Slippery elm bark, Ulmus rubra, Organic slippery elm bark powder, a soothing traditional herb for teas, gruels, and syrups, ethically sourced due to at-risk wild populations. Slippery Elm comes from a native North American tree found from southeastern Canada through the central and eastern United States, including Appalachian forests. Its name comes from the reddish inner bark, which becomes silky and mucilaginous when mixed with water.

Cherokee records preserve slippery elm preparations for coughs and chest complaints, while Ojibwe records mention the inner bark for dry, sore throats. Other Native communities used it as food and in poultices. Oral histories from formerly enslaved Southerners also remember gathering and chewing slippery elm bark for fever and general illness.

Slippery elm remains a familiar herb for the home apothecary. Dried inner bark can be steeped as tea, stirred with water into a nourishing gruel, blended with honey into syrups or lozenges, or used to thicken warm herbal poultices.

Juliette de Baïracli Levy wrote that her slippery-elm Nature Gruel was first developed for young or orphaned animals and was later used to wean her own children. Modern herbalist Michael Moore listed slippery elm for cold or standard infusions, while Jill Stansbury published an herbal syrup formula containing slippery elm powder. In Southern Appalachian burn traditions, a slippery elm bark solution was sometimes used alongside the old practice of “talking the fire out.” Because inner-bark harvesting can seriously damage trees and United Plant Savers lists slippery elm as at risk, careful sourcing matters. Ours is ethically grown and sourced.         4 oz. – $5.00