"They look like a prickly pompoms but they are animals. The tips of their spines carry venoms, they are the black sea urchins".
Hello outdoor lovers!🤗
On our last hunt of seafood at Tigbawan beach, we didn’t have the luck to catch and found some seashells, yet we were fortunate enough to discover some secrets in sea urchins hunting! We bumped into a family of sea urchin hunters on the beach and from them, we learned the techniques on how to catch and eat the sea urchins we consider the ugliest and we thought useless!
But before I share to you our unique discovery, let us have first a little background knowledge about the types of sea urchins which I categorize myself. Lol!. Well, you can check Mr. Google these interesting species and know their scientific names too, but hey we’re here to eat! So I’ll be describing them according to appearance, and how they taste! And these are how I categorize them into 3 groups.
Group A- the colorful, not-so-thorny, taste- delicious
Group B– slightly dark colors, a little thorny but not so lengthy, taste-delicious
Group C – monstrous look, spiny - thorny, useless, taste- delicious to some.
Obviously, I hunt the Group A and Group B sea urchins, and always skip the Group C one! Like who would pick that little ball of sea monster full of long black spines, the body is only 30% of the whole thing, I mean the rest of the 70% are thorns! I have always been wondering how to eat that kind of sea urchin covered with hundreds of spines?! Many had accidentally stepped on it, and they all said that its thorns sting and leave not just excruciating pain but also the brittle spine on your foot making it hard to walk. (Thank Goodness, I have stepped none!) So I always skip this little sea monster and took another route every time I met one.
Secret Unveiled.
What we discovered, astound us and left us speechless. Those sea urchins covered with hundreds of thorns and spines are so easy to handle and eat! Haha.
We were packing our things, getting ready to go home when we heard happy noises. On the beach during seafood hunting, happy noises usually signal a good catch, so my husband and I hurriedly check and see what's their catch.
We saw this little boat approaching on the seashore, with an almost full white colored sack that made us so curious. What possibly could their catch be? Right after they dock, I hurriedly took a look and my eyes went wide! A sack full of sea monsters, the thorny and spiny sea urchins!
I ask the hunters if they eat such kind of sea urchins, which later I realized how dumb my question was, "Of course Smile, they eat it! what's the use of hunting it?" Haha. Good thing the hunters answered me with a smile and said, "I'll you show how to clean and how to take these thorns off easily so you could eat this the next time you hunt." He knew what I was thinking.
So with so much interest, we watched them closely as they carefully applied their techniques in removing the long black spines.
It was easy as pie! The next thing they did was transfer half of the sea urchins to another sack. Holding tightly both ends of the sack, they then shake and shake again and shake all over the urchins inside. Uhu, I could imagine the urchins kicking and boxing each other inside until their thorns fell off. And the winner is . . .! tigidingdiding! Haha.
After 2-3 minutes of shaking thoroughly the urchins inside, they then pour the urchins into the seawater for them to get cleaned. The water gets slightly purple due to the black spines. They then pick the urchins one by one to check if there are still thorns left.
So what they have now are clean, harmless, and ready-to-eat sea urchins. if in case you hadn't tried eating one when you opened eat the yellow-colored flesh. Pour some vinegar and lemon to achieve a more umami taste.
I was amazed at what I witnessed on how simple the techniques are. That was an incredible DIY! When the urchins were all cleaned, they happily shared the urchins and started eating. They offered us a few urchins but we humbly refused because we have eaten already.
So this outdoor adventure for us was not just pure fun, but we also gained knowledge and some friends. And if you read this and encounter this kind of sea urchin the next time you go to the beach, you now knew the technique of how to remove its thorns and eat them. I almost forgot, to pick this monstrous urchin, you must use a stick or a clip. Wear gloves for protection and always make sure not to step on them.
Let me end my blog by leaving this quote:
Immerse yourself in the outdoor experience. It will cleanse your soul and make you a better person.