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blowin · Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 2:47 am Post subject: sea urchins ( the eating of )

Has anyone tried eating the roe of the urchins from around the NW coast ?

blowin · Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 4:47 am Post subject:

I have done a bit of research and can confirm that all of the specicies from the Irish coast are edible . The preferred ones appear to be the fairly large pinkish type with blunt spines . I imagine the season will start around April . Does anyone care ?

wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1163 Location: Campile. Wexford

I have never tried them. Rich Stein has them listed as not much to eat apart from a few strips of roe. Which is deliciously sweet when eaten raw.
I am game to try most things but I am not sure that I would want to kill an Urchin just for a few strips of roe. Very interested in Sea Weed though.
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GB · Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Posts: 317 Location: Ireland

I had the black spinny ones once-----absolutly to die for Cool

sooooooooo soooooooooooo good. As I remember, they had 5 or 6 strips of roe about 2 or 3 inches long. Not enough but enough to eat them for. Very Happy

I didnt know they all were foodable though. Good news for rockpooling with the kids.
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blowin · Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:37 am Post subject:

Tried the first one from Irish waters yesterday and very good it was too if you like that sort of thing Very Happy

The urchin was quite small -- maybe 2 1/2 to 3" across , including the spines , so the area inside the shell was about the size of a medium hen's egg . Other than the hard central mouth part the shell was virtually full of roe -- about the equivalent volume as an egg yolk .
The roe is like segments of orange attached to the shell . You just scoop it out ( this one was far too delicate to lift out and serve in the poncey way you may have seen on tv ) . It has almost no texture , that is to say it is creamy rather than "poppy" like caviare ( ok -- Lumpfish roe in my household Wink

) . It has a sweet flavour with a delicate but sharply fishy background to it ( like the dark lateral line on mackerel ) .
It is strangely rich so you wouldn't need many urchins to make an interesting starter .
The type I tried was not the one recommended earlier ( big w/blunt spines ) . This one was very spiney ! You want the deep purple ones with dense spines . They can look almost black when under water but are quite obviously not so when out of it .
There was a colony of them which had etched deep holes into the rock and they werent easy to get out without breaking so some experimentation may be required . ( It has just occurred to me that those long bacon tongs might be ideal ) . Part of the trick is to grab or prise free quickly -- they grip harder once they have been disturbed .
Do not be tempted to pull them off with your bare fingers ! Those spines penetrate wet skin very easily and they are very brittle . You will need to apply a poultice for several days to get them out .
If you fancy trying them I would suggest you do so before the end of the month as they are worthless once they have spawned . Good luck Wink