Sumac in the month of August
Sumac grows best during the month of August.
The months of August and July seemed to just continue, there is no remarkable change but the land is constantly changing slowly. The weather during these months changes from hot or humid with occasional thunderstorms. Sweet corn and melons are harvested during these periods. During this period, tomatoes begin to ripen as well as cucumbers, zucchinis and squash.
Autumn is coming when the Sumac's color is fiery red which is the indicator of the season. Wild flowers like Chicory and Queen-Anne’s Lace, Day Lilies and Black-Eyed Susan’s bloom on this time of the year giving out a wonderful mix of colors, miracle and wonder. The Goldenrod and Purple Asters appear later as a sign of the end of autumn and the coming of fall.
Berries are the main wild harvest in the month of August. The month of August is about growing Blackberries and Sumac in preparation to the abundant harvest in September. Sumac is not noticeable until the month of September when the leaves are red as fire when it proclaims the glory of autumn. During this time when the Sumac berry is ripe, Sumac lemonade can be easily made.
There have been rumors about some species of sumac that is poisonous and because of this; people are afraid and just leave the berry alone. I have never seen Poisonous Sumac in my years of experience with foraging but I heard that Poison Sumac grow in swamps and bogs and the berry clusters are white that droop to the ground which is very different from the fiery red, upright berries of the Staghorn Sumac.
Sumac is part of the family of the Anacardiacae. Mangoes, cashews and pistachios are the distant cousins of Sumac. On the other hand, Poison Ivy is the closest relative of Sumac. The biggest member of the Sumac family is the Staghorn Sumac, which is also the poster child of the Sumac family. It is also tall and stiff and the berry clusters up to 10 inches tall. Squawbush is another member of the Sumac family, whose berries are separated from each other but with the same fiery red color.
Just remember that red Sumac berries are safe and edible but those with white berries just like the Poison Ivy are always poisonous. You don't need to be an expert to enjoy and identify Sumac, as long as it is red then there is no need to doubt, it is safe.
Not only that Sumac is used in food preparation but it is also used as medicine. Its bark was used before by the Native Americans, along with its leaves and roots to cure any kind of ailment. I have not used it as a medicine but others are also using it for medicinal purposes.
The berry clusters are harvested from the first weeks of Augusts to be used as a beverage ingredient. The berries have to be harvested early, as long as the berries are red because a critter knits a web-like nest throughout the cluster heads. The eggs of the critter hatch out when the berries dry when you harvest them.
Harvesting the berries before the thunderstorms season in August is best, to avoid the dilution of the flavors that you are trying to achieve. A pink-rose colored lemonade is made from Sumac that is harvested early and rust-brown colored lemonade is made from those that were harvested late in fall.
A pocket knife will not work in the harvesting the berry clusters. I use hand pruners to do the job. A large basket will contain all the harvested berries as they fill up very quickly. Only cut those clusters that look healthy enough and bright colored, pass those that have a web or insects on them.
Your hands may get sticky from handling the clusters and may taste sour, even more sour than lemon. The sour taste would indicate the content of high vitamin C as well as an acid pH. Acids in herbal medicine are actually used to correct several ailments. I prepare fresh Sumac lemonade when I get home and preserve some for my autumn wild food workshops and for the winter stores.
Sumac lemonade would consume 15-20 heads then put on a large pot and then covered with a gallon of cold water. I had to put a plate with a jar of water on top of the clusters to weigh it down so that the berries will not float. You can get the maximum vitamin C content when the Sumac berries are submerged with cold water several hours or overnight.
Others would just rub the berries with their hands when they are being submerged to get most of the flavor into the water, but when I personally tried it, the lemonade had a bitter taste because of the tannic acids that were released during the process. When the berries are soaked overtime, the process would extract most of the sour lemon taste with the bitterness. One website sited that Indians living in Canada use a wringer washer, a machine used to wash clothes, towels and sheets, to make large quantities of Sumac lemonade.
When ready, I use a cotton bandanna or cheesecloth to strain the lemonade. The Sumac berries have a lot of fine hair which is the reason for its fuzziness. I use 2 cups of sugar per gallon of water to sweeten it. I tried to use honey to sweeten it and I had to use twice as much but the flavor of the honey dominated the drink instead of enhancing the flavor of the Sumac, so I prefer to use sugar instead. Click on these links to get the Sumac Lemonade and Sumac Soda Recipe .
You can freeze the Sumac berry or dry them to preserve it for winter. Drying it is recommended since the freezer is full during this time of the year.
The berries have to be rubbed off of the cluster first then you can use your hands to make a strategy to make it go off better. A fork can also be used to remove the berry easily from the cluster. You can run them over a screen to sift out any unwanted debris and give them a cleaner look.
You can use a freezer bag and store them in the freezer to freeze them. Pre-measure them for lemonade at 8 cups a gallon. Dry them by rubbing them off the clusters first or dry the whole head. Removing the berries first can save space in the refrigerator. There are many things you can do with Sumac aside from lemonade as what people have ingeniously created. Dried, ground Sumac berries can be used as a condiment. I haven’t tried it yet but it may be worth a try.
Others have created Sumac vinaigrette. Sumac lemonade can be cooked to make a syrup and it has been for sale before. To make the concentrate, wild lemon juice in recipes can be used.
Sumac has also been used in pharmaceutical products as well, by using its bark, leaves, roots and most especially the berries themselves.