Sumac ablaze. Along Mississippi bluffs at Bass Camp and Lock and Dam 5. Image: Steve Lunde
Sumac tea? Stew? For smoking?
MINNESOTA CITY, Minn. – The fall sumacs color burst has begun on the sun-facing slopes that the shrubs crave. Although not in fashion much anymore, some indigenous people once excited their taste buds in season with sumac tea, steeping the fruit into a tangy crimson brew. Be sure to strain out annoying silk fibers. Native Americans called it rhus juice and early trappers called it sumac-ade. Some native Americans combined the leaves and drupes with tobacco in smoking mixtures Some sumac can also be ground and dried into a tart reddish-purple condiment. In Medieval times Europeans made a stew called “somacchia.”
DNR color guide. Southeast counties a couple weeks away from fall color peak.