Sumac Holy Basil Lemonade

Fall tidings to ya! 

So happy to be here, back in this online space. This summer I did a bit of traveling, road tripping in fact. I was in upstate New York and came across a bounty of wild Staghorn Sumac. I've always heard herbalists talk about making Sumac Lemonade and thought I'd give it a go. I'm drinking some right now as I type! 

I made this goodness when I got home from traveling so I was able to make a tropical Sumac Lemonade with homegrown Holy Basil, or Tulsi, and Lippia Alba. The recipe for this was quite simple. It's equal parts Sumac, Holy Basil & Lippia Alba. You fill any sized jar, I made it in a liter jar, a little over halfway with the fresh plant material and cover it with room temperature water. Leave it somewhere sunny for 2 to 6 hours. I let it sit out in the hot Florida sunlight for 3 hours. You could let it sit all day but I wanted to cool it down before drinking it by refrigerating it. You could also just heat water to a boil and pour it over the plant material for a quick infusion. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes & then strain out and let cool. 

Once it's cool, you can add any sweetener of your choice, honey, maple syrup, agave. I added two tablespoons for 64 ounces of liquid, but you could make it as sweet or as unsweet as you'd like! 

If you want to hear more about Holy Basil, come out to my herbalism class all about this magical plant on Saturday September 14th at 11am at Grandview Public Market in WPB. 

I'll be writing a post more about Holy Basil next week as well for those who aren't geographically in South Florida! 

Until then, 

Happy Sumac Lemonade making!

Jules