Sumac
A tart, dark-red ground berry of the Middle East, used to sour salads, kebabs and rice.
Also: summaq, sumak, tanner's sumac, somagh
Sumac is the dried, ground fruit of Rhus coriaria, a shrub that grows wild across the Mediterranean, Turkey and Iran. The berries are collected in late summer, dried and crushed to a coarse maroon powder with a bright, lemony tartness and a fruity, slightly astringent finish. Cooks sprinkle it on grilled meat, onions, fattoush, hummus and rice, and mix it into za'atar. It served as the sour in the Roman kitchen before lemons arrived. The Iranian table often carries a shaker of sumac next to the salt. It is unrelated to poison sumac, which is a different species and is not edible.