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Sumac Molasses substitute

Best substitute

Pomegranate Molasses plus Lemon Juice

Use 1 tbsp molasses + ½ tsp lemon juice for every tbsp of sumac molasses

Best for salad dressings for coban salatasi and onion salad

Close match

The closest bottle you can actually buy: sweet-sour, syrupy, dark red, made the same way from a different fruit.

Other sumac molasses substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

Substitutes for Sumac Molasses with ratios

  1. 2Ground Sumac, Lemon Juice and a Pinch of Sugar

    Different texture

    Use 2 tsp sumac + 1 tbsp lemon juice + ½ tsp sugar for every tbsp of sumac molasses

    The most faithful option, because it is the same berry in a different form.

    What changes
    Best for
    when you already have the ground spice in the cupboard, dressings where the exact sumac flavour matters, getting the right colour as well as the right taste

    Stir it together and leave it ten minutes so the powder softens and colours the liquid, then strain through a fine sieve if you dislike the grit. Use grape molasses (pekmez) instead of sugar if you have it and the result is closer still.

  2. 3Lemon Juice plus Honey

    Taste and texture differ

    Use 1 tbsp lemon juice + ¼ tsp honey for every tbsp of sumac molasses

    Sour and slightly sweet, which covers the two jobs, and nothing else.

    What changes
    Best for
    emergency salad dressing, cutting the richness of a kebab plate, when there is no bottle of anything in the house

    Much thinner, so it runs off leaves instead of clinging, and pale instead of red. The flavour reads as lemon rather than as sumac, so lean on olive oil, salt and dried mint to carry the dressing.

  3. 4Balsamic Vinegar

    Different taste

    Use 2 tsp for every tbsp of sumac molasses

    Sweet-sour with real body, which is the right shape, wearing entirely the wrong flavour.

    What changes
    Best for
    tomato and cucumber salads, roasted vegetables and lentils, when you want cling and colour more than authenticity

    Use about two thirds as much because it is sharper and more concentrated. The salad will taste woody and winey and read as Italian rather than Turkish, which is fine as long as you are not serving it next to something else Anatolian.

  4. 5Tamarind Paste Thinned with Water

    Different taste

    Use the same amount by volume once thinned

    Sour and deeply fruity in the right register, but brown rather than red.

    What changes
    Best for
    marinades and cooked dishes, bean and lentil salads, when you want sourness with weight behind it

    Loosen the paste with an equal amount of water and add a pinch of sugar, then use spoon for spoon. The sourness has a tropical, slightly smoky edge that sumac does not, and it will darken a pale salad.

  5. 6Nothing, and Ground Sumac on Top Instead

    Different texture

    Use 1 tsp ground sumac for every tbsp of sumac molasses

    The honest answer when a recipe uses it only as a finishing drizzle.

    What changes
    Best for
    dusting over hummus, labneh or grilled onions, dry rubs where extra liquid would ruin things, when nothing on this list is in the house

    There is no perfect stand-in for sumac molasses, and this is the least-bad option. You get the sumac flavour and colour with none of the sweetness, cling or body, so add a little olive oil and lemon separately to make up for the missing syrup.

What is Sumac Molasses?

Sumac Molasses is a thick, dark red-brown syrup made by boiling down the juice of sumac berries with a little sugar and salt, sold in Turkey as sumak eksisi and in English as sumac molasses, sumac syrup or sumac sauce.

Cooking tips

  • Shake the bottle before every use. Real sumac molasses separates, and the flavour sits in the sludge at the bottom.
  • It is a finishing and dressing ingredient, not a cooking one. Boiling it flattens the fruity top note and leaves only a dull sweetness, so add it off the heat or at the table.
  • For a Turkish salad dressing, work at roughly one part sumac molasses to two or three parts olive oil, with salt and dried mint. Any more syrup and the salad turns sticky.
  • Most commercial bottles already contain salt, and some contain a fair amount, so taste before you salt the dish.
  • Do not treat it as interchangeable with ground sumac spoon for spoon. It is liquid and sweet; the powder is dry and purely sour, and swapping one volume for the other throws a dressing badly out of balance.

Frequently asked questions

Is sumac molasses the same as ground sumac?

No, and this trips people up constantly. Ground sumac is the dried berry milled to a brick-red powder: dry, purely sour, no sweetness. Sumac molasses is the boiled-down juice: liquid, thick, sweet-sour and usually salted. If a recipe calls for the syrup and you have the powder, mix 2 teaspoons of powder with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and a pinch of sugar to get roughly one tablespoon of the syrup.

Can I use pomegranate molasses instead of sumac molasses?

Yes, and it is the best off-the-shelf swap. Use it one for one and add about 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice per tablespoon to sharpen it, because pomegranate molasses is noticeably sweeter and rounder. The dish will taste a little jammier and less astringent, but nobody at the table will complain.

Can I just leave it out?

In a marinade or a cooked dish, yes, provided you add some acid in its place, since that is most of what it is doing. In a salad dressing it is harder to skip, because the syrup is supplying the sourness, a little sweetness and the cling all at once. A tablespoon of lemon juice plus a quarter teaspoon of honey covers it well enough.

How do I make sumac molasses at home?

You can approximate it in a minute with ground sumac, lemon juice and a little sugar or grape molasses, which is what most cooks outside Turkey do. Making it properly means steeping whole dried sumac berries in water, straining, and reducing the juice with sugar, which takes a long simmer and berries that are hard to source. The quick version is close enough for a dressing.

Does sumac molasses need refrigerating once opened?

Keep it in the fridge after opening and it will hold for months. It is high in sugar and acid so it is stable, but the fruity aroma fades in a warm cupboard and the syrup can throw a fuzzy mould at the neck of the bottle if it is left open and sticky. Wipe the rim and cap it tightly.

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