S
oapmaking
The
first recorded accounts of soap were on Sumerian
clay tablets dating back to 2500 B.C. At that time in history soap
was used in the washing of wool. One Sumerian
tablet, describes soap made from water, alkali, and cassia oil. Historical
evidence shows that Egyptians bathed regularly
and that they combined animal and vegetable oils with alkaline salts to
create a soaplike substance for washing. It is well known that Cleopatra,
who captivated the leaders of the Roman world,
attributed her beauty to her baths in mare's milk. Ancient
Rome gave soap it's famialiar name. They were well known for
their public baths, generally soap was not used for personal cleaning.
To clean the body the Greeks and then the
Romans would rub the body with olive oil and
sand. A scraper, called a strigil, was then used to scrape off the
sand and olive oil also removing dirt, grease, and dead cells from the
skin leaving it clean. Afterwards the skin was rubbed down with salves
prepared from herbs.
The European Dark Ages
After the fall of the Roman Empire in Western
Europe, there was little soap making done or use of it in the European
Dark Ages. In the Byzantine Empire,
the remains of the Roman world in the eastern
Mediterranean area, and in the expanding Arab
world soap was made and used. Around the 8th century soap making
was revived in Italy and Spain. By the 13th
century, France also became a producer
of soap for the European market. This is when the history of soap
making becomes more concrete. Merseilles emerged as the first great center
of soap making and remained an important producer through the Middle Ages.
Genoa, Venice, and Bari in italy came to rival it, as did Castila in Spain.
Each of these regions had a plentiful supply of olive oil and barilla (a
fleshy plant whose ashes were used to make lye). This formulation became
the standard through the 17th century. During the 14th century, soap making
was started in England. Soaps produced
in the south of Europe, Italy, Spain, and the southern
ports of France (Marseilles and Castle soaps) were made from olive
oils. These soaps made using olive oils were of a higher quality than those
made by the soap producers of England and northern
France. These northern soap makers, not being able to obtain the
olive oil, made their soaps with only animal fats. Tallow, the fat from
cattle, was the chief fat used. Northern European
soap makers even resorted to making soap from fish oils. Soaps made from
the poor quality animals fats and oils, while adequate for laundry and
textile usage, were not desirable for bathing and washing. The soap from
southern Europe with their olive oils were
superior. This resulted in a lively trade of exporting fine soaps from
southern Europe.
The above information
was gathered using the Mining Company
and I have placed it on my site as an interesting background to the soap
recipes so that you can appreciate the hard work that went into the soap
to make them what they are today. Thank God I was born in 1975
:: grin ::
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SOAP LINKS
A
nice body and face soap
This is a luxurious and gentle handmade soap. It's a lot of work
to make, but it's also a lot of fun. It is a good use for huge quantities
of fat left over from cooking something.
Fragrant
At Demon
h
Miller's
Homemade Soap Page
h
Walton
Feed Presents Soap Making
h
Ancient
Soap Making
they didn't have Red Devil Lye back then