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Of the many ingredients we enjoy harvesting in the wild, sumac has to be our favorite (thus far).  It is our favorite because it is easy to identify, easy to harvest, available in mass quantities, has several different uses, and is absolutely delicious.  The sumac tree produces bunches of berries with a very pleasant tart fruity flavour, like raspberry lemonade.  In fact, lemonade is what most people use fresh sumac for.  It’s simply a matter of soaking the bunches in cold water, mashing them up for a few minutes, and then straining the infusion and adding sugar.  But once you have this sumac ‘jus’, the uses in both savory and sweet dishes are many.  We have incorporated it into a dessert sauce with some of that great McEvoy honey to compliment a raspberry dish for our soon-to-be menu.  The most important thing to remember is not to cook the sumac in the water, as it will cause astringent tannins to come out into your infusion. 

Another, probably more popular use of sumac berries, is to dry the berries and grind them.  Ground sumac is a useful flavouring in almost any dish that you would use lemon zest.  If you’re looking for sumac, it won’t be very hard to find.  It’s growing all over the Ottawa region right now and you will spot it easily on bike paths.  Just make sure the berries are red before you harvest them, for the best taste.