00:00 This farm in French Burgundy is rather unusual, as is farmer Perrine Doudon.
00:07 She doesn't raise cows or sheep, but snails.
00:11 We're big snail eaters. It's a tradition in France and even more so here in Burgundy.
00:18 Escargots are a French delicacy. The French eat some 20,000 tons of them every year.
00:25 But what do they love so much about them?
00:28 How do you eat snails and how are they raised?
00:31 Around 200,000 snails live on Perrine's farm.
00:44 She discovered her passion during a work experience placement with a breeder and set up her own farm.
00:49 It wasn't my intention to do this. I studied science.
00:53 I was supposed to be a chemical engineer in cosmetics.
00:56 I stopped because since I was little my dream was to become a farmer.
01:01 Now she raises edible Helix aspera maxima snails, known in English as the large grey snail.
01:08 You have to be careful not to crush a snail or slip.
01:12 And that you don't get stung. These snails feed on stinging nettles.
01:17 Thanks to the minerals the snails excrete, the nettles grow very well here.
01:21 But why breed snails rather than collect them in the wild?
01:26 Oh no, it doesn't work like that.
01:29 Because of the intensive collection of burgundy snails in France, there are fewer and fewer of them.
01:34 In addition, you have to wait three years before it's mature.
01:37 With climate change, they have difficulty reproducing.
01:40 Garden snails have been protected in France since 1979.
01:46 Collecting them in the wild is strictly regulated.
01:49 But how are escargot prepared?
01:54 After Perrine has collected the snails, she stores them for a while below 10 degrees Celsius.
01:59 Then they go into boiling water.
02:02 It's forbidden to kill a snail which is extended or out of its shell.
02:08 That would be abuse.
02:10 The snails are removed from their shells, yielding only the meat.
02:18 Then they are spun to remove their slime.
02:22 To purify them and remove any bacteria that might still be there, they're boiled.
02:27 All we need now is butter. Parsley butter, to be precise.
02:34 That gives the escargot their flavour. But not only that.
02:38 I take a little butter, I put it in the shell.
02:43 We put butter with the snail to make a sauce and prevent the flesh from getting burnt.
02:47 And my shell is ready.
02:49 Two dozen snails from Perrine's farm cost 23 euros.
02:55 But they can also be found in most French supermarkets.
03:00 They are prepared in the oven and eaten with this special type of fork.
03:04 Perrine sells half her produce to private customers and the rest to restaurants,
03:11 like the one in the photo.
03:13 There is no trace of snails on the Chateau lawn.
03:17 Perrine delivers them to head chef Benjamin Linard.
03:20 - How are you? - How are you?
03:22 Escargot are his specialty.
03:24 - Very good, thank you. - All this looks great.
03:27 The chef has developed some sophisticated snail recipes.
03:31 I'm going to make a sauce based on the snail.
03:38 I'm going to make a sauce based on the snail.
03:41 I work it with a stuffing made from leeks, dill, chervil and chives,
03:46 in which we put the chopped snails.
03:49 It's become my signature dish.
03:51 If I stop making it, people will come after me in the village.
03:55 Benjamin's creation is an appetizer, as is escargot in butter.
04:03 They're considered a festive product because we harvest them at the end of the year.
04:10 And you eat fresh snails at the end of the year.
04:13 But I cook them all year round.
04:16 Benjamin serves the snail filling and ravioli with vegetables and curry.
04:22 Snails have been eaten as far back as the Roman Empire
04:25 and were long considered poor people's food.
04:28 Today, they are on the menu in various Mediterranean countries
04:31 and large restaurants serve them on special occasions.
04:34 [MUSIC PLAYING]
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