On Bakers, Lynne showed us how to make a tasty beverage from the berries of the staghorn sumac. When dealing with any kind of sumac, one is always a little wary and desires repeated confirmations that one is not dealing with the poisonous kind of sumac. (Poison sumac has white berries. Staghorn has red.)

Here’s what you do:

Clip off about four to six of the red tufts of berries. Soak ’em in some cold water for at least fifteen minutes. (We started playing whiffle ball and forgot about ours, leaving it to soak for about an hour.) Strain the berries (and bugs) out by pouring through cheese cloth. Ice that shit and drink it!

I really enjoyed the taste. Tangy… but not too tangy.

We made some for Sarah’s parents a couple days later. Sarah’s mom thinks she had a reaction to it.