Ever since we got into the area I've been seeing these little trees (maybe 5 foot tall) that have red cone shaped thingies on top. Leaves resemble a locust, the trees grow in clumps, making a canopy. We were driving too fast to get pics.
No, harmless. Bird eat the red cones in the fall. Some people make stuff to eat from it, but I have never known anyone to eat it. It can be a real nuisance as it spreads easily.
Staghorn Sumac.Fairly common in certain areas like forest edges,clearings,slopes along roadsides etc over lots of the Midwest.Can get 20-25 feet tall,strong winds/ice/snow tends to bring down lots of them. Some natural food devotees report a drink similar tasting to lemonade can be made from the red cones.Never tried it myself.
From Wikipedia: The fruits (drupes) of the genus Rhus are ground into a reddish-purple powder used as a spice in Middle Eastern cuisine to add a lemony taste to salads or meat.[5] In Arab cuisine, it is used as a garnish on meze dishes such as hummus and is added to salads in the Levant. In Iranian (Persian and Kurdish) cuisine, sumac is added to rice or kebab. In Jordanian and Turkish cuisine, it is added to salad-servings of kebabs and lahmacun. Rhus coriaria is used in the spice mixture za'atar.[8][9] In North America, the Smooth Sumac (R. glabra) and the Staghorn Sumac (R. typhina) are sometimes used to make a beverage termed "sumac-ade," "Indian lemonade" or "rhus juice". This drink is made by soaking the drupes in cool water, rubbing them to extract the essence, straining the liquid through a cotton cloth and sweetening it. Native Americans also use the leaves and drupes of the Smooth and Staghorn Sumacs combined with tobacco in traditional smoking mixtures.
I might grab some cones when we leave and try the drink and the spice! I'm on moscato island right meow!
I love looking at sumac they are beautiful along some roadways around us. They defiantly attract birds in flocks too.
I got a bunch of that out back , very soft easy to cut with a machete. Never tried to drink it , eat it or smoke it
Griz, I hope you look it up before you attempt to eat that. Make sure you picked it at the right stage of growth. I would hate to see you getting sick ( or worse) while on vacation. I know the birds go after it in the late fall.
I've been doing the research, I never do something like this without doing the research. They appear to be ripe.
I think beekeepers use those fruits in their little smokers, to make the bees docile. At least a old beekeeper in our area uses them...... As for the drink, I'm curious.....let me know how it turns out Grizz.
Will do, plan on getting it done today but I'm starting to question what exactly I will be getting done today. Was playing beach volleyball Saturday night and landed smack on my back once (landed on my back a lot, but only smack on it once) and had some immediate numbness and a lot of soreness later. Today is worse than yesterday, so I'm not getting around much at all.
