# Sumac Spice--what do you know?



## unregistered5595 (Mar 3, 2003)

We are collecting sumac spice.
First, it appears the berries must be red, red rust colored, or brown, while poisonous sumac has white berries.
Second, what part of the berries is the spice--the covering surrounding the seeds or the seeds themselves?

I've over googled and now I'm not sure.
http://www.pennilessparenting.com/2012/08/foraging-sumac-edible-wild-plant.html
http://www.eattheweeds.com/sumac-more-than-just-native-lemonade/

Those are two information sources but I'm not confident about any of it, the poisonous part or the spice part.

I would really like to know more. It is abundant in WI and the indians used it for it's tart flavor, which I identify with, because lemons and limes are not found here.

It sound like you can dry the berries--dehydrate them, then pulse them in a processor and separate the outside from the insides--again, I'm not even sure which part is used for spice.

Anyone have any experience collecting sumac and using it? TIA ~Feather


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## The_rpp (Oct 19, 2013)

Hmm... Exactly how hungry are you? Do you really need to chance consuming poison? I know 

I am a newbie here, but I have been around the block a few times. My brother gets most of his nutrition from foraging wild edibles. He would not take such a chance.


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

rpp, using sumac berries is a real thing. 
Also, the MDC says there is no type of 'poison sumac' that grows in the Ozarks,
so you will be safe to try it, if you ever want to. 

To the OP:
The outer coating of the seeds is what you get the flavor from.
I have made jelly before, using a flower jelly recipe for the sugar amounts/pectin
and using this pdf's method for juice extraction.

Hope this helps! (scroll down a bit, it is kinda folklore-ish too) :teehee:
http://mdc.mo.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2010/09/15897.pdf


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

The_rpp said:


> Hmm... Exactly how hungry are you? Do you really need to chance consuming poison? I know
> 
> I am a newbie here, but I have been around the block a few times. My brother gets most of his nutrition from foraging wild edibles. He would not take such a chance.


It's easy to tell the difference.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_sumac


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumac


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## unregistered5595 (Mar 3, 2003)

The_rpp said:


> Exactly how hungry are you? Do you really need to chance consuming poison?


 Very Hungry. Yes.



gone-a-milkin said:


> To the OP:
> The outer coating of the seeds is what you get the flavor from.
> http://mdc.mo.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2010/09/15897.pdf


Thank you, I'm looking forward to doing this.



suitcase_sally said:


> It's easy to tell the difference.


Thank you, I was reading the poisonous ones had white berries and grew in swampy areas. I'll be looking for jagged edges on the leaves and red/rust colored berries.


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## schuetz79 (Sep 26, 2011)

I harvest them and use it to make tea. It is very easy to tell the difference. One is a vine and the other a tree. Staghorn Sumac is what I call it.


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## unregistered5595 (Mar 3, 2003)

Okay so we had two samples. The one sample the berries seem small, the other to me looks more like staghorn sumac.
The other sample--looks like false spirea--but I have no idea really.
Any opinions?

The ones on the left are what I think of as not sumac, the ones on the right as sumac. What do you say? (I have closer pictures if you want to see them.)


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

From that pic it looks like your 2 samples are from the same plant but the one on the right had better growing/production conditions. 

You really need to id the plant you are collecting from. I can spot staghorn sumac from quite a distance because I have trained myself in what to look for.

I just planted a staghorn this year in hopes of having sumac lemonade soon. I've had it before, it's very good.


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## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

This thread is very interesting to me as I have recently purchased some ground red sumac at The Spice Agent in downtown Branson. (LOVED driving through the Ozarks.) I purchased it for a salad dressing recipe that he had displayed - had no idea tea could be in my future


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## unregistered5595 (Mar 3, 2003)

Danaus--you are quite right. We had identified the stands to collect from earlier in the year but when we collected them the leaves had fallen off, which left us wondering.

Thank you for everyone's help. ~Feather

ETA: The prices on the sumac berries and powder are running at $15-$18/lb. WOW
http://www.charlestonspice.com/herbs-and-spices/single-herbs-and-spices/Spices?Page=5&Items=12


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