All the previous methods I’ve used to process sumac (Rhus spp.) into spice have been tedious, but this one was a winner. The food processor works like a charm to get the fruit off the seeds *without* breaking them. This means you can easily use a larger filter to separate the seeds from their sour coating! Smooth sumac (Rhus glabra) was used in this video. The berries I harvested were a little past what I’d consider prime, but they still turned out okay! I’m so excited to process more sumac afte

Today I finished processing my sumac into spice—which is as simple as drying and grinding the fruits (drupes), and then rubbing them through a sieve to separate out the hard seed bits. I used fragrant sumac, also called skunkbush (Rhus aromatica syn. R. trilobata). The spice is tart like lemon, and very good on chunky vegetable salads and spicy, tomato-based chickpea soup. I look forward to collecting more in July!#wildfoodgirl #wildfood #foragingthewest #foragingcolorado #ediblewildplants #east

I’ve been reminiscing about this gorgeous patch of sumac I found this summer as I enjoy the spice made from it on my salads. This species is fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica syn. R. trilobata), a bush-like sumac found across the country but most prevalent in the west. Unlike other sumacs, it has small clusters of red berries spread throughout the bush (not cone-shaped terminal clusters), and leaflets typically in sets of three. The berries (drupes) can be used similarly. My process is simply to dr

Sumac-ade is wonderful. The fruits are ripe just in time to cool you off from the Summer’s hot weather! Sumac drupes (berries) contain both Malic acid (found in apples) and Gallic acid. The sourness likely comes mainly from the Malic acid. Be aware that the sumac I actually used in the video was a little past prime. The ones I showed when harvesting with the white coating are when you really want to harvest sumac for making sumac-ade. You may not get good color from some, but as long as it is so