Sumac, Sumac-ade and Other Fresh Things Right Now

Sumac-ade: a very tart lightly sweetened drink made from steeped sumac berries

I gathered a bunch of the berry clusters from the very tops of the abundant Sumac plants growing in north Texas right now. It's a little early in the season and these berries will certainly become fuller and more loaded with the dusty, sticky red powder that coats each berry but we've all been hoping for a big rain so I didn't want to risk the next harvest opportunity. Despite yielding a paler drink these berries were plenty tart.

One of the sumac berry clusters. I also tucked a few clusters in a paper bag to dry for later.

The berries are stripped from their branches (and looked over for rogue insects or webs) and covered with water. I give them a vigorous stir to loosen their powdery coating and let the whole container sit in the fridge overnight. I use a fine mesh strainer to separate the berries from their liquid and a second pass through a cloth to catch the smallest particles. The liquid is poured into a bottle along with simple syrup to taste and allowed to chill in the refrigerator.

 I was gifted a bag of ripe figs and have been enjoying them several ways. First is as a salad with blue cheese/walnuts/hemp seeds/pepitas and an orange/pomegranate molasses dressing. Second is figs on waffles with gooseberry jam and over-beaten whipped cream (whipped by hand to avoid this...doh!) Of course, they are pretty delicious straight from the bag too.

A little bit further north in Oklahoma where there has been more rain and cooler temperatures I found a small treat of perfect oyster mushrooms while picking up trash along a heavily trafficked trail. Oysters are a common find but these were particularly exciting because it has been a while since I've seen any. I noticed plenty of plums and some other fruits just not quite ready to be picked.

While it looks like these are growing straight out the ground they are growing on a buried root coming off a nearby stump. Oyster mushroom are easy to use, these were sautéed and tossed into breakfast tacos with other veggies.