NewsBite

Australia diners discover the taste sensation of sea urchins

The greater willingness of diners to experiment is giving birth to industries built around new taste sensations.

Sea urchins — it’s not for their good looks that they are highly regarded in many countries. Picture: John Lethlean
Sea urchins — it’s not for their good looks that they are highly regarded in many countries. Picture: John Lethlean

Keith Browne peers over the side of a small boat to the bed of Port Phillip Bay, just 4m below, through water of surprising clarity and mutters to no one in ­particular: “Now that is a beautiful bottom.”

Where you and I see sand, rocks, seaweeds and the general ­detritus of marine life, this professional diver sees a habitat.

And a healthy habitat means healthy sea urchins, among other things; and a healthy sea urchin usually means “uni” grade roe, the high-value component of the 70-odd tonnes of urchins Browne ­processes every year at his Merimbula plant.

And believe it or not, some of the uni — from the species Heliocidaris erythrogramma — coming out of Port Phillip Bay this past winter is world class. It’s the reason Browne bought his licence, one of the bay’s three, for 20 tonnes of the “fish” annually; it’s the reason he gets in the water when the rest of us are in down jackets.

After a painstaking process of getting into their gear — wetsuits, gloves, more gloves and all the other stuff associated with long ­periods in cold water — Browne and his friend, boat-owner and pro diver John Minehan, slip over the side for — effectively — the next five hours. It’s a big call, even on a sur­prisingly pleasant late ­winter’s day.

Increasingly, however, there is a financial incentive.

With Browne’s company Ozi Uni having finally refined the process of extracting, cleaning and dispatching super-fresh delicate roe, chefs all across the country, and not just the high-end Japanese sushi masters, are incorporating the unique ingredient in their ­repertoires.

As prominent Melbourne chef-restaurateur Andrew McConnell says, it simply wasn’t worth thinking about using uni before about 18 months ago, when a reliable source of carefully processed, super-fresh roe came on to the market in a way chefs could rely on. It’s now a regular on his CBD restaurant Supernormal’s snack list: a seaweed-flavoured tapioca cracker with uni, a little salt and pickled shallot (see ­recipe online).

But without Browne, Minehan and other divers Ozi Uni uses on the southern NSW coast and in far eastern Victoria at Mallacoota, there is no uni.

It’s a simple process, harvesting sea urchins, provided you have the right gear. The diver pulls each “fish” from the sea floor or reef, fills a large net sack with about 200 and then returns to the boat, where it is winched aboard and put in tubs. Repeat. The catch is weighed and reported to fisheries authorities and then trucked to Merimbula for processing, a delicate business and the crux of turning an ugly little critter into something chefs covet for its complex briny sweetness.

It’s at the processing stage that the urchin roe is classed.

According to John Susman, seafood expert and co-author of Australian Fish & Seafood Cookbook, urchin roe has historically been graded based on colour, texture and freshness.

“The highest grade is bright yellow gold, with a firm texture and natural residual sweetness,” he says.

“The next grade is a more muted yellow, has a softer texture and is less sweet. The lowest grade, referred to as the vana (or kina), is often of the parts left over after processing.”

The roe classed as uni-grade — the roe from males is more coveted than that from females for its smoother ­texture — is meticulously picked and cleaned before packing and dispatch to some of Australia’s best-known restaurants, including Quay, Sepia, Brae, Minamishima and Supernormal.

Susman is very bullish on the future of uni as a luxury ingredient in Australia. “I really think this is going to be the It product for a while,” says Susman, who markets and brands niche seafood and seafood products for a living.

“First of all, we’ve never had this kind of consistency. People don’t appreciate that it’s all in the handling, the cleaning of a fragile thing and then the logistics behind getting it out of the plant and into restaurants really quickly.

“There’s also the adoption of the product outside the traditional Eastern market. That’s a development. And finally, there’s the ­sustainability.”

The removal of urchins is seen as a positive step towards sea-floor regeneration, and while there are quotas in Victoria, there are none yet in NSW.

“Urchins are aggressive eaters,” says Browne, who started abalone diving 17 years ago and moved into urchins in 2005. “They feed on moss, algae and seaweeds.

“But they actually eat into the rock they’re clinging to and when they do that, it makes it almost ­impossible for algae and weed to re-establish itself.”

He calls the areas stripped out by urchins “barrens”.

Browne says the harvesting of ­urchins is a benefit to marine ecosystems. Removing urchins allows algae and the seaweed to regenerate. He and his fellow divers actually spend a good part of each dive removing urchins from these barrens; in the short term, it means second-class roe from “fish” from unhealthy habitats. But in the longer term it contributes to the regeneration of the barren reef, bringing back fish, shellfish and … well-nourished urchins. More uni. And it’s not so much a haphazard ­occurrence as something he ­actively contributes to through habitat development.

It’s a kind of farming.

Seafood distributor Lucas Ruchniewicz, of Clamms Seafood in Melbourne, says urchin roe in Australia has come a long way.

“When I first came across Ozi Uni I was intrigued by the possibility of a Victorian and NSW diver-caught urchin product that’s processed locally,” he says. “Past experience with uni available at the fish markets has been really disappointing. But the packaging, presentation and the obvious care taken in handling such a delicate product is really impressive.”

Back at the boat ramp, Browne backs up two consecutive days of diving by getting behind the wheel of his big refrigerated Merc van and driving seven hours to Merimbula. It’s not easy money.

But by controlling most of the equation, he has overcome most of the problems involved with enjoying a naturally occurring seafood resource. Some would say “pest”.

By working the barrens to ­encourage habitat renewal, the fisherman has gone beyond the usual harvest mentality of the ­industry to one of environmental contribution.

And in the process he has made the giant step many successful primary producers have before him: coming to understand that he is no longer in the commercial seafood business but the food business.

It’s difficult to see the downside.

Shuck fresh urchins for ‘one of the great food experiences’

According to John Susman, seafood expert and co-author of new Australian seafood bible Australian Fish & Seafood Cookbook, sea urchins are found on ocean floors all over the world and are especially well suited to the subtropical, temperate waters of southern Australia

“Most feed on the algae of the region which means they truly reflect their ‘merroir’ (marine environment),” Susman writes in this important new reference.

“Purple urchins are endemic to coastal waters of southern Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia. They live at depths up to 35 metres but are most common shallower than 10m.

“A freshly shucked sea urchin is one of the great food experiences. The briny, sweet flavour and creamy yet firm texture are at their peak in the mid and post-winter period.

“The roe is highly sought-after in both France and Japan, where it is typically served raw, but in Australia it has only recently become a valued culinary experience.

“The best uni is produced for the Japanese market and shipped as ‘dry uni’, which means it’s not shipped in brine, is of a consistent grade and is more expensive.”

This is the product Ozi Uni is supplying to chefs.

Australian Fish & Seafood Cookbook, by John Susman, Anthony Huckstep, Sarah Swan and Stephen Hodges, will be published by Murdoch Books on September 28 ($80).

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/food-drink/australia-diners-discover-the-taste-sensation-of-sea-urchins/news-story/0711770f198dcbd666bb764496cbc8a6