Sumac Mint Iced Tea

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  • Last Post 10 May 2020
delmarskid1 posted this 14 July 2013

Sumac Mint Iced Tea doesn't involve any critters once you have washed the sumac flowers. This part of the forum is a little slow until hunting season starts so I hope you will indulge me.  I sort of remembered from my Boy Scout manual that a kind of lemonade can be made from sumac tops. At our place we have some so I picked a good bunch of the tops that were sticky and shiny with sap. I covered these with an inch of water and put in a good sprig of mint. Brought this to a slow boil and covered it and let it cool while I cut the grass and got the tractor stuck again.  We strained this liquid and added a cup of sugar. Ended up with about a half gallon.  Poured over lots of ice this stuff tastes a little like lemonade but there is a kind of flavor that reminds me of the way pines smell. The mint is good.  If I was a drinking man (again) I'd jack it up with a good gin or rum. Ah well, Dane.

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Slugflinger posted this 10 May 2020

Jewel weed is the old time poison ivy remedy, bruise the leaves and or stems and rub on. Seems to dry it out in a day or two. If you know you have been in it, then rub the jewel weed juice on legs, hands or where ever you had contact with it, and you won't get the rash. (Supposedly). I have seen folks use jewel weed juice on an already developed rash and it did dry it up, and stop the itching.

I used to get poison ivy pretty bad when young, but at some point I just didn't seem to get it any more.  

Think! It's not illegal, Yet.

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GWarden posted this 07 May 2020

The Sumac for making a refreshing summer drink is NOT the poison Sumac.

Bob

Iowa

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Brodie posted this 06 May 2020

Both of my sons are terribly reactive to poison oak (don't seem to have much poison ivy or sumac in CA.).  When the older boy went pig hunting with me he got it everywhere.  Once the oil gets on your hands it is easily transmitted to any patch of skin.

B.E.Brickey

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Coydog posted this 06 May 2020

When I came down with it , My face and hands had blow up and I was at the point I could not hardly see and had to be in a dark room because for the regular light was too bright for me. also had to take baths in a additive in the water so my skin would not dry out  beside the meds I had to take and I do break out with oak and ivy too . 

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John Alexander posted this 06 May 2020

"When my boss would trim the roads of brush he would, before the event, eat poison ivy leaves, washing down with a good bourbon.  Poison ivy wouldn't bother him either then."

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Some people aren't bothered by poison ivy, including me. Never thought of my immunity as an  excuse for drinking bourbon.

John

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TRKakaCatWhisperer posted this 06 May 2020

Poison ivy doesn't bother me.  Wife told me to get rid of it, but it was a different variety than I'd grown up with.  So I trimmed ALL the brush out - with no effect on me.  BUT in the process I would pet the cats.  Darlene would pet the cats and get the itch!  Ok, so our poison ivy has dull leaves and what I'd seen as a kid had shiny leaves.

When my boss would trim the roads of brush he would, before the event, eat poison ivy leaves, washing down with a good bourbon.  Poison ivy wouldn't bother him either then.

 

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 06 May 2020

... juice from an aloe vera plant is an oldie but goodie ... for burns, bites, itches ... amazing stuff ...

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delmarskid posted this 06 May 2020

We don't have poison oak up here but poison ivy is like ground cover in some places on our place. The best thing I have found short of Prednisone is plantain weed. I pull a few leaves, roll them between my palms to bruise them , and scrub the leaves into the spots that itch.

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Brodie posted this 06 May 2020

An old friend of mine, Col. William Robinson, told me that when his Father came down with poison oak as a boy his Father picked a bucket of leaves made a tea out of it and made the boy drink it.  According to Bill's Dad he itched inside and out intolerably for three days.  Since then he has never been bothered by poison oak.  Not a cure I am interested in.

B.E.Brickey

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Coydog posted this 05 May 2020

I had broke out bad when I was kid with  poison sumac. It took me a time to get over it after that I stay away from it  now . I hear how the tea can be .

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Brodie posted this 05 May 2020

I am all for the Canadian Mist with or without the tea.

B.E.Brickey

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Squid Boy posted this 05 May 2020

You guys can pick and brew all the Sumac you want. I have been picking loads of Morels and they sure are tasty. Squid

"Squid Pro Quo"

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GregT posted this 05 May 2020

Now you have made this "worse" by saying you are in Wisconsin (I am east of Hayward 14 miles)! Is this the Sumac that you see in clumps alongside the highways, turned beautifully red in the fall? I have some just down the road... And I love tea (get mine from Mark T. Wendall's) in Massachusetts. I like a good shot of Canadian Mist in my tea as an antidote for stress when a firearm stresses me out. What say you?

Greg T

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RidinLou posted this 05 May 2020

Also used as a spice in Persian cooking!

 

Sumac, NOT poison sumac

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max503 posted this 21 November 2016

Sumac with the red tops, and poison sumac are two completely different plants.

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Hamish posted this 27 February 2015

The first year we tried making Elderberry jelly, we did not get enough thickener into it, We were delighted to find we had syrup that we put on everything from pancakes to ice cream. And, it makes a wonderful addition to just about any mixed drink. (I'm particularly fond of it in Kentuckys finest home distilled product.)

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Mike H posted this 27 February 2015

Ken Campbell Iowa wrote: or of course you could pick a few elderberries ... makes terrific wine ...and the very finest jelly for your cornbread .....

Ken,      I wouldn't know what an elderberry is,but I do like wine,I buy mine,commercially made from grapes,jelly is called jam,over here,if it wasn't so far from here to the US,I think I would visit you.Tried making cornbread,was nice,but whether it was the same as the US recipe,I don't know. Really enjoy your posts.Mike.

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 27 February 2015

or of course you could pick a few elderberries ... makes terrific wine ...and the very finest jelly for your cornbread .....

madsenshooter posted this 27 February 2015

Good stuff, like you I discovered it in the Boy Scout manual. Most of the other scouts didn't like it, but I did, sorta sweetart tasting. Turns out the berries are pretty high in several medicinal phytochemicals. For me, the price is right!  Late summer is the best time to get the berries.  They're oozing with antioxidants meant to preserve the seeds through the winter.  Might be a good winter weather predictor.  Two summers ago, they oozed a lot of it and we had a very cold winter that hung on late.  Last summer, they oozed very little, like they knew they wouldn't have to preserve the seeds as long.  So far it has panned out, but the winter isn't over yet.

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delmarskid1 posted this 14 July 2013

We don't have poison sumac in Wisconsin that I know of. I woke up alive today so I guess ours is okay. poison sumac acts like poison ivy. Poison oak, ivy and sumac all have the same allergen in different strengths. I did a bunch of research when I got into the ivy in a major way.

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