I was reading in Cider: Making, Using & Enjoying Sweet & Hard Cider, Third Edition that some people use staghorn sumac to emulate the tannic (and to some extent acidic) qualities of juice made from cider apples.
Does any one here have any experience with sumac or other tannic adjuncts like tea?
I'll be starting out with a sweet cider with great acidity but lacking much tannin..and I'm looking to develop that some more.
My house cider recipe uses tea to simulate tannins, one cup of strong black tea per gallon, made from an irish or english breakfast tea. Make sure it's not Earl Grey, that has other stuff in it, and use the fine-grain non-loose stuff, as you want to extract tannins, and the large-leaf loose stuff does not do this. Recipe in my pulldown.
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If you can get your hands on the fruit, it is edible and can be crushed to make juice. I don't know if the book is referring to the leaves or the fruit, but the leaves and stems are very high in tannin. If you don't have access to the plant, you can always use grape tannin powder. It's readily available at most brew shops.
By the way I really like that book. I like how it discusses traditional methods of cider making. It seems like a lot of people just want to use apple juice, and although more time consuming, making a cider from scratch is fun.
The bark of Sumac is especially tannic from what I hear, but the fruit contains a decent amount of tannins and acids with low sugar levels. I've heard that a popular beverage "back when" was made with sumac and sugar, a kind of sumac-ade and dried sumac berries are used as a spice in middle eastern cooking to add a sour lemony flavor.
I'll give it a shot and let you guys know how it works. It's my third batch of hard cider so I'm very much a beginner.
Did you find sumac growing naturally? I'd be too worried about finding some and identifying it incorrectly. I found that section in the book that talks about sumac, and it tells you the difference between poison and staghorn sumac, but still it's a chance I don't want to take. If I could find some powdered/chipped bark I'd try it though. Keep us updated!
Poison sumac is (A) fairly rare [most people who think they've come in contact with it are actually suffering from the much more common poison ivy or poison oak], and (B) nearly impossible to confuse with staghorn sumac since the berries are different color and have a different shape.
White berries = possibly poison sumac
Tight clusters of bright red berries that point upward = not poison sumac.
I have some Staghorn Sumac wine bubbling away in the closet right now but I have no idea about adding it to cider apples?
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Handsome, I see from your location, that you are a doctor, so I am inclined to believe your description. Well, even without your description, I sing, "Google loves me, this I know, it's search engine tells me so. Poison things to me it shows, so I won't quit while the world goes." OK, not a very good song, but hey, it's Google.
I never knew that Sumac was edible..., just that as kids, we would smash it's bunches of bright, dark berries, and smear it on our skin, and get the tar waled out of us for getting our skin and clothes died. I could have told them it wasn't tar, but nobody listens to kids. In a strange twist of fate, staghorn sumac was used medicinally to help staunch bleeding -- which explains why I'm still alive after having my hide removed.
Using Sumac for Tannins
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