Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
I saw on the "abalone" thread a discussion started about urchins.
As far as I know the limits on urchins is 35, but don't quote me on that. I can't imagine taking that many, usually I get 2 or 3.
The Urchins you want are the medium sized red ones. The dark purple ones can be eaten also but the preferred ones, at least from the commercial standpoint are the reds.
First you gently break the shell apart in half. All kinds of really nasty looking stuff will pour out. With a spoon you carefully remove the 5 rowe pockets that line the inside of the shell. The rowe is a light tan to yellow color. Take one of the rowe sacs and hold it loosely in your hand with slightly spread fingers then gently rinse all the nasty looking stuff off of it in the sink. Pat the rowe sac with paper towel to take up any extra water then with a butter knife cut a little off and spread it on a wheat thin like pattei. The flavor, when it's spanking fresh, has a slight ocean kelp flavor combined with a creamy avacado flavor of the rowe. If you put it on a plate and cover it with
cellophane then put it in the fridge for 2-3 days it will lose the ocean flavor and you will taste the creamy avacadoish (but still it's seafood) flavor of the rowe. After several days it will begin to stink (like in a sushi bar) and I wouldn't touch it.
The sushi bars get it after it was farmed here, sent to Japan for processing, then sent back to the main distributor down by Menlo Park. That's why it's nasty.
The fresh stuff is very rich in fat and vitamins and I would assume very healthy to eat.
In fact this is one of the favorite things for the newbie initiation ceremony at the North Coast Party, so if you're planning on going and haven't tried urchins, you will!
ZKY
As far as I know the limits on urchins is 35, but don't quote me on that. I can't imagine taking that many, usually I get 2 or 3.
The Urchins you want are the medium sized red ones. The dark purple ones can be eaten also but the preferred ones, at least from the commercial standpoint are the reds.
First you gently break the shell apart in half. All kinds of really nasty looking stuff will pour out. With a spoon you carefully remove the 5 rowe pockets that line the inside of the shell. The rowe is a light tan to yellow color. Take one of the rowe sacs and hold it loosely in your hand with slightly spread fingers then gently rinse all the nasty looking stuff off of it in the sink. Pat the rowe sac with paper towel to take up any extra water then with a butter knife cut a little off and spread it on a wheat thin like pattei. The flavor, when it's spanking fresh, has a slight ocean kelp flavor combined with a creamy avacado flavor of the rowe. If you put it on a plate and cover it with
cellophane then put it in the fridge for 2-3 days it will lose the ocean flavor and you will taste the creamy avacadoish (but still it's seafood) flavor of the rowe. After several days it will begin to stink (like in a sushi bar) and I wouldn't touch it.
The sushi bars get it after it was farmed here, sent to Japan for processing, then sent back to the main distributor down by Menlo Park. That's why it's nasty.
The fresh stuff is very rich in fat and vitamins and I would assume very healthy to eat.
In fact this is one of the favorite things for the newbie initiation ceremony at the North Coast Party, so if you're planning on going and haven't tried urchins, you will!
ZKY
