Recently I’ve been trying to figure out where I can find local sumac. You’re probably asking, “Is she crazy?” Now I KNOW we’ve got sumac growing everywhere in the Ottawa area, but I’m not sure if it’s the type of sumac I’m looking for. I’m looking for sumac, the spice. I tried some with thyme on a toasted pita a little while ago and it was SCRUMPTIOUS. So I’ve been googling to see if this spice comes from the same trees that grow around here. So far I haven’t found anything conclusive. Anyone got any ideas???
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Hi Gillian. I have vague memories of my Turkish immigrant parents picking, drying & crumbling sumac in Toronto in the 70s when you couldn’t just buy it here…. but no memories of how it compared to the store bought stuff. Wouldn’t hurt to try, though.
This summer we picked grape leaves and made our own dolma… yum.
Daphne
Hmm, are you sure it really wouldn’t hurt? It seems to me that I’ve heard some parts of sumac are poisonous and some are not… I really need to look into this more. If you know which parts to harvest, please let me know…
AND so cool about the grape leaves. Very yum indeed!