What you need
- Cut-resistant glove or a folded kitchen towel for the spines
- Sturdy kitchen shears
- Small spoon
- Two clean bowls, one nested over ice
- Tweezers or a small fork for membrane
- Cold 3–4% salt brine: about 30–40 grams of salt per liter of potable water
Step-by-step cleaning
Chill and rinse the whole urchin
Keep the live catch cool and process it promptly. Rinse the outside to remove sand and loose debris. Set a clean bowl over ice before opening the shell.
Hold the mouth side up
Use a glove or folded towel. The mouth is the round opening on the flatter underside. Working from this side helps protect the five uni lobes attached inside the shell.
Cut around the mouth
Insert sturdy shears beside the mouth and cut a circle around it, or make opposing cuts and carefully open the shell. Work shallowly so the blades do not slice the uni.
Drain and expose the five lobes
Lift away the cut shell section and pour off the internal liquid. The five golden or orange lobes are the edible uni; the dark digestive material and loose membrane are not part of the cleaned serving.
Lift out the uni
Slide a small spoon under each lobe where it meets the shell. Lift gently and place it into cold salt brine. Broken pieces still taste the same, but gentle handling gives a cleaner presentation.
Clean in cold salt brine
Swish very gently in cold 3–4% salt brine and use tweezers to remove dark gut material, shell fragments, and membrane. Avoid a hard freshwater rinse, which can soften and damage the delicate roe.
Drain, inspect, and chill
Transfer the cleaned uni to a strainer or paper-lined tray, inspect it under good light, cover, and refrigerate at 40°F or below. Use promptly; discard seafood with sour, rancid, strongly fishy, or ammonia odors.
Washington harvest rules
The size and daily-limit summary below is for purple sea urchins in Washington. Regulations can change, and marine preserves may add closures beyond the general season.
- Washington currently lists a daily personal-use limit of 18 purple sea urchins and a 2¼-inch minimum shell diameter, measured without the spines.
- Personal-use sea urchin harvest is currently open year-round except in specifically closed waters and marine protected areas.
- Legal personal-use gear is by hand or a hand-operated, nonmechanized tool that does not penetrate the shell.
- Carry the required license, keep each harvester's limit in a separate container, and recheck the live WDFW rules and emergency changes before every trip.
Handling and food safety
FDA guidance says to refrigerate seafood at 40°F or below and use it within two days or freeze it. Wash hands for at least 20 seconds after handling raw seafood, wash boards and utensils with hot soapy water, and keep raw seafood separate from ready-to-eat food. FDA lists 145°F as the general cooking temperature for most seafood.