural predator of these snails are ducks, birds and snakes, but these are obviously in short supply in urban Singapore.

So, naturally, Singaporeans have stepped in to fill the void.

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How are the snails prepared?

How careful and intricate your preparation of the snails for consumption is up to you.

The blog post suggested a few ways.

As the snails were picked from the school garden that did not make use of pesticides, the assumption is that the snails were not ingesting any man-made chemicals.

But just to be on the safe side: The most time-consuming method, which is also the method that gives you the most peace of mind, is to first pick the snails and keep them alive by feeding them with carrots until their poop turns orange.

This is to ensure you have cleansed their system thoroughly, since you're going to eat them whole.

The other way is to starve the snails to get rid of any pee or poop from them. This alternative is slightly more cruel. (Cruel for the snail, not you.)

Once the snails are ready to be cooked, dunk them with their shells in boiling water for five minutes.

And then extract the meat out with a fork.

The snail slime can be removed by soaking the meat in vinegar or rubbing salt. Not removing the slime will not make a difference, except in texture.

Once the meat is ready, they can be stir-fired with holy basil and chilli, or garlic butter and lime, or dried chilli and soy sauce.

If you're unsure, just be reminded that snails have been eaten all along in Africa, China and Taiwan.

Yummy.

Check out the full blog post here: