Sea urchins only live in exceptionally clean water, on rocks and stones. They are undesirable when we swim, but talking about food, in Dalmatia (Croatia) and Thassos they are a real specialty.
The preparation is very simple because they are eaten raw.

You should be very careful when pulling them off the rocks. In case you stung yourself, don’t try to pull the spines out on your own. Leave it alone and after a few days they will just fall out. Or visit a doctor. If you have medical insurance, you won’t pay anything. If you don’t have health insurance you will be charged about 30e.

Let’s go back to pulling off sea urchins from the rock. Having done it, have a look if there is a roe because it is the only eatable part. The colour is red-orange and only female urchins have it. Female sea urchins can be recognized by decorations consisting of tiny stones and shells on their spikes. Like every woman, they have a “make-up”. :)
Because of the very strong taste of roe, it should be topped by lemon juice and olive oil. Tomato juice can be added too. The dish is going best with ouzo, people say. The roe is believed to have an aphrodisiac effect. Beside the roe, there is liquid too, which should be taken out onto a plate.

Apart from sea urchins, sea shells (in Greek “fouskes”) attached to rocks are eatable too. You must have seen them often but you probably never thought there was anything tasty inside. They should be cut off the rock with a knife or with a stone because they are very hard attached to the rock. Their taste is even stronger than the sea urchins and therefore a squeeze of lemon juice is absolutely necessary. Unlike sea urchins, it is almost impossible to eat a large number of sea shells. Every part of them except the shell is eatable.

Both sea urchins and sea shells can be prepared with spaghetti. Fry them with onion and garlic and add to spaghetti.

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