Who does not know the golden snail? This one animal can be found in paddy fields, swamps and near the river almost throughout Indonesia. This animal is often hunted by farmers because it is considered as a pest that can damage young rice plants in one night.
In the field conditions, 6 golden snails per square meter can reduce the yield of rice by 15% and the damage caused lasts up to 50 days after planting.
But did you know that this one pest turned out to have a high nutrient content. From the test results proksimat, protein content in golden snails ranged between 16 to 50 percent and almost 40% body weight consists of proteins that are substances builders of living things. In addition, the golden snail is also known to contain omega 3, 6 and 9. In addition, in every 100 grams of golden snail meat contains energy food 83 calories, 12.2 grams of protein, 0.4 grams of fat, 6.6 grams of carbohydrates, ash 3.2 gram, phosphorus 61 mg, sodium 40 mg, potassium 17 mg, riboflavin 12 mg, niacin 1,8 mg and other nutritional content of food such as Vitamin C, Zn, Cu, Mn and Iodium. In addition to many contain many nutrients above, animals from this mollusk family is also rich in calcium.
Behind the disgusting impression, the golden snail or called by some people as a slug of the mulberry (Pomacea canaliculata Lamarck) it can be turned into a delicious meal. Some FMIPA UNY students consisting of Azza Kadarwati Nugraini, Januar Fajarningrum, and Nugrahini Dwi W try to process this pest for easy consumption in the form of crackers.
Azza Kadarwati Nugraini said the low public interest in pengonsumsian golden snail could be because of disgust feeling that affects most of our society associated with the processed snail gold. "Therefore, we try to process the golden snail into crackers, since during this snack does not meet the nutritional content required by the human body so that with the golden snail crackers nutritional needs of the community can be met" said Azza. "In addition, the manufacture of golden snail crackers can open opportunities for local communities to support the economy by building home industry."
According Nugrahini Dwi,
making golden snail crackers started from choosing a good golden snail, washed thoroughly and then boiled a few moments until soft, cooled, freshly separated between the meat with the shell and then dried in the sun to dry completely under the sun. Furthermore, dried snail meat is ground into flour. The mashed snail flour is mixed with tapioca flour and its marinade consisting of garlic, salt, coriander, and pepper. Add enough water to the dough so that it becomes dull and then the dough is made into thin sheets with a dough sheet or wooden cylinder with a thickness of 1-2 mm, then cut into pieces. The results of this cut is still a wet cracker that must be dried in the sun until the water content is below 10% to become crackers. Preferably, raw crackers are dried first before frying.
Besides can be made a delicious snack in the form of crackers, golden snail can be processed into satay, jerky, pepes, soy sauce snails and sambel. golden snail which in fact has a high protein content, cheap and affordable, golden snail has also been long believed by the public can be used to treat jaundice, improve intelligence, increase libido and can be used as medicine liver said Dr. Sumitro in Sinar Tani.
the golden snail that we know as a potential pest of rice plants, it turns out that if managed properly, can be a prospective commodity to increase farmers' income and improve the nutrition of the community. Even this commodity deserves to be an export commodity, especially to European countries, Japan and Hong Kong. golden snails can also be utilized as animal feed, fish, shrimp, high protein source foods for the community, medicines and controller host parasite trematoda that cause itching. With such potential, golden snail is not worth mentioning as the source of the failure of rice harvest. Better golden snails managed to be utilized and developed.
The use of golden snails to feed the ducks proved to be able to raise egg yield up to 80 percent. Feeding about 4.5 percent golden snail flour on beef cattle farms also provides good growth outcomes and the highest profit rate compared to other feeding.
As a fish feed, the replacement of fish meal content into golden snail flour by 25 to 75 percent gives a good influence on individual daily growth rate, feed efficiency, protein retention, and fat retention.
The use of golden snails for Krustase feed has been demonstrated in shrimp and crabs.