If you like tart flavors, then sumac essence might be the ingredient you didn’t know your kitchen was missing. Sumac essence is one of my pantry’s most prized seasonal ingredients, to be eked out or traded when times are tough. It is a surprisingly nuanced condiment that I developed from sumac-ade (or sumac water)—a traditional Native American beverage made by soaking the fruit in water. Reducing that tart infusion results in an intense, pomegranate molasses-adjacent condiment whose flavor and versatility will blow your culinary socks off. Sumac has a long fruiting season, and any edible sumac can be used to make sumac essence. But in early fall, the last of the native American species to ripen beckons: winged sumac might be my favorite of these native sour flavors.
Here’s how to make sumac water, sumac essence, and a quick recipe that highlights how to deploy this bright, liquid gold.
Above: Sumac water (in the red bottles) is made by covering ripe sumac in water, then straining.
Above: Ripe fruit heads of winged sumac.
Late summer and fall-ripening Rhus copallinum, known as winged or shining sumac, has compound leaves whose midribs are flanked by distinctive and narrow winged adornments. Its clusters of fruit (a collection of tightly packed drupes) are browner than the torch-oranges and reds of staghorn and smooth sumacs (which ripen earlier in summer).
When sumac looks frosted you know it’s as good as it gets.
Above: You know it will be sour if sumac is frosted with crystalline acids.
Above: Winged sumac, ready to be soaked.
Above: Even dry, early-winter sumac can used for sumac essence, but taste before collecting, since rain and snow may have washed the sourness away.
Above: Making sumac water or sumac-ade with smooth sumac.
Sumac Water (or Sumac–Ade)
Makes 5 cups
This is the first step in making Sumac Essence. While I give quantities below, sumac water is really just a method: Sweeten it, or not, as you like. Quantities and concentrations will vary according to what you have gathered. The ratio below yields a very sour drink and is the perfect starting-point for the essence. You must taste your sumac before collecting, since the tartness washes off after rain (it builds up again).
- 12 ounces ripe sumac, broken from the main green stalk
- 5 cups water
Combine the fruit and water in a large clean jug, bowl, or jar. Leave at room temperature for 24 hours if you mean to drink it right away. Leave for 48 hours if you are going on to make Sumac Essence.
Strain the liquid through a fine-mesh sieve and then again through a double layer of cheesecloth.
Sweeten to taste if you like, and drink, straight or diluted with water, after chilling. It keeps for a couple of weeks in the fridge.
Above: Sumac essence cut with chilled water is a wildly refreshing drink.
Sumac Essence
Makes 1½ cups
This wildly tart reduction is just shy of being a syrup, and is a building block in my kitchen. Think of it as a native tamarind, pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, or special vinegar. Its flavor is unique.
- 4½ – 5 cups Sumac Water
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
Bring the Sumac Water with the sugar to a boil over high heat. Boil until the liquid has reduced to 1½ cups (375 ml). Transfer to a sterilized jar or bottle and keep in the fridge for up to 3 months, or freeze in cubes.
Above: A chopped red pepper salad, spiked with Sumac Essence.
Sumac Red Pepper Salad
Serves 4–6
Served as a meal or a starter with toasted tortillas or flatbreads, this vivid salad vibrates with sumac and heat. The key to its texture is the very fine chopping of the pepper and onion. Make your own ground sumac, or use store-bought.
- 4 large sweet red peppers
- 1 small red onion, very finely chopped
- 1 Tablespoon Sumac Essence
- 2 teaspoons hot red pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoons ground sumac
- ½ teaspoon salt
Preheat the broiler. Cut two of the red peppers in half, remove their seeds, and lay them on a baking sheet. Broil until their skins are black. Peel the peppers and chop them exceptionally finely.
Seed and chop the two remaining raw peppers very finely.
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix very well.
It is ready.
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