the name of certain shrubs in the genus Rhus, of which various species grow wild in the warmer regions of the northern hemisphere. The species used in Middle Eastern cookery is Rhus coriaria, Sicilian or elm-leafed sumac. Its hairy ‘berries’ (so called, but not true berries) are dark red to purple when ripe. The spice sumac is made from the dried, powdered berries.
The acid fruits are used as a sour flavouring. They were so used in classical Rome, before the introduction of the lemon; and their modern use in the Middle East is most noticeable in areas where lemons are rare, for instance the remoter parts of Syria and N. Iraq.
In medieval Arabic cookbooks, sumac entered into cooked dishes such as Fakhtiyyah (which gets its name from the Persian word for ring-dove, presumably because of the pale purple shade produced by the combination of sumac and yoghurt).
As a spice, sumac is sprinkled on kebab and pilaf in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. In Iran, for example, a bowl of it is always served with Chelo kebab, to be sprinkled on the meat and/or the rice. See zaatar for the mixture of sumac and wild thyme which is sprinkled on fried eggs in the Middle East.
Sumac berries are also used in N. Africa, India, and the Orient. They are sold in dried form, either whole or powdered. Whole dried berries can be soaked in water to produce a sour refreshing drink.
Species of sumac in N. America include several which were used by Indians, and then by white settlers, to make drinks with a resemblance to lemonade; hence names like lemonade berry or lemonade sumac.
Charles Perry, the leading authority on early Arab cookery, has recently published A Baghdad Cookery Book Newly Translated (2005) and a related 13
