Slippery Elm Uses

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PHOTO: FOTOLIA/MARTA TERON
Slippery Elm tea can be used as a natural health remedy for sore throats.

Slippery Elm Benefits

We seldom think of it now as food. But foremost among the survival rations recommended to early white settlers by the native North Americans those pioneers found here … was the inner bark of the slippery elm tree (Ulmus fulva or rubra).

When dried and ground into a coarse meal, the sweetly fragrant and creamy white or pinkish inner bark of the slippery elm can be boiled into a porridge that looks and tastes very much like oatmeal. And, surprisingly enough, modern nutritionists have discovered that, when so prepared, the bark does indeed possess a food value about equal to that of oatmeal.

This almost forgotten fact actually helped to change the course of our nation’s history on at least one occasion. It is recorded that, during their bitter winter at Valley Forge, George Washington’s ragtag Revolutionary War soldiers lived through one 12-day period on little more than slippery elm porridge. And no one, of course, knows how many starving pioneer families scraped through their first winters on this continent thanks to the same survival rations.

Slippery elm’s inner bark, on the other hand, does have its other uses too. When ground to a fine powder, it makes a good extender for ordinary flour and can be included that way in a wide variety of recipes. And back before today’s sugar-laden treats were so widely available, small boys were fond of stripping off pieces of this cambium bark and chewing it. Such a “chaw” makes a sweet-flavored, long-lasting chewing gum that both satisfies thirst and supplies a certain amount of nourishment.

  • Published on Jan 1, 1977
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