recipes for sumac berries?

anyone familiar with eating sumac fruit? toby hemenway says its edible....

From Fall Fruits in the Wild
Edible Berries of Rose, Autumn-Olive, Sumac
© Violet Snow

http://botany.suite101.com/article.cfm/fall_fruits_in_the_wild

"Sumac berries grow on small trees with feather-compound leaves. (The species with red berries are not toxic; poison sumac has white berries.) The red fruits ripen in late summer, when they may be placed in a jar of hot or cold water and allowed to sit for several hours to make a sort of lemonade. By autumn, the remaining berries make an interesting nibble, with their burst of sour flavor, but they have lost much of their Vitamin C to the rain, which leaches it from the fruit. Later in the season, most of the clusters are inhabited by spiders. Birds, however, will eat the fruit throughout the winter."

Kelda,

I think sumac berries are commonly used in Indian & Middle Eastern cooking. I'm not sure how, but up at the farm we've got an intern with some gourmet flair (Avi). He uses them quite a bit. Call the intern line and ask him how he uses them.

Dave

Off the top of my head,Id say that most use of sumac is going to be using the fruit clusters as a lemonade substitute.Some sp. are used for a spice in middle eastern cooking.What Im really interested in is which species?To that end,Ive planted 5 of the most popular listed(as edible)species.Hopefully Ill be getting back to this post in 5 yrs with the results.Sumac is closely related to poison ivy and such so there should be some caution in their use.Some asian sp. are used to create terpintine so their is potentialy alot of volitile oils and the like.Its good to hear that some one is using the temperate sp. to cook with.

Is edible sumac in the same family as poison sumac, poison ivy, and poison oak?

My husband is allergic to all of these, and other relatives include mangoes, cashews, and goji berries. 

I tried the "sumac lemonade" thing on the east coast, it was interesting but not a show-stopper.  Maybe I didn't use hot enough water - I think it might work better as a tea.

I was glad to find this old thread because I've been nurturing some volunteer sumac plants in my yard for the berries.

I know at least two types of sumac are edible: smooth sumac (Rhus glabra) and staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina). Both have red berries. Poisonous sumac (Rhus vernix) has white berries.

(source)

Attribution: M. Readey, CC BY-SA 3.0 <br /> https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Here's a collection of culinary uses for sumac (for future reference!)











And one that's not an edible recipe, but something else that can be done with sumac.

I've not yet tried the lemonade, but have heard about it many times over in various articles.  I have however, used it as a natural dye that gave a nice purple color on steel.  I'll have to check out those videos as I'm always interested in foods and flavor profiles from other cultures.  I've found the timing of harvest to be the most critical aspect with sumac in my area.

We dry them and use them to brew a yummy lemony drink, or add them to other herbal/tea blends.  And we eat a whole lot of sumac onions here.  We eat tons of Turkish food and that is a staple condiment.  You can grind the berries and use them anytime you want a sour hit in something.  Gorgeous!

Erica Wisner wrote:Is edible sumac in the same family as poison sumac, poison ivy, and poison oak?

My husband is allergic to all of these, and other relatives include mangoes, cashews, and goji berries. 

I tried the "sumac lemonade" thing on the east coast, it was interesting but not a show-stopper.  Maybe I didn't use hot enough water - I think it might work better as a tea.

I'm very allergic to poison ivy but, drinking red sumac (not poison) lemonade and tea helps me build up tolerance to poison ivy.  I harvest the berries and steep them.  I usually drink it as an unsweetened tea.  A friend made a honey, red sumac lemonade that was pretty good.