Sumac

Sumac is cultivated and popular throughout the Mediterranean and has a very faint aroma with a fruity, tart and astringent taste and has Sumac a very reconizable deep red/purple color. It is often combined with other spices and is prized for the way that it brings out flavors in foods and other spices. Sumac is used on salads, meats, fish stew, kababs, and rice, commonly eaten as an appetizer with sliced onions. Because of Sumac's tart flavor sumac, it can be used in place of lemon peel or vinegar is cooking. Sumac goes well with chicken, fish, garbanzo beans, seafood, lamb, raw onions, pine nuts, walnuts and yogurt and Sumac works well in combition with allspice, chile peppers, chili powder, cilantro, coriander, cumin, garlic, paprika, parsley, sesame and thyme. It is the primary ingredients in our Middle Eastern spice blend, Za'atar.