Staghorn Sumac – No, its not Poisonous
Growing up, we were told this was Poison Sumac. Turns out, this is Staghorn Sumac and practically the entire plant is editable (or at least, useful) in some form or another! We are lucky enough to have 4 or 5 of these growing in our yard and this year, we cut down some of the cones and tried them to make a Sumac spice.
Let’s take a look at this plant and what I have done with it.
How to Harvest Staghorn Sumac
- Snip the cones at the base.
- On a tray (I cover mine in foil) break the berries off of the cone.
- Dry them out under a heat lamp. I actually have a dehydrator now, but I used a heat lamp the first time I did this.
- Run the berries through a coffee grinder.
I harvested my Staghorn Sumac in July. As I sit here writing up this blog post on September 20th, I see a lot of great looking cones out in our trees that are just begging to be cut and dried. You don’t want them to be brown, but a bright red.
How do you cook Staghorn Sumac
I have honestly not done a ton of cooking with Staghorn Sumac.
- My favorite use so far is to throw in with Flour when I bread oyster mushrooms.
- Popcorn… Staghorn Sumac adds an amazing zest to a bowl of popcorn.
- You can soak the cones in water to make a lemonade type drink.
Staghorn Sumac
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