Slippery elm
Ulmus rubra
Inner bark, powdered · cooling · moistening
A bark gruel for a throat or belly that feels scraped.
In the mouth
How it tastes
Bland, oatmeal-sweet, slick. A coating cup, not a perfume.
Traditional use
Kitchens cooked the inner bark into a thin porridge for sore throats and irritated guts. It is water as food — bland, slick, and kind.
In the cup
Whisk 1 tsp powder into a little cold water, then add warm water or oat milk to a gruel. Honey if wanted. Drink slowly.
Blood
Salty blood · salt
Salt is cooling and barely a taste. These plants dry first, then move fluid — and water follows. They are mineral salts, not table salt: building, coating to sensitive membranes, thinning stuck mucous, supporting kidneys and the kreb-cycle minerals of muscle and nerve.
Read salty bloodReached for
Who it feeds
The living bloom
Question Mark, Eastern Comma, Mourning Cloak, Zephyr Anglewing, Elm Sphinx, Ash Sphinx
The promise
A careful hand
Ordinary tea for a healthy adult.
Sustainable harvest is a real concern — prefer cultivated powder. Can interfere with other medicines if taken together. Not a wilderness ID project.
Read the whole promiseSits well with
Marshmallow
Althaea officinalis
The original marsh mallow — a slick coat for dry tissue.
Sore throat · Cough · Dryness
Mineralize, soothe, and restore fluid
Oats
Avena sativa
Breakfast as medicine — the original nervine food.
Frayed nerves · Restless sleep · Hollow energy
Ground, build, and settle
Cinnamon
Cinnamomum verum
Bark that smells like a warmed cupboard and acts like a slow fire.
Indigestion · Chill & congestion · Cold hands & sluggish blood
Warm, move, and stimulate
Traditional kitchen and folk use only. This is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you are pregnant, nursing, on medicine, or unwell, ask a clinician before drinking anything as a remedy.