- FoodBook - find out about new food taste and experiences
Sumac
Sumac the dried fruits of some species are ground to produce a tangy, crimson spice popular in many countries.
Fruits are also used to make a traditional "pink lemonade" beverage by steeping them in water, straining to remove the hairs that may irritate the mouth or throat, sometimes adding sweeteners such as honey or sugar. Most Rhus species contain only trace amounts of vitamin C and none should be considered a dietary source of this nutrient. In comparative research, the fruits of Rhus coriaria were found to contain the highest levels of ascorbic acid at approximately 39 mg/kg. (It therefore takes three pounds (1.36 kg) or more of sumac fruits to match the vitamin C content of a single average lemon, at over 50 mg.) Sumac's tart flavor comes from high amounts of malic acid.[20]
The fruits (drupes) of Rhus coriaria are ground into a reddish-purple powder used as a spice in Middle Eastern cuisine to add a tart, lemony taste to salads or meat.[18] In Arab cuisine, it is used as a garnish on meze dishes such as hummus and tashi, it is also commonly added to falafel. Syria uses the spice also, it is one of the main ingredients of Kubah Sumakieh in Aleppo of Syria, it is added to salads in the Levant, as well as being one of the main ingredients in the Palestinian dish musakhan. In Afghan, Armenian, Iraqi, Iranian and Mizrahi cuisines, sumac is added to rice or kebab. In Armenian, Azerbaijani, Central Asian, Syrian, Iraqi, Jordanian, Palestinian, Lebanese, Turkish cuisine and Kurdish, it is added to salads, kebab and lahmajoun. Rhus coriaria is used in the spice mixture za'atar.[21][22]
During medieval times, primarily from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, sumac appeared in cookbooks frequently used by the affluent in Western Europe. One dish in particular called sumāqiyya, a stew made from sumac, was frequently anglicized as "somacchia" by Europeans.[23]
In North America, the smooth sumac (R. glabra), three-leaf sumac (R. trilobata), and staghorn sumac (R. typhina) are sometimes used to make a beverage termed "sumac-ade", "Indian lemonade", or "rhus juice".[citation needed] This drink is made by soaking the drupes in cool water, rubbing them to extract the essence, straining the liquid through a cotton cloth, and sweetening it. Native Americans also use the leaves and drupes of these sumacs combined with tobacco in traditional smoking mixtures.[24][25][26]
