Sea Urchin

If I'm near a body of water, I want in it. Even if it is heart stoppingly cold, I'll get in it, even for just a second.

My first morning in Newfoundland, I set out to get into the ocean. I found the perfect, sunny inlet and figured "if there was any place and any time on this trip, this would be it". I stripped down to my bathing suit, started into the water towards my chosen entry point and got instantly distracted.

The entire rock face was covered in sea urchins. Better known as uni, the Japanese name for the edible part of sea urchins: their gonads.

Sea urchins have circumpolar distribution. Its range extends into the Arctic regions of both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. On the east coast of North America, green sea urchins are commonly found from Baffin Island, south to New Jersey.

Once coined as the potential "Green Gold Rush" of Newfoundland, Japan is the world's largest consumer of sea urchins.

Sea urchins are most commonly hand picked by divers, require meticulous extraction from its calcareous shell, and are often served fresh and raw, making them intensely laborious food from water to table.

Entirely worth it. Creamy, rich, with a strong scent of the ocean, it is appropriately nicknamed the Butter of the Ocean.

Rich in omega-3, protein, zinc and vitamin A.

Harvesting and processing sea urchins was such a treat. I may not have made it into the ocean, but the ocean made it deliciously onto my plate instead. I'll take that as a fair trade off.

Dr. Cristina Allen ND