Sumac

The red-berried sumac bush—Rhus coriaria, not to be confused with the poisonous white-berried species—provides one of the favorite flavorings for Persian and Central Asian cooking. To make sumac juice, the berries, along with, the leaves and branches, are boiled in water, then sieved. To make a powder, the berries alone are dried and crushed to a powder. The latter, sold in Persian groceries, is the more usual form of the spice; it is kept in the kitchen and on the table, along with salt and pepper.