Bar Soap I

About the dish

Bar soap was the solid household soap that was cut into bars and used for laundry and cleaning. The lye is made here by "causticizing" soda with slaked lime - a common method before ready-made lye could be bought. Laundry blue balls (bluing for laundry) gave the characteristic marbled soap.

How to make it

1. 1

   Make the lye

   Mix the lime and soda in a lye-proof vessel. Pour on the boiling water and stir until the soda has dissolved. Wear safety goggles and gloves - the mixture is strongly caustic.

2. 2

   Let the lye clarify

   Let the mixture stand completely undisturbed until the lye is clear.

3. 3

   Boil the soap

   Pour the clear lye off the sediment into a pot and boil it with the tallow for about 3 hours. Stir often once the mass begins to thicken.

4. 4

   Pour out

   When the soap is suitably thick, pour it out at once into flat molds.

5. 5

   Optional marbling

   If you want blue-streaked soap, dissolve laundry blue balls in a little warm water and add the color just before the soap is poured out. Stir only very lightly, so it becomes marbled.

6. 6

   Cut up

   Cut the soap into bars once it has set.