No doubt you’ve noticed those funky bushes bearing fuzzy red tufts along the Cedar or Iowa rivers. Those botanicals are staghorn sumacs (Rhus typhina), and they can make a delicious late-summer drink that the First Peoples have been brewing for hundreds of years. (Think hibiscus-tea-meets-pink-lemonade!) A good friend taught me how to harvest and brew this ancient sumac ‘tea,’ and I’m stoked to pass on the knowledge.
Where to Find It
Staghorn sumac is a large deciduous shrub that thrives in ditches, along roadsides and at the edges of creeks and river banks. The leaves grow in featherlike compound leaflets with gray branches that become reddish and fuzz-covered at the twigs. Staghorn sumac gets its name from its red or burgundy cone-shaped berry clusters, which appear in early summer and reach their peak ripeness in late August and early September. These clusters (4 to 8 inches long) grow skyward, and are covered in dense velvety hairs—not unlike the velvet of a young stag’s antlers.
Staghorn sumac should be harvested when the berries are vibrant red. (Pale sumac clusters indicate unripe fruit, and dark reddish-brown clusters are past their prime.) Taste the berries as you gather: Ripe berries will taste tart and citrusy. The berries can be collected by simply snapping the entire cluster from the twig, or by cutting them away with a knife.
Poison sumac is a well-known toxic relative of this safe and delicious strain, though I’d hardly call it a look-alike. Nonetheless, it’s wise to know the difference. Poison sumac (Toxicodendron vernix) bears white berries in grape-like bunches and grows almost exclusively in swamps. Unlike staghorn sumac, poison sumac berries are smooth and waxy, as are the leaves.
How to Drink It
Sumac berries are rich in malic acid, a known pain reliever used to treat muscle soreness. Sumac ‘tea’ is free of caffeine, though the malic acid is known to increase energy and combat fatigue. Since sumac is relative of malic acid-rich mangoes and cashews, those with allergies to those specific fruits and nuts should avoid consuming sumac.
Sumac ‘tea’ can be hot or cold-brewed. The cold brew variety takes a little longer but I feel the drink produced by this method is a superior mellower brew, as the cold brewing does not release tannins from the twigs.
Iced ‘Tea’
• Remove sumac berries from twigs. If berries are ripe, this should be a sticky process.
• Place berries in cup or bowl and cover with nearly either nearly boiling or cold water.
• Steep 15 minutes for hot brew; for cold, let berries steep overnight.)
• Strain drink through cheesecloth or coffee filter to remove twigs and hairs. (I use my chemex, and that works perfectly.)
• Add ice to drink instantly, or chill overnight. One cup of berries yields one quart of sumac ‘tea.’ You can add simple syrup or agave to taste if you prefer a sweet drink, but I generally dig it just the way it is.
Read About It
The Forager’s Harvest: Edible Wild Plants by Samuel Thayer (Forager’s Harvest Press) is an amazing guide, and has accompanied me on many adventures in the woods.
Tim Taranto is from Upstate New York. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and Cornell University. This article originally appeared in Little Village issue 184.
