The History of Soap-Making
The earliest record of a soap recipe dates back to 2200 B.C.E. The recipe called
for water, alkali and cassia oil, and was written on a Babylonian clay tablet. There is
also evidence that the ancient Egyptians bathed regularly, and used a soap-like
substance made from animal and vegetable fats, and alkaline salts. By the 900s, soap-
making was common in Spain and Italy, and by the 1200s, also in France. In that era,
soap typically consisted of goat tallow and lye made from beech wood ash.
Unfortunately, because it was difficult and costly to make, its usage was not
widespread until the 18th and 19th centuries. The chemical nature of soap, and how it
works, was also discovered around this time.
In the early twentieth century, soap was typically made at home, using pig lard, or
cow tallow, that was leftover from butchering or cooking meat. The lye was made by
combining ashes leftover from fires with water, in an ash hopper. The ash hopper was
kept in a shed, or other space where it was protected from precipitation; ashes were
added periodically, and when water was poured through them, it leached the lye from
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