RED SUMAC: ID, Names Info
Jump to Page Navigation Buttons===>>Smooth or Red sumac around the Great
Lakes area grows in clumps of wide-spreading
shrubby plants, like this one, whose bloom
head is just beginning to turn to a spike of
berries that will be covered by a reddish haze
of fine hairs. The Ojibwe name for this plant is
Makibug. Its botannical name is Rhus glabra,
meaning smooth-barked sumac.The red berries contain hard seeds. The
main attraction is the hairs that cover
them. These are loaded with ascorbic
acid -- vitamin C. The fruit holds some,
too, as well as some tannin, the astringent
that's in ordinary tea.Pick the whole head, and if you have access to an old wringer washer whose paddle still
works, slosh them around for half an hour in cold water (after rinsing tub and paddles to
make sure there's no soap on them!), and catch the pink tart juice pumped out Otherwise,
pound the heads in water in a big tub or dishpan. Refrigerate or freeze the juice and
sweeten with sugar or honey. The berries can be dried and removed from the stems -- do
this over a plastic sheet to catch all the little hairs. Dried or fresh, the berries need to be
pounded in water to yield up their vitamin C, flavor, and red color.Rhus Glabra (smooth sumac) IDs, general info
http://www.kstrom.net/isk/food/rhustrib.html (1 of 3) [5/17/2004 11:51:19 AM]