Rinsing purple sea urchins in beer brings out the natural sweetness of their flesh
Rinsing purple sea urchins in beer brings out the natural sweetness of their flesh
2026-05-12
May heralds the start of the purple sea urchin season. Many people like to visit Kaohsiung’s Kezailiao Fishing Harbor to enjoy freshly gutted urchins. Each vendor has their own unique way of preparing them. Some choose to rinse them with beer, which brings out the urchin’s natural sweetness. Let’s find out more.
- These aren’t farmed; they’re wild. We’ll catch as many as we can.
The sea urchins, freshly caught this morning, were sorted by size and then cut open with scissors.
- That’s it, just a quick rinse.
That’s right. They rinse sea urchins in beer, remove the guts, and then serve them to customers.
Vendor
Kezailiao Fishing Harbor
I developed this myself, and I’ve tested this myself. It works because it also washes away seawater, enhances flavor, removes fishy smells and leaves a sweet aftertaste.
May marks the start of the purple sea urchin season. Most vendors simply rinse the urchins with water, remove the digestive organs,and keep only the five yellow gonads. However, at a stall in Kezailiao Fishing Harbor in Kaohsiung, the vendors spare no expense and use beer to rinse them. What if they encounter customers who don’t drink alcohol?
Vendor
Kezailiao Fishing Harbor
Then don’t buy it. We will stick to adding beer. We used rice wine before, but it was too strong. This is the only one that tastes right. It doesn’t matter if it’s too expensive; the important thing is that it tastes good.
Member of public
Noticed the difference
I’ve never had it with beer. I previously had sea urchin that was rinsed with plain water, and it tasted quite different because adding beer brought out its sweetness.
When serving up raw sea urchin, the most important thing is to remove the fishy odor while preserving the sweetness. Some vendors rinse them with water and then spray them with lemon juice.
- It smells quite nice, with a lemony and sweet scent.
Penghu resident
Likes to add lemon
The beer flavor slightly overpowers the natural sweetness of the sea urchin. With this one, lemon juice has been added and it was sprayed from a bottle, so the natural sweetness has been better preserved.
To each their own. You only know which one you like after you’ve tried them.
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高雄蚵仔寮漁港"啤酒洗海膽" 獨特風味引發熱議
2026-05-12
五月開始進入紫海膽的產季，不少民眾來到高雄蚵仔寮漁港，都會品嘗現剖的海膽。而每家業者清洗海膽的方式也不一樣，有的不惜重本，用啤酒來清洗海膽，有的則是有檸檬汁，目的都是在去腥提味，哪一個好吃，各有擁護者。
- 這個不是養的，這是野生的，抓多少算多少
上午剛捕撈上來的海膽，依照大小一一分類，接著用剪刀剪開。
- 就這樣子，沖一下而已
你沒看錯，業者竟然拿啤酒去沖洗海膽，再把裏頭的消化腺挑乾淨，就可以給顧客食用。
[[蚵仔寮漁港業者]]
“自己研發出來，自己試過，我試過就是它可以，因為它又順便洗裡面的海水，還有可以提味，還有那個去腥味，會回甘”
五月進入產紫海膽季，一般攤商都是用水清洗一下，摘掉消化腺，只保留黃色五片的生殖腺，但在高雄梓官蚵仔寮這攤，卻是不惜重本，用啤酒來清洗，要是遇到不喝酒的顧客怎麼辦？
[[蚵仔寮漁港業者]]
“那就不要買了，堅持(加啤酒)，(之前)用米酒，太嗆，只有它最對味，(成本太高)沒有關係，好吃重要”
[[民眾]]
“啤酒沒有(吃過)，之前吃的是清水洗過的馬糞海膽，感覺不太一樣，因為加啤酒之後，會帶出它的鮮甜”
活海膽生食，如何去除腥味，保留甜味最重要，也有業者是用水清洗過後，噴上檸檬汁。
比較香啦，檸檬香香的又甜甜的
[[澎湖民眾]]
“它啤酒的味道已經稍微蓋過海膽本身的甜味了，這是加了檸檬，他用噴瓶噴過的，那它本身的甜味會比較保持住”
青菜蘿蔔各有所好，哪一個才最對自己的味，還得吃過才知道。
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