Miles Collins

Cooking caracoles…..

April, I am told is a perfect time to visit Spain, the wild flowers are in abundance and the roadsides are a mass of blue, yellow, purple, white and red. I caught the last hurrah, the select few which refused to die without a fight. Walking along the cliff tops the tiny purple headed thistles swayed in the gentle breeze, their seeds blowing to a new growing space for the following year, an effortless, natural reproductive system.

As I walked along the country lanes, through the woodland and coastal paths I was struck by the number of snails stuck fast to the stems of wild flowers. There were hundreds upon hundreds, groups rather than individuals, families if you will.

Had this been my own kitchen garden then the sight of it would have given me a heart attack, no question. My blood boils at the sight of one crawling its way towards my young plants, but this was an invasion, an horticultural bloodbath.

Caracoles are much loved in Spain, just as they are in France and Portugal but rarely so in England. The Spanish love this time of year, the caracoles are plentiful and ripe for the picking. They certainly look striking in their psychedelic patterned shells and picking them couldn’t be simpler.

So how do the Spanish cook snails? Well in the South they are popular in soups, in other regions they are cooked in piquant sauces or grilled and dipped into a garlicky mayonnaise. Naturally enough they find their way into a rice dish, similar to paella where they are cooked with chunks of rabbit, saffron and chicken stock.

Wild fennel can be found growing throughout the Cadiz region, it is a truly beautiful and graceful herb and any wild food forager would be in their element here. As I walked I noted the number of snails heading for the tender young fennel stalks, fresh blood after the wilting wild flowers. If I were to pick snails then it would be to the fennel plants that I would look first, I couldn’t help but wonder how much flavour they would impart on those juicy caracoles..