An Uni - licious Saturday - Live Uni from San Diego Kelpbed Products, Little Italy Mercato

I readily admit that I don't do a good job on keeping tabs on what is the latest, or greatest "thing" going on. But on occasion, I will read something that will grab my attention. This past Friday, I was "surfing along", when I decided to check out The Readers Food and Drink section, and lo' and behold, Ed Bedford's column was on a stand selling live uni at the Saturday Little Italy Mercato. Way to go Ed........

So this morning I headed over to Little Italy, found parking with no problem, and walked a block over to the Mercato. Traffic, both the four wheeled and two legged kind was very light, and right at the South end of the Market, I saw the booth for San Diego Kelpbed Products.

 

And yes, there it was.......wriggling quills moving with slow, pulsing, almost mechanical smoothness. Heidi explained that these were Red Sea Urchin, and than raised her hands showing me the red pigmentation that the urchin gave off. 

 

The booth is manned by Heidi and her daughter Rosemary. Heidi is treasure trove of information on Sea Urchin. Stuff like sea urchins can live a very long life(100 + years), and can keep reproducing until they are very old. As such, harvesting these keeps the population in check, which in turn does our Kelp Beds a favor. And then the magic words were spoken, "would you like a taste?"  Are you kidding me????

Rosemary set to work, and had a much too easy time cracking and cleaning the uni......she cracked with the skill derived from tons of practice.

 

 

These 'nads had a bright almost reddish-orange color, with a nice, mild sweetness, and rich, briney flavor.....call it the kiss of the ocean if you desire. The flesh was creamy without disintegrating, and the fragrance hinted of the sea. And at four bucks a pop, I bought two.......

When I arrived home, I placed my uni in some old pasta bowls I had and put them in the fridge. I had been told that the uni would live two to three days in my fridge. You can tell they're alive by touching them......the spines will move. Of course, every half hour or so, I'd open the fridge, and pet my uni......

After completing all of my chores, I finally set out to work on my urchin. I have had more than my share of uni, but I had never cracked a large one myself. Back home in Hawaii, I've eaten smaller seas urchin (called `ina ), but had not really eaten the bigger "wana" (vana). After watching Rosemary, I was sure that I could do at least, a third rate job. Rosemary worked with a small slotted spoon and a pair of kitchen shears. Unlike what one of my friends say....you don't need a "special tool" to remove the gonads from the urchins. Though I wish I had a small slotted spoon.....

Actually, cracking it was easy....first you remove it's "beak". I used my pairing knife to cut around the "mouth". Someone once told me that the Old Hawaiians would place salt around, and in the mouth of the "Wana", and let it sit overnight. Cracks would then form around the mouth, making the uni easy to crack. I was much too impatient to even think about trying this.

Mouth removed, the uni looked like this:

 

I turned the uni over and drained the kelp(and other stuff) speckled seawater into the sink. I than found two of the seams, and cut along them, splitting the uni in half. I than scooped out the orange 'nads, and placed them in a bowl of clean water. I carefully scraped all of the detritus off them. I moved the cleaned uni pieces into another bowl of clean water, just to make sure I got everything off. I dried the uni briefly on paper towels, and ate them up.....plain.....it was excellent. I won't win for style or presentation points, you can pay your extra twenty bucks for that......

As I was washing the red pigment off my fingers....I wondered why I hadn't done this before. Perhaps it was the $4 a piece price......or maybe just watching the ease with which Rosemary went about cleaning the uni.....or maybe it was just the right time.

 

Funny thing was, the other uni, which I had this evening was even better...the flesh was that reddish-orange hue....and it was just sublime. Folks say that San Diego has some of the best Uni in the world.....so why don't you try it out, and form your own opinion.

And while you're at it, enjoy the Little Italy Mercato, on Saturdays between 9am and 130pm, located on Date Street, between Kettner and Union.

I picked out some other stuff as well......

 

Comments

[Eat. Travel. Eat!]

Beautiful looking Uni! It looks sushi grade :). I just saw some Uni available at the market today, but then the spikes were trimmed off, and they just looked like a black ball of little spikes. The uni you got looks way better!

[Eat. Travel. Eat!]

Beautiful uni! It looks better than some sushi restaurant's uni.

I just saw some uni available today at the supermarket, but they simply can not even compare to what you got! Their spikes were all trimmed up and they were sitting on a bed of ice. They looked more like black balls with mini sticks sticking out instead of uni.

[Kirk]

Hi ETE - This was very good.....and I've had my share of fresh live uni!

[Hao]

And fun fact of the day: sea urchin "beaks" are called Aristotle's Lantern, apparently because Aristotle described them that way.

Doesn't sea urchin imply the existence of a land urchin? Or are those more commonly known as hedgehogs? Hmmm...

[kat]

not a fan of uni myself, but I'm glad you got some good uni at a great price! (the photo with you holding the uni looks like someone smiling!)

[meemalee]

"Pet my uni"

That's so wrong.

[Kirk]

Hi Hao - I actually had a vision of one those falling out of a tree......but wait...those are Durian, right? ;o)

Hi Kat - I was indeed smiling, so perhaps that was reflected in the way I held the uni? ;o)

Hi meemalee - he-he-he......

[Carol]

That is so cool! Especially listening to podcast. I've still yet to try fresh uni.

[Bbq Dude]

I've purchased their uni, and both eaten it plain, or put it in the vanilla-mint-gelee from the Alinea cookbook. Both were fantastic. The flavour just pops in your mouth so much more than the uni I've had in sushi places. Yum!

[Dennis]

Fantastic! I've always wanted to try this..

[sherry]

Thanks for posting this, Kirk. I've eyed the uni stand at the LI market several times, but never quite gotten up the nerve to stop and chat. (And I haven't yet tasted uni either). You made it sound simple to prepare the sea urchin, so maybe I'll purchase a couple soon and give it a try - here in the privacy of my home. :-)

[Kirk]

Hi Carol - These are inexpensive enough to try......check it out.

Hi BBQ Dude - Welcome and thanks for stopping by! The Uni provided is very good....I'm not sure it's the best I've ever had, but it is without a doubt among the best.

Hi Dennis - I think you'll love this.....

Hi Sherry - If you're not worried aout presentation, it is easy to clean and prep. They'll also give you samples. I eat mine, plain....but just a tad of lemon is good. The folks at the stand recommend sriracha, but I think that'll kill the delicate flavor.

[itsCliff]

OH MY GOD KIRK you must alert me when this sale is going on! I think I would just go to San Diego just to go get some! :) That's a really good deal.

Are there any places like that around the LA/OC area?

[Kirk]

Hey Cliff - I'd check with your local CFM....they will usually have a listing of vendors. This one occurs Saturday in Little Italy. I was told they are there every Saturday, so if you happen to be in town.

[foodhoe]

oh wow, this alone might be enough to get me planning a trip to SD! except that I am not sure I'd be able to pull this off in a hotel room, but maybe if I have a kitchenette? and I suppose all those tools might pass through the security scan if I check my bags... haha, well I enjoyed reading about it anyways! Looks so dang delicious!

[kirbie]

Wow. How neat! I had no idea you could get live uni from Little Italy market. And I didn't know it could live a few days inside the fridge.

[Kirk]

Hi FH - If you made the effort to travel to San Diego.....I'd make sure you'd have a place to prep your sea urchin! ;o)

Hi Kirbie - I was told it'll live 2-3 days in the fridge....if you can wait that long!

[nhbilly]

I wonder is Texas have live Uni.

[Kirk]

Hi Billy - I dunno, these are Pacific Sea Urchin.

[jeffrey C]

Kirk, wow fresh uni. I love uni. It seems to have the essence of the ocean and yet it has that rich flavor as well. I think I recall my first time hearing about eating sea urchin roe was in some french movie where it seemed it was a common enough item in the late 1800 to 1900s.