culinary sumac

Photo: Dedda71 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Survives zone 8 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Sumac — a souring SPICE (lemony), not a dessert fruit. Care: Winter protection — mulch, fleece, or a warm wall. ⚠ Know your sumac: red upright fruit clusters are Rhus and safe; poison sumac (Toxicodendron vernix) has drooping white fruit and causes severe dermatitis.

Hardiness

Zone 8–9

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Late summer–autumn

Mature size

Suckering shrub or small tree 2–5 m; poor in containers

Light

Full sun

Soil pH

6.0–7.5

Environment

Mediterranean

Native range

Mediterranean basin and south-west Asia — southern Europe and North Africa east through Turkey and Iran to Afghanistan; dry rocky slopes and scrub.

Status

Cultivated

Years to fruit

3–5 yrs

Growth speed

30–60 cm/year — fast, and faster sideways than upward once suckering starts.

Spacing

250 cm (98 in) apart — about 6.3 m² (67 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Alternate, odd-pinnate with 9–15 toothed, softly hairy leaflets on a narrowly winged central stalk — the winged rachis is a useful mark for the species.

Root system

Shallow and strongly rhizomatous — rhizomes on smooth sumac have been traced to 3.4 m (11 ft), each throwing up numerous shoots — so a single plant becomes a clonal thicket. Excellent for holding banks; a nuisance in a small border.

Fruit description

Spherical reddish to dark-brown drupes in dense clusters, felted with dark-purplish glandular hairs; these are the fruits dried and ground into the tart, wine-red sumac spice of Middle Eastern cooking.

Propagation

Root cuttings and division of suckers in early spring are much the easiest routes and come true. Seed has a hard coat needing scarification (hot water or acid) followed by cold stratification, and germinates erratically without it.

Pollination

Dioecious/polygamous — usually needs male + female

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.