Slippery Elm Bark Powder.

Stir a spoonful into warm water and watch it change almost at once, thickening into a smooth, mucilaginous gruel. That texture is the whole secret of slippery elm, and the reason herbalists still reach for this bark before almost anything else.

The inner bark was a staple of Indigenous communities across eastern North America long before European settlers arrived, used as both food and medicine, and early colonists adopted much the same gruel to see them through lean winters. The powder is fine and pale tan, closer to baking flour than a typical herbal powder, with a faint, sweetish, woody smell.

Slippery elm is slow-growing, and the species was hit hard by overharvesting and Dutch elm disease through the last century, so sourcing matters. Ours comes from the inner bark of trees managed for sustainable harvest in the Appalachians, stripped without killing the tree, then milled fine enough to mix without grit.

Details

• Slippery elm inner bark, finely milled
• Origin: the Appalachians, from trees managed for sustainable harvest

How to use

Stir a teaspoon into warm water or apple sauce, once or twice a day. Take any medicines at a different time, as slippery elm can slow their absorption.

A plain, old provision, closer to food than medicine; keep it in the pantry.