Kuhol (Snails): From Pest to Gourmet Fare
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Ginataang Kuhol (Escargot in Coconut Milk) (Photo by judgefloro)
But did you know that kuhol are first and foremost plant pests?
Originally introduced in the Philippines between 1982 and 1984, kuhol were meant to supplement sources of food protein among low-income Filipino farmers. However, in 1986, they began to damage rice farms heavily in northwestern Luzon. They have since become among the most destructive pests in rice fields, usually feeding on the succulent parts of the rice plant, causing stunted growth and eventual destruction.
Not even the world-famous Ifugao Rice Terraces have been spared by the menace. The Office of the Provincial Agriculture (OPAG) has been appealing for intervention to combat rice field pests, including snails.
According to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) at Los Baños, Laguna, snails are able to spread through irrigation canals, natural water distribution pathways, and during flooding events.
When water is absent, apple snails are able to bury themselves in the mud and hibernate for up to six months. When water is returned to fields, snails may emerge. They damage direct wet-seeded rice and transplanted rice up to 30 days old.
Kuhol are very prolific. A single kuhol can lay anywhere from 300 to 500 eggs a year.
IRRI has laid down some protocols on how best to control the pests. It encourages natural predators such as red ants, which feed on the snail eggs, or ducks, which eat young snails. Managing water levels is also suggested as apple snails have difficulty moving in less than two centimeters of water.
Snails can also be harvested, cooked and eaten, or sold as animal feed. To this day, handpicking or harvesting snails is by far the best way to control the pests, while generating extra income for farmers. It sometimes takes a village for this undertaking.
Such was the experience of the Osboken family, natives of Bauko, Mountain Province, in protecting their rice farm. Harry, 26, and Krisna, 21, recall their family’s harvest of the snails, which happens anywhere from August to October each year. Harry says they — along with three other siblings — would pick as much as five sacks of snails, which their mom would bring to the market for sale.
Harry Osboken (Photo by Rene Astudillo)
Krisna Osboken (Photo by Rene Astudillo)
Inukit: A Cordilleran “Escargot”
Growing up, Harry recalls cooking the snails following the Cordillera tradition, which is to shuck the snails and sauté them in onions and soy sauce. “Cordillerans cook anything — pork, chicken or what-have you — with onions and soy sauce,” Harry says.
The preparation process starts with soaking the fresh snails in water for at least one or two days to rid the snails of impurities. This is followed by boiling them with some tanglad (lemongrass) or sometimes charcoal, to temper the fishy smell. Next is to pull out the meat from the shell using a sharp object. In the local Kankana-ey dialect, the shucking process is called “inukit.” Hence the name given to this kuhol dish.
Now living in Baguio, Harry has established his own Café and his sister, Kris, helps manage the place. The Osbokens are proud to offer Inukit as part of their regular menu, hoping to promote the cooking tradition they grew up with. Occasionally, they would also cook the snails a la dinakdakan, another popular Cordilleran dish akin to sisig.
“Harry recalls cooking the snails following the Cordillera tradition, which is to shuck the snails and sauté them in onions and soy sauce.”
Who would ever think that a plant pest could double as an ingredient for a delectable, even gourmet fare?
For two recipes for kuhol, see the Happy Home Cook post below.
http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-happy-home-cook-inukit
Rene Astudillo is a writer, book author and blogger and has recently retired from more than two decades of nonprofit community work in the Bay Area. He spends his time between California and the Philippines.
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