Local producer SON POU

Having devoted part of her life to farming and looking after cattle, Marga Sbert felt it was “too early to give up working”. So it was that the Sbert family set up Son Pou in Felanitx (Mallorca), where they sell snails in winter and vegetables in summer. 

Marga’s parents had always been farmers and had reared cattle for years. Over time the family brought that side of the business to a close, and set up on the Son Pou estate.

On the Son Pou snail farm, they try to ensure that the process involved in the snails’ growth is completely organic, and although they have no official certification, they avoid using chemical products, aware as they are that everything they produce is for human consumption. “And it’s all home-made,” says Marga.

There is a reproduction room for the snails, where the animals are born. From there, they are taken to a hothouse, where they live in freedom and grow until they are ready to go back to the reproduction room to breed. When an order comes in, the largest snails in the hothouse are chosen and washed, one by one, to be sold either live or cooked, as the customer prefers.

As well as the hothouse, Son Pou also has a small area for vegetables, which they also grow in the traditional way.

Son Pou’s customers tend to be local. They love snails and appreciate both the quality of the produce and the owners’ easy, friendly attitude. This way of dealing with customers, inspiring trust in them, is essential for Marga and her family. 

If you’d like to visit the snail farm, the family will welcome you to Son Pou and offer a lunchtime tasting menu where snails are, naturally, the star ingredient. You’ll try recipes such as snails cooked in the traditional Mallorcan way, snails with Bolognese sauce, and roast snails. Just be sure to book in advance.