Slippery Elm is a natural remedy for coughs and sore throats. What is Slippery Elm?
Slippery Elm is an Elm tree native to North America. It grows from eastern Texas, northern Florida, all across the eastern U.S., up into southern Quebec. Slippery Elm is known by other names as well, such as Moose Elm, Red Elm and others. American Elm can sometimes be confused with Slippery Elm, but there are notable differences. American Elm grows up to 80ft tall, where as Slippery Elm averages 40-60ft tall. Slippery Elm also has little “hairs” or fuzz on its branches. Slippery/Red Elm also has red inner bark. The inner bark is what is used for medicinal purposes. American Elm is not used medicinally.
Due to heavy harvesting of Slippery elm for its medicinal purposes and being hit with Dutch elm disease, it is best to source your bark powder from a tree farm rather than wild crafted. As far as I know, the bark powder I have linked below for you is not wild crafted. I have contacted the company to clarify this and am awaiting a response. If I should find out after posting this that it is indeed wild crafted, I will search for another source and update the link.
The substance in the bark powder called mucilage is what coats your mouth, throat, stomach and intestines providing relief from mouth sores, heartburn, sore throat, sour stomach and more.
To make slippery elm lozenges or “balls” or “squares” depending on the shape you make them into, you only need two ingredients. Raw honey and slippery elm bark powder. Using infused honey is another way of doubling down on nature’s benefits. Sage would be a wonderful choice for infused honey, as it contains antibacterial, antiviral benefits and soothes coughs and pain. To infuse honey, take a clean jar, add fresh sage leaves and completely cover sage in raw honey, filling the jar. Let infuse at room temperature for several days then strain out the sage. You can also use other herbs as well.
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When the lozenges are made with just the bark powder and honey, it has a mildly “earthy” taste to it. I do not mind the flavor at all, but my kids do not care for it. So when I make these, I add in some cocao (raw cocoa) powder and a pinch of Himalayan salt to give it some flavor. The kids like it much better this way.
If you just want to make a small batch to try start with about 1/4 cup of raw honey and enough of the bark powder to make a stiff dough, similar to bread dough. I’m not exactly sure on measurements, as I have never measured this. I’ve always just mixed in “enough” bark powder to make a stiff dough and I just “eyeball” the honey. When adding the cacao powder and salt, you’ll want to add them at the beginning, to be sure that they are well incorporated into the dough.
Start by pouring your honey into a bowl. Then add some bark powder, about 1/4 cup or a few tablespoons at a time, and about 2-3 tablespoons of cacao and a pinch or two of salt, if applicable.
Mix thoroughly, adding more bark powder as needed. If you find you’ve added too much powder, you can mix in a little more honey.
Sprinkle bark powder on a clean surface and knead your dough, coating your hands in powder to prevent sticking. Once any sticky spots are kneaded and dusted with powder, roll your dough out to roughly 1/4″-1/2″ thick. Coating your rolling pin in bark powder helps prevent sticking.
I no longer roll the dough into balls. It is quite tedious and I am worried the children will choke on them. I simply take a pizza cutter and cut them into one inch (roughly) square pieces. Then I put them in my dehydrator for at least 5 hours on low. Overnight seems to work well too. Then allow them to cool and store in an airtight container. They will keep for over a year if kept in a cool cupboard in a sealed container. Happy creating, and I hope this is helpful to you! Take care!
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