Snail caviar launches at Harrods

The ultimate in slow food has hit the shelves of Harrod’s food hall. Snail caviar, which is exclusive to Harrods, is produced by De Jaeger in France. The company rears its snails in outdoor pens on a nutritious diet of vegetation and cereal grains, resulting in plump, great tasting snails.

After three years of research De Jaeger has perfected its own method of farming snail caviar and is now offering customers the chance to indulge in the cream-coloured, pearl-shaped delicacy. Each snail lays its eggs once a year, producing around 100 eggs on average. With this tiny, but precious amount, the people at De Jaeger hand pick the eggs every year and sort through them, retaining the best ones for their tins of caviar.

The snail caviar is prepared in a brine of fleur de sel de Guérande, and is available to buy in tins of 50, 125, 250, 500 and 1000 grams. So what does it taste like? Well, according to those in the know, its reminiscent of ‘a walk in the forest after the rain, with the aroma of mushrooms and the undergrowth, tasting of hints of oak leaves and moss’. Admittedly it doesn’t normally cost you £650 for 250g worth of rain, mushrooms and moss, but if caviar is your thing, then its oak flavour and earthy notes could be worth splashing out on.

Available from Harrods in four different sizes ranging from £65/30g to £650/250g.