Sumac
SOO-mak
Rhus coriaria
Tart, lemony, fruity, deep red.
What it is
Sumac is a tart, lemony, deep-red spice ground from the dried berries of Rhus coriaria, a shrub that grows around the Middle East and Mediterranean. The coarse crimson powder tastes bright and sour with a fragrant, slightly fruity edge, and it adds acidity without the liquid of lemon juice, which makes it useful for rubs, dips, and dressings. It is a defining note in Levantine cooking, scattered over hummus, fattoush salad, and grilled meats, and it is a main ingredient in the blend za'atar. The culinary species is unrelated to the poison sumac of North American wetlands.
Compare head to head
What it pairs with
Goes wrong with: dishes that need to stay pale, very sweet desserts.
Common in Middle Eastern cooking.
Whole vs ground
Culinary sumac is sold as a coarse, deep-red ground spice made from the dried, crushed berries. There is rarely a reason to buy it whole for cooking.
How to handle it
Sumac is a finishing spice as much as a cooking one. Sprinkle it over hummus, grilled meat, salads, and rice at the end for a hit of tartness and color, the way you would use a squeeze of lemon.
Storage
Airtight and dark. Ground sumac keeps its tartness for about a year, then dulls.
Buying note
Good sumac is deep purple-red and slightly moist, not brown and dusty. Some cheap blends are cut with salt, so check the ingredients.
Classic dishes
fattoush, za'atar, musakhan, sumac onions.
Out of sumac? Substitutes
No substitute is exact. These are the closest by flavor behavior, with the ratio to start from and how the result will differ.
| Use instead | Ratio | How it differs |
|---|---|---|
| lemon zest with a small pinch of salt | zest of one lemon per tablespoon of sumac | brighter and fresher, but wetter and without the deep red color |
| amchur (dried mango powder) | 1:1 | sour and fruity, paler and less tannic |
One odd thing
Before lemons were common in the region, cooks across the ancient Mediterranean used sumac as their main source of sour flavor.