How to use sumac

This fragrant spice is used to brighten up dry rubs, spice blends like za’atar, and dressings. Sumac is also commonly used as a garnish, to add a pop of bold color or slight acidity to a dish before serving.

Ground, dried sumac berries taste great as a spice rub for lamb, fish and chicken. These berries are also used as a salad topping, and you can include them in your favorite dressings. Middle Eastern chefs use sumac as a topping for fattoush salad, and are often sprinkled on hummus to add both color and a zesty flavor.

Sumac is not usually cooked with but can be and its reduced flavour brought to life by serving the dish with more sumac to sprinkle.

Sumac (whole) – Turkey

In the Middle East, sumac is used the way vinegar or lemon juice are used in the West. It can be sprinkled on meats prior to grilling. Particularly good on lamb. Sumac also complements many salads, especially those containing onions or tomatoes.

Sumacs look edible and toxic at the same time, and with good reason: They’re in a family that has plants we eat and plants that can make you ill. Sumac, poison ivy, Brazilian pepper, cashews, mangoes and pistachios are all related. Poison ivy, of course, is a problem. … All the berries of the red sumacs are edible.

It has a pleasant tangy taste with a hint of citrus fruitiness and virtually no aroma. An essential ingredient in Middle Eastern cuisine, sumac is used in spice rubs, marinades and dressings, and is also served as a condiment.

Poison sumac, or Toxicodendron vernix, produces white-colored fruits, as opposed to the red-hued fruit produced by the edible sumac plant. Poison sumac can cause inflamed, itchy hives on the skin. People should never ingest it.

Sumac as food & beverage flavouring

The fruits (drupes) of Rhus coriaria are ground into a reddish-purple powder used as a spice in Middle Eastern cuisine to add a tart, lemony taste to salads or meat. In Afghan, Armenian, Bangladeshi, Indian, Iranian, Mizrahi, and Pakistani cuisines, sumac is added to rice or kebab.

Sumac is a tangy spice locally available, but not commonly used. It grows everywhere in the northeast and has a sour citrusy flavor enhancing whatever it’s on, reducing the need for salt. Sumac is high in vitamin C and antioxidants – it’s deep red color gives it away.

All you do is put a few of the stags in a heat proof bowl and cover with boiling water. Let steep for 30 minutes or up to 2 hours and strain through a fine strainer or cheese cloth. Serve cold or hot. Sumac has a real tartness and is used somewhat like lemon in the Middle East where it is a very common spice.

Sumac Sun Tea

To make your tea, place several sumac clusters in a jar, add water, cover and leave for about four hours (or in the sun for a day). Strain through muslin to remove the tiny fibers and enjoy! Sumac tea is cooling and is great on hot summer days.

Steep for about 5-10 minutes. Don’t leave it for too long in hot or boiled water because sumacs do contain tannic acid. Use a filter/strainer to take out the berries, twigs and fuzzy residues left behind (ex. coffee filter).

Store the sumac in an airtight jar in your pantry. It will last indefinitely.

Various scientific studies demonstrated that Sumac had a free oxygen radical-scavenging effect, a protective effect against liver damage, antihemolytic, leukopenia, and antifibrogenic effects, along with its antiviral, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties.

Meet Sumac, the Superfood Spice That’ll Help You Fight Inflammation—and Bland Food—for Good. Step aside, turmeric. … According to Tenny, sumac is the secret ingredient in endless Middle Eastern mezzes, salads, rice dishes, stews, and kebabs.

Staghorn Sumac has leaves that have a hairy leaf stem and rachis, the stem that the leaflets are attached to. Smooth Sumac has none of the hair on the leaves. Shining Sumac has wings on the rachis and is so shiny it looks like the leaves have been waxed.

The sumac taste is very distinct, though, and quite different from turmeric. Turmeric has a bitter, slightly pungent flavor that works well with most dishes. Sumac, on the other hand, is more tangy and lemony, which is why lemon zest mixed with black pepper is often used as a sumac spice substitute.