Some notes on sea urchin
In a dining scene crowded with fauxmakase, this is a guide to some quality: what good uni actually is, where to find it, and what I’ve learned eating my way through 100+ counters and counting.
What uni is, and how to eat it
Some basics. Uni is the sea urchin's gonads (not quite roe), five soft lobes tucked inside a spiny shell. At a glance: small and deep orange is bafun, large and pale gold is murasaki. Diet does the rest. A kombu-fed Hokkaido box tastes nothing like a wakame-fed one a bay over, which is why the good ones print their origin.
What you're eating
The five gonad lobes inside each urchin, in males and females alike. No muscle, no roe.
How many kinds
Of roughly 950 urchin species, only about a dozen reach the plate. Two rule the sushi counter.
When it's best
Japan peaks June–August. The US coasts run opposite, Sept–March, so good uni is nearly year-round.
How it's served
Almost always raw: as nigiri, wrapped in nori as gunkan-maki, or over rice in a donburi. Occasionally folded into pasta.
A guide to sea urchin: the species, the seasons, and a hit list of counters where great uni is served.
A hundred and seventy-seven counters so far, each one sat at and paid for, then written up with the receipts. No press dinners and no borrowed opinions, just a stool at the bar and notes on whatever the chef set down.
7
Varieties documented
Jun–Aug
Peak Hokkaido season
531
Tastings logged
22
Countries logged
United States · Japan · Taiwan · South Korea · Spain · Maldives · New Zealand · Peru · U.A.E. · United Kingdom
6.1
紫雲丹, purple, for the shell it lived in
The larger, paler lobe of the classic pair: yellow to light orange. The delicate one, clean and gently sweet with a long creamy finish. If bafun is a statement, murasaki is a whisper. The safer first bite. Peak June through August.
6.2
馬糞雲丹, literally horse dung
Named for the urchin's squat shape, not the flavor, mercifully. Smaller, deep orange, and the bolder of the two: dense, custardy, intensely umami. What most chefs mean by the quintessential uni taste. Peak June through August.
6.3
California red urchin, the local gold
The understudy that often outsings Hokkaido. Buttery, faintly nutty, exceptionally sweet, and harvested a boat ride off the Channel Islands. Preferred outright by a number of top sushi chefs. Best in the cooler months, roughly September through March, opposite the Japanese season.
7.1
赤雲丹, red, rare, Kyushu only
The smallest variety and the loudest, with the boldest umami of any uni. Blink and the season is over. Spring to summer.
7.2
キタムラサキウニ, the northern murasaki
Hokkaido's premium murasaki, extra plump and deeply complex. Harvests alternate between the east and west coasts through the year, which is as close as uni gets to a schedule. Year-round.
7.3
蝦夷馬糞雲丹, kombu-fed Hokkaido bafun
Bafun raised on kombu, and the kelp shows up in the sweetness. The creamiest of all uni, priced to match at up to ¥5,000 per 100 grams. Peak June through August.
7.4
塩水ウニ, a method, not a species
Lobes packed in chilled seawater instead of the usual alum bath. No additive means no metallic aftertaste, which is the difference between a good box and a great one.
7.5
Atlantic green urchin, the cold-water catch
The East Coast outlier: creamy and briny with a clean ocean snap. Smaller than its Pacific cousins by law, harvested late fall to early spring before the spawn. Once a 41-million-pound gold rush, now down roughly 99 percent, which is half the reason to chase it.
SOURCES — California Sea Grant & CA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife (red urchin); Maine DMR & Browne Trading (Maine landings); Japan National Parks (Hokkaido kombu); Toyosu market data (pricing). Figures reflect best available public data and shift year to year.
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