Slippery Elm Tea
Ingredients
Directions
Break up the slippery elm bark and place it in a pitcher.
Add the white sugar to the pitcher.
Pour in the boiling water and stir occasionally.
Cover the pitcher and let it steep until thickened.
If too thick, add more water and sugar to taste.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Slippery elm bark
- Its mucilage thickens the hot water into a soothing, gel-like tea as it steeps.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the bark's mild, earthy flavour.
- Boiling water
- Extracts the mucilage from the bark and dissolves the sugar.
The step that matters
Let it steep until thickened. Steeping time controls how much mucilage is released from the bark. Too short and the tea stays thin; the cook should judge thickness rather than rely on a fixed time.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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