Recipe Description:
I first tasted sumac onions at my first visit to a Persian restaurant. Right away, I was hooked and was putting these sour marinated onions on everything, with extra sumac shaken on. Love that stuff! Since then, I have been wanting to create a fermented version for extra nutrients. Serve with just about any Middle Eastern dish!
where do you get your sumac? I love sumac but haven’t been able to find since moving from L.A.
I used to get it through Mountain Rose Herbs, but they’ve since stopped carrying it. I can’t seem to find it anymore either except in occasional Indian markets.
I believe that the edible red fruits of Staghorn Sumac can be used for this, and also for the middle eastern spice, zaatar. I have used staghorn sumac in winemaking, and will be experimenting to see how it works with this onion recipe. Staghorn sumac is widespread throughout the northeast US. See here for more info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhus_typhina
The fruit ripens on the tree by the later part of summer.