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Karavoli (snails) have become familiar as a delicious meze. The karavoli are collected from around the “xerolithia” (stone hedgerows, which are the traditional land-dividers in the Greek countryside), or thyme shrubs, where they nest.
On the islands, the kitchens were meager and the options limited. The karavoli were an additional option and also offered 2-3 alternative recipes such as stew, in tomato sauce with rice or boiled with vinegar and salt during Lent. After their collection, in earlier times, they were stored in baskets with thyme or in potato sacks so as to ventilate well. Before cooking, they are fed with flour so as to “get dry”, as the locals say, and become delicious.
We never collect snails on the first rains of autumn because, although plentiful, the snails are in their breeding season and are not so tasty when cooked. They are managed prudently and with respect towards Nature so that they are available nearly all year round.
