Escargot de Crete

The company was founded in 2010 on the island of Crete by Dr. Charalampos Kiagias.
Escargot de Crete’s principal concern is the well being of snails, their multiple beneficial properties and uses for human health.
Dr. Charalampos Kiagias, like all Cretans, grew up and lives in a place where the beneficial properties of snails on the skin and the human body in general, are known first hand and therefore these special creatures have been highly valued by the inhabitants of the island for centuries.
In its first year of operation, the company established the first vertical unit of snail breeding and production of by-products in Greece and passed the know-how to other producers as well. Nevertheless, Dr. Kiagias wasn’t satisfied with the way greenhouses were limiting snails’ contact with the sun, the rain and the natural flora and started experimenting to change the breeding protocol already used, concerning the snail farming methods.
Today, Escargot de Crete breeds snails in nature with ecological farming principles. The snails live among organically grown olive trees. They come in direct contact with the sun, the rain, the wind and the soil of their natural habitat, but also with the organically grown olive groves and the natural flora of the island of Crete from which they get their unique characteristics.
It is an ecological farming with minimum environmental footprint. Farming resources are shared by both snails and olive groves and both organisms benefit from each other’s presence.
What makes Escargot de Crete snail breeding unique, is this ecological, totally open-air snail breeding, and also the fact that this is possible all year round, due to the location and the local climate.
Escargot de Crete, as a producer of snail secretions, has developed production methods that result in very high-quality snail secretions. The most important ingredients that make snail secretion so special in skin care, are constantly researched and measured, and the main goal of the company is to maximize the quality and quantity of these ingredients in the final product. As a result, Escargot de Crete is currently, as far as we know, the only company that regularly measures, announces and guarantees specific quality characteristics of the snail secretions it produces.
Escargot de Crete with the use of these unique secretions produces skin care products under the brand name PANACEA3.

TOUR AND TASTING

Our visitors have the opportunity to get to know this wonderful animal up close and to see the way and the conditions in which it is reared and also see the development of the snails in various stages. (newborns, 2-3 months, 6 months etc.)
Visitors are informed about our products both culinary and cosmetic and try them.
After the tour of the breeding grounds, our company organizes, in collaboration with professional chefs, a meal based on the snails we produce.
Hence, our visitors get to know various Cretan traditional recipes with snails in combination with various local products such as Cretan olive oil, the various aromatic herbs of Crete, Cretan cheeses, Cretan wine, etc.