Gourmet gonads
The eating of sea urchins (garoines in Catalan), like oysters and prawn heads, and even olives, neatly divides the human race into three distinct types. There are those who love them. There are those who hate them, or would not even entertain the thought of trying them. And then there are those – and I confess I was once one of them – who will eat them with feigned relish only to demonstrate what sophisticated gourmets they are.
I overcame my teenage antipathy towards olives and sucking prawn heads many moons ago, to the point that I now concur with those who believe that if you don’t suck out the contents of a prawn’s head, you’ve only eaten half the prawn. Oysters, however, I have never got to grips with, both from a sense of pity for the poor mollusc squirming from the first hit of lemon juice and an inability to overcome the revulsion at the sensation of chilled phlegm sliding down my gullet.
But sea urchins… now you’re talking. They embody the sweetish, briny umami taste of the sea that I assume is what oyster aficionados rave about. Another thing in favour of the humble sea urchin is that they are the quintessence of fresh, seasonal, zero-kilometre food. All the sea urchins served on the Costa Brava were probably prized off a rock a few hours earlier, and because of their anatomy they are difficult to transport so are rarely shipped off to Barcelona. The season only runs from mid-January to the end of March because this is the reproductive season for the sea urchin, and its roes are at their biggest and juiciest right now. Also, surprisingly enough, this is when maritime conditions are best for the laborious task of collecting them.
The edible parts of the sea urchin, both male and female, are its five orange or rose-coloured gonads (sex or reproductive glands – hence its reputation as an aphrodisiac), usually referred to as sea urchin roe or coral, and they are regarded as culinary delicacies in many parts of the world, including France, Chile, Alaska, Japan, New Zealand and the West Indies. On the Costa Brava, sea urchins are usually eaten raw, straight from the shell with a teaspoon and maybe a squeeze of lemon, and are also used to flavour omelettes, scrambled eggs and pasta sauces.
The capital par excellence of the sea urchin is Palafrugell, or more specifically its three satellite seaside villages of Tamariu, Llafranc and Calella de Palafrugell, many of whose restaurants celebrate the short season with a Garoinada. This essentially entails a set-price menu featuring a pile of sea urchins as a starter, a main course involving artichokes, and an apple-based dessert. But you can also find sea urchins on the menus of restaurants that are not participating in the Garoinada programme – just pop down to the seafront of any of these villages and you’ll see them piled up on platters, just waiting to be polished off.