Is ‘escargot’ prepared by using garden snails or sea snails?

The traditional European dish, escargot was first prepared using land snails or garden snails. Others prefer to create the dish using sea snails or freshwater snails which follows a very similar process. Often served as an hoeur d'oeuvre, the snails are usually cooked in butter paired with garlic, parsley, shallots, and white wine. 

While there are variations to the dish, most snails are captured shortly after hatching and kept in captivity to ensure that they don’t ingest toxins. Sea snails are usually gathered straight from the ocean and into the pan in a shorter span of time, as long as they’re rid of sand. The most crucial aspect of harvesting snails for escargot is identifying that they’re a human-safe species and that they haven’t ingested anything toxic.

Here’s a guide to escargot and wine pairings: https://foodfornet.com/escargot-wine-pairing/