As great as snail meat tastes, cleaning it is a headache most people would rather not go through.

The slime is very thick and sticky, sort of like clear, sticky phlegm.

There are several items that can be used to clean the slime off snails such as salt, lime and alum. Salt is used because of it's abrasive properties, lime is used for its acidic properties and alum is used for it's purification properties.

For efficacy and double assurance, you may use two of the three items named above.

What you need:

- Lime

- Alum

How to:

1. Put the snails you intend to clean (after removing the shells of course) in a bowl and sprinkle lime juice on them, making sure that the lime juice touches every part of the snails.

2. Scrape off as much slime as you can with a large spatula or the blunt side of a kitchen knife.

3. By now, the slime would have reduced considerably. Then you use the halves of the limes to scrub the snails, cleaning off more slime.

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4. Rinse off with a lot of water.

5. Take a piece of alum and scrub the snails carefully, cleaning the corners that the lime did not reach.

6. By now the snails should feel squeaky clean, if not, scrub some more till completely clean.

7. Rinse with plenty water to remove all traces of lime and alum.

8. Cook as desired!