Staghorn Sumac

This week I wanted to have you get to know a plant that you may see all over the place, but may not know is edible. Let’s take a look:

Plant Profile:

Scientific Name: Rhus typhina

Preferred Habitat: Along forest edges, in open fields, and in highway medians

Edible Parts: The read fuzzy “fruits” (pods?) and the young tender shoots.

Distribution: The Midwest united States, the New England area, and some lower parts of Canada.

Harvest Season: Fruits: any time of year as long as they are in good condition. Shoots: Late spring to early summer.

Key Identifiers: Large red fuzzy seed clusters that form a “fruit”, small to medium sized trees have fuzzy trunks, leaves grow in fronds.

Toxic Look-Alikes: Despite the name, Staghorn sumac is NOT closely related to poison sumac. (They don’t look much alike at all either!) The only plant I’ve seen that can resemble Staghorn sumac is young walnut trees but once up close, the leaves differentiate the two.

Nutrition: Once again, there have been very little studies done on the exact nutrient content of Staghorn sumac, but here’s what I was able to find on Sumac species in general:

• Contains healthy fats

• High in fiber

• A 2014 study found that nutritionally dried sumac is made up of approximately 71% carbs, 19% fat, and 5% protein. (Study)

• Contains B1, B6, B2, and Vitamin C

• High in antioxidants

• Can help balance blood sugar for people with type 2 diabetes

• Some suggest that sumac can help with muscle pains

• High in tannins

Supposedly Native Americans used sumac infusions for coughs and sore throats (which might have some truth to it considering the vitamin content).

Sumac is particularly interesting to me because for most of my life I had no idea that the plant called sumac was the same as the spice called sumac (family members always pronounced it differently).

Some of you who know me know that I have an Armenian heritage with parents who lived in Jordan for awhile so we actually use sumac quite frequently in Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean cooking!

So what does it taste like?

Sumac has a sort of tart lemony-floral type of flavor. It’s used as a spice that we put on meats, use in hummus, or to balance the flavors of other richer or fatty foods.

Most commonly in the US, foragers will use it to make a lemonade substitute (which is lovely in the late summer) or as a substitute for lemon zest. I have also heard of people making jelly from the drink, and eating the peeled young shoots raw.

I have not had the pleasure of trying the shoots yet (I’ll do that this coming spring) but supposedly they are “are slightly sweet and delicious, tasting more like a fruit than a vegetable.” According to Samuel Thayer, author of A Forager’s Harvest.

The bark, leaves, and seed pods can all be used as a natural dye and a mordant too if that’s something you’re into!

So how do we actually process the pods (or fruit, or seedheads or whatever) to get the spice?

Well the spice that you want is actually the fuzzy hairs on the outside of the seed clusters!

The most obvious thing to do is to make it into that lemonade drink. For this, basically make a tea with cold water (trust me from experience; hot water brings out all of the bitter flavors and does NOT taste good!) and sweeten it to taste with your sweetener of choice (I personally prefer raw honey, monkfruit extract, or stevia).

It’s also important to note that you should gently pull apart the pods first! I have found bugs and worms inside before and you really don’t want that in your lemonade! Just take off the fuzzy seeds from the outside and stop as soon as you hit bad spots.

Let the cold tea sit for several hours (I’ve done 12 hours before but the longer it sits, the bolder the flavor so figure out your own personal preference).

For a spice, make sure to dry the sumac as soon as you pick it to avoid molding.

I’ve seen it recommended that you dry it, pick off the outer fuzzy seeds, then put them all in the blender to get them finely processed, then use a sieve to get the actual seeds out.

This spice is great on hummus, salads, meats, and other traditional Mediterranean dishes. I highly recommend experimenting with it!

So now for you gardeners:

There are (apparently) more than a few varieties of staghorn sumac available! Use caution if you are in Europe or some other part of the world as staghorn sumac can be very invasive. For most of my American readers, this shouldn’t be a problem.

“Dissecta” is a decorative staghorn sumac bred for its unique leaf shape.

“Tiger Eyes” is another one bred for the cutleaf look, but with bright neon green foliage that I love! (I’ve seen this before on rare occasion in people’s landscapes.)

“Radiance” is bred for pink leaves, and bright colors as it ages.

You should be able to get all of those plus more from these sites:

Gardenia - Sumac species and varieties

Royal Horticultural Society - “Radiance”

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