Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Spice guide to Sumac along with all the Sumac containing recipes presented on this site, with 17 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain as a major flavouring.

Sumac (also called Sumach, Shumac and Sicilian Sumac) represents the dried fruit of Rhus coriaria, a woody shrub or small tree belonging to the Anacardiaceae (cashew) family that also includes the mango, poison ivy and pistachio. Rhus coriaria flowers form in dense panicles or spikes 5-30 cm long, each flower being very small, creamy white, greenish or red, with five petals. These mature form dense clusters of reddish drupes (fruit). Rhus coriaria is native to Sicily, Western Asia, Arabai and Central Asia. However, closely related members of the genus is found in subtropical and warm temperate regions throughout the world, with the highest diversity in southern Africa (but only Rhus coriaria yields the spice, sumac).

The spice represents the dried fruit, which are often sold ground (a deep reddish-purple powder with a sour taste that is often mixed with salt) which is used in many Middle Eastern countries, especially as a seasoning for salads. Sumac has a tart, slightly fruity aroma with mildly astringent overtones and is used in the Middle East as an all-purpose seasoning. It goes well with most fish and seafood as well as rice, lentils and pulses. It can also be sprinkled on salads as a seasoning. Sumac also provides foods with a wonderful deep red colour and it can be used instead of red food colourings in curries.

The astringency of the fruit is due to the presence of tannins and the sharp flavour is due to organic acids (malic, citric, and tataric acid plus smaller amounts of succinic, maleic, fumaric and ascorbic acid). The dark red colour of the pericarp is due to the presence of anthocyanin pigments, of which chrys­anthemin, myrtillin and delphinidin have been identified.

The name sumac is of Semitic origin, derived from the proposed proto-semitic root *smq or *śmq to 'be red'. For example, the Aramici word sumaqa [ܣܘܡܩܐ, ܣܡܩ] designates both the colour 'dark red' and the sumac berry. The name entered European languages via the Arabic as-summaq [السماق] 'sumac'.

Sumac is used as a condiment in Turkey and Iran and is an essential ingredient is the Levantine spice blend, za'tar [زعتر]. In the same region it is also mixed with olive oil to form a dip for bread. In Lebanon, Egypt and Syria, sumac is often blended with water to form a thick, sour, essence that is added to meat and vegetable dishes as a souring base (in a very similar manner to which tamarind is used in other cuisines), a practice that we also know of from Graeco-Roman recipes (see below). Sumac can also be used to give food a deep red colour.