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Drink

Slippery-elm Tea

A herbal tea made by steeping slippery-elm bark in boiling water until mucilaginous, then straining.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Slippery-elm Tea

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Strip the slippery-elm bark into small pieces.

  2. Pour 2 cups of boiling water over the pieces.

  3. Let it stand until it becomes mucilaginous.

  4. Strain the mixture.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Slippery-elm bark
Releases mucilage into the water, giving the tea its thick, slippery texture.

The step that matters

Let it stand until it becomes mucilaginous. Mucilage forms gradually as the bark's soluble gums hydrate in hot water. Stopping too early leaves a thin tea, while waiting too long may not change the result much, so the cook should judge by texture.

“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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