photo © Ellie Markovitch: sumac-ade mixed with water kefir and blueberry “ice”

I am in denial that summer is over! So much that I am making “lemonade” on a 40ºF morning.  Last winter I blogged about watching the birds eat sumac cones and read and dreamt of Sumac-ade. Also just watched this video.
It has been such a busy summer, but Sheila Fitzgerald post reminded me it is not too late–not late at all!

I just followed everyone’s suggestions to use about one cone for each cup of cold water (not hot as it will be bitter).

I used a fork to make the job a bit easier

and looked for and found little bugs as I would with any wild and organic produce, but they were easy to remove as they run away from the water.

I soaked the sumac on water for one hour and strained using cheesecloth

Now I am drying our leftover harvest–thank you hubby!