Ground Sumac | Foraged Sumac
60 grams, ground
Sour, fresh, and fruity
Do not roast.
Sumac is generally not cooked or baked with other ingredients and is added at the end. Heating causes the sour taste to disappear.
Perfect for adding some acidity to a dish, similar to lemon or lime.
Pairs well with salad dressing, halloumi, aubergine, root vegetables, chickpeas, yoghurt, chicken, lamb, fish.
Looking to buy sumac? This tangy, sour spice is the secret ingredient that will elevate your cooking. Use it as a finishing touch on hummus, salads, grilled meat or fish – a great alternative to lemon.
This sumac has a wonderfully fresh, sour taste and a beautiful dark red-purple colour. A true finishing touch!
The sumac is wild-harvested by farmer Hakan. He has a small-scale farm in the village of Karsuköyü, in the Hatay region. The sumac grows wild in the rocky surroundings of his land. In February 2023, Karsuköyü was severely affected by the earthquake that occurred there. Many people lost everything, including Hakan.
We came into contact with Hakan through the Karsu Foundation. The Karsu Foundation helps the victims of the earthquake rebuild their lives. With your purchase, you directly support his community.
How is this chain structured?
All our chains have their own story. Their own plot of land, their own farmer. It is grown and processed in a specific way. Join us on a journey into the story behind this flavour.
The sumac is harvested in the rocky hills around the village of Karsuköyü, in the Hatay region.
The sumac is wild-harvested in the rocky area around Hakan's land, where it grows abundantly and completely naturally.
Sumac should be picked during the hottest days of the year, as the berries then contain little moisture. This way, the seeds can be easily separated from the velvety shell, which can then be ground into powder.
Let's make an impact!
Each supply chain not only has its own story but also its own challenges. We would be happy to tell you what impact we make on each supply chain and how we address specific challenges.
Our goal is to buy from Hakan every year, ensuring him a pre-determined income and allowing him to invest more in the business. And spend less time on a lot of small sales.
We are paying a that helps Hakan build his business.
We do not yet have enough sales to offer Hakan the stability we would like.
Frequently asked questions
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Air, light, and moisture are detrimental to the quality of your spices. Therefore, store them in a tightly sealed jar or tin that is opaque (or in a dark kitchen cupboard or drawer). Also, do not store them above your stove, as cooking fumes can reach them there. Always ensure that you transfer spices from a repack into a well-sealing jar or tin as quickly as possible.
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The shelf life of spices is primarily determined by the loss of flavour that occurs over time, as they generally don't spoil otherwise. We use a shelf life of 2.5 - 3 years after harvest. This depends partly on the time of packaging and also whether they are whole spices that you need to grind yourself or pre-ground powder.
Spices in the supermarket are often already 2-3 years old before they are even packaged and then given an additional shelf life of 3-5 years. Primarily use your senses to judge if they are still good. At some point, there's simply no flavour left, which is a waste of a good meal!
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We do not have organic certification, despite our spices meeting these standards. All farmers work in harmony with nature and without pesticides, but the certification process is unfortunately very expensive. For small farmers, it's practically unaffordable. And we want to show them that it is worthwhile to grow spices sustainably. That there are people willing to pay for a quality natural product and that they don't first have to make a huge, impossible investment in the form of a certification.
Some of our farmers do have the certificate, by the way. Cooperatives, for example, can apply for the certification process jointly, which makes it much more affordable. However, to be able to put this on the packaging, our entire chain would also have to be certified, including the sheltered workshop where the spices are packaged. This is currently not possible because they also work for other non-organic producers. So, in short: no, we are not officially certified, but the quality and way of working are at least as good.
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Single Origin means that a product comes from one specific place. Often, harvests from different places, sometimes even from different countries and different years, are mixed together. Traders do this to develop the cheapest possible product with a consistent taste. With us, you know exactly where your spices come from, right down to the name of the farmer. This also means that the quality can sometimes vary, as it is a natural product. For example, one year might be drier than another, which can lead to a change in taste. But our farmers always strive for the highest possible taste experience, and you can taste it!
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We strive to always purchase the latest harvest. Of course, it can sometimes happen that we still have some of the previous harvest in stock, while the new harvest is already ready. So we cannot always guarantee that you will receive the very latest harvest, but we do aim for it as much as possible. On the packaging, you will find a QR code to a page where you can find out exactly when your spices were harvested and when they were filled into the tins/pouches. With this, we aim for complete transparency in our process.
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We ship to most European countries, but this will naturally involve higher shipping costs. Would you like to order from a country but are unable to? Please contact us so we can look into the options.
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At the Siza Social Workplace, they do their utmost to pack the parcels the day after the order. When it's busy, it might take a day longer. They don't work on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, so if you order on a Thursday, for example, it will take a bit longer for your parcel to be shipped.
Once the parcels are ready, they are picked up by de Groene Rijders and delivered by their bike couriers in the areas they serve, or outsourced to PostNL. Depending on how busy they are, they also aim to deliver within 1 working day.