Slippery Elm Bark Tea

A cold infusion rather than a boiled tea: slippery elm's inner bark is full of mucilage, and the point of the method is to draw that out without cooking it into glue. The original gives no quantities, so the ratios below are the usual working ones.

• Source the bark, do not cut itPowdered or shredded slippery elm inner bark is sold by herb suppliers and health-food shops; buy from a supplier who states the source, as much of the trade is still wild-harvested. Ringing a living tree kills it, and bark stripping is prohibited in many parks and forests.
• QuantitiesThe recipe specifies none. A workable ratio is about 1 tablespoon of shredded bark (or 1 to 2 teaspoons of powder) per cup of boiling water, which gives a drink roughly the body of thin barley water.
• Boiling water, then no more heatPour the water over the bark off the heat and leave it covered, as written. Prolonged simmering or reboiling is generally held to spoil the texture of the mucilage.
• Steeping timeShredded bark needs a good hour to cool and swell; powder thickens in 15 to 20 minutes and will keep thickening in the refrigerator. Judge by texture, not the clock.
• Strain before sweeteningPour through a fine sieve or muslin. Powdered bark leaves a gritty sediment that no amount of stirring will disguise, and the shreds themselves are unpleasant to drink around.
• Lemon juice last, as writtenChill first, then stir in the juice, which cuts the drink's faintly sweet, oatmeal-like flavour.
• Yield and keepingThe recipe gives no yield. Treat it as a fresh drink and finish it within a day or two; the mucilage goes on thickening in the refrigerator and a sweetened infusion will not keep long.
• A note on useSlippery elm is a demulcent, and herbal references commonly advise separating it from medication taken at the same time. Anyone taking prescriptions or who is pregnant should treat it as a herbal preparation rather than a soft drink.