The sumac lemonade was OK but not great. We did not put enough of the sumac fruit in the mix. Later we added ground up sumac to the water and that worked better. We had to filter it through coffee filters to get all the sumac particles out of it. It turned a beautiful red color. The camera had gone on the blink towards the end of the class and so we did not get to finish the photos. Several people drank the sumac lemonade just like it was and liked it. I thought it was too sour and wanted to add sugar to mine but everyone drank it up!
We found the foraging class though Alan Muskat who is know as The Mushroom Man. He has appeared on The History Channel and on TVs Bizzare Foods show. We met him since he lives in Ashville, NC near us. He came out here for a visit back in the winter and then we did several classes with him here. He is entertaining but also is an expert about mushrooms and other wild foods. Every class he has we still keep learning something since there is always something new going on outside.
Take a look around No Taste Like Home's web site and see what Alan does:
No Taste Like Home
The sumac is used worldwide as a spice! I did not know it either till learning more about Alan's classes and reading up on wild foods. We ground it up and used on top of bread, in the soup and made lemonade. There are recipes using sumac in many other ways, for example as a marinade on meats.
We collected the sumac from all around the sides of the road near here. It was in lots of places. Unfortunately, Duke Power sent tree crews around a month ago and they chopped the rest of it down! We will get more sumac next year now that we know what to do with it.
Thank you for looking at the photos and thank you too for the "Likes" on my sons's Facebook page for Meanwhile, Back in Saluda. They have worked very hard and I am proud of them.
Have good day everyone.
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