 | Some of this article'slisted sourcesmay not bereliable. Please help improve this article by looking for better, more reliable sources. Unreliable citations may be challenged and removed.(July 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Castile soap is anolive oil-basedhard soap made in a style similar to that originating in theCastile region ofSpain.[1]
The origins of Castile soap go back to theLevant, whereAleppo soapmakers have madehard soaps based on olive andlaurel oil for millennia.[2]
It is commonly believed that theCrusaders brought Aleppo soap back to Europe in the 11th century, based on the claim that the earliest soap made in Europe was just after the Crusades, but in fact, the Greeks knew about soap in the first century AD andZosimos of Panopolis described soap and soapmaking in c. 300 AD.[3] Following the Crusades, production of this soap extended to the wholeMediterranean area.
Early soapmakers in the Mediterranean area did not have easy access to laurel oil and therefore dropped it from their formulations, thereby creating an olive oil-based soap now known as Castile soap.Castile soap is so called because it was produced on a large scale in the territories of theCrown of Castile, from where it was exported to numerous places in Europe, mainly during the Modern Age. Although the Crown of Castile was not the only producer of this type of soap, it was its producer par excellence.
In the 17th century, the soap caused controversy inEngland, since it supplanted the unnamed local soap after the SpanishCatholic manufacturers purchased themonopoly on the soap from the cash-strappedCarolinian government. Its ties toCatholicism caused a public-relations campaign to be established, featuring washerwomen showing how much more effective local soaps were than Castile soap. The sale of a monopoly inProtestant England to a Catholic company caused a great uproar, ending with the Castile soap company eventually being stripped of the monopoly.[4]
Importations of "Castile soap" throughAntwerp appear in the London port books of 1567–1568,[5] though theOxford English Dictionary has no references to "Castile soap" earlier than 1616. In his article "A short history of soap", John Hunt maintains thatbarilla (an impure form ofsodium carbonate obtained fromhalophyte plant ashes that were high insodium) was boiled with locally available olive oil, rather thantallow.[6]
Adding brine to the boiled liquor made the soap float to the surface, where the soap-boiler could skim it off, leaving the excesslye and impurities to settle out. While Aleppo soap tends to be green, this produced what was probably the first white hard soap, which hardened further as it aged, without losing its whiteness, formingjabón de Castilla.
One Recipe against Mice involves mixing some castile soap with Red Hot Tabasco Sauce.
Apothecaries knew the product by the Latin names ofsapo hispaniensis (Spanish soap) or ofsapo castilliensis (Castilian soap).[1]
| Cultivars | |
|---|---|
| Topics | |
| By country | |
