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Wild Blessings
Wild Blessings

Wild Blessings

A learning resource that can help you get outside and connect with nature.

  • Home
  • About
  • Classes
  • Blogs
  • Jesus
    • God’s Love For You
    • Wild Blessings Advent
      • WB Advent – Day 1
      • WB Advent – Day 2
      • WB Advent – Day 3
      • WB Advent – Day 4
      • WB Advent – Day 5
    • The Most Important Message You Will Ever Hear
    • My Foraging Prayer
    • Meditating on Scripture
    • Holding Up a Light
    • The Hands of the Carpenter
    • The Star Of Bethlehem
  • Contact

Sweet & Sour Sumac Sauce

Sumac Lemonade

1/4 c Sumac concentrate (in frig)
1/4 c Pineapple juice
1/2 c Herbal wine vinegar
2 T Peanut oil
2 T Bee Balm honey
1 T Tamari soy sauce
1/2 t freshly ground Pepper
2 t Kudzu powder mixed with 4 t cold water

Mix first 6 ingredients bring to boil.  Stir in Kudzu thickener mixture; until sauce is clear and slightly thickened.

Nutrition Facts
Sumac berries: a wonderful lemon substitute, high in Vitamin C, collect berries in late summer when bright red, before bugs take up residence! and before a heavy rain where much of the folic acid can be washed away.  Dry them for use all winter long.

Fill a pitcher with 6 or so berry clusters, pour cold water over them, crush up with your hand, then let the pitcher sit in a cool place.  Pouring boiling or hot water over the berries leaches the tannins from the stems and causes the drink to become bitter.  The longer the berries infuse, the stronger the drink will be.  When the flavor is just right, strain the drink through a cheesecloth to remove seeds and hairs.  Add sugar or honey to taste.

Can also make jellies, syrups and an excellent wine with sumac.  Euell Gibbons recommended using sumac-ade instead of plain water to boil elderberry and other fruits that need a touch of tartness to liven them up for using in jam or jelly. Also, the young, thick, tender tips of sumac shoots (especially staghorn) in early summer can be peeled and eaten raw or cooked. They are sweet and delicious, much like raspberry stalks.

Sumac is related to cashews and mangoes and Poison Ivy!  Anyone allergic to those foods should avoid it  or at least be cautious

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About Wild Blessings

Welcome to my website. My name is Holly Drake and I love to study, teach, and talk about wild foods. I live in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina with my husband Jason and my dog Max where I explore the beauty of God’s creation to learn as much as I can about wild foods that are available to us for free.

Latest Blogs

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Mullein offerings I am a connector!  Introducing others to our Creator’s world of plant wonders is my passion. The common Mullein is anything but mundane,

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Archive

Befriending Chestnuts

September 24, 2025

Befriending Plants: Magnificent Mullein

September 16, 2024

The Honorable Harvest

September 15, 2024

Witches Shoelaces, Devils Guts…. A Scarey Plant

July 30, 2024

Curses and Blessings…BURdock

May 21, 2024

Befriending Hawthorns

October 24, 2023

Template Blog – Email

October 3, 2023

Befriending Acorns

October 3, 2023

Chickweed Recipes

April 24, 2023

Befriending Knotweed

April 14, 2023

Hiking Habit

January 26, 2023

2022 Year in Review

January 4, 2023

Support Wild Blessings

PATREON – Support me on Patreon.com. Go to the site and search for Wild Blessings and sign up for any amount to be a regular contributor.

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A learning resource that can help you get outside and connect with nature.
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