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Marseille soap or ''Savon de Marseille'' () is a traditional
Marseille soap or ''Savon de Marseille'' () is a traditional hard soap
Hard soap or curd soap is a kind of soap. Examples are Nablus soap, Aleppo soap, Castile soap, and Marseille soap or ''savon de Marseille''. During the preparation of the soap, common salt ( sodium chloride) is added to the liquid soap mass. Th ...
made from vegetable oils
Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or fat ...
that has been produced around Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
, France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, for about 600 years. The first documented soapmaker was recorded there in about 1370. By 1688, Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
introduced regulations in the '' Edict of Colbert'' limiting the use of the name ''savon de Marseille'' to olive oil
Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: f ...
based soaps. The law has since been amended to allow other vegetable oils to be used.
By 1913, production had reached 180,000 ton
Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses.
Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean
* the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds
...
s. Thus, in 1924, there were 132 soapmaking companies in the Marseille and Salon-de-Provence
Salon-de-Provence (, ; oc, label= Provençal Occitan, Selon de Provença/Seloun de Provènço, ), commonly known as Salon, is a commune located about northwest of Marseille in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d' ...
areas combined. However, by 2000, there were only five remaining.
Production
Traditionally, the soap is made by mixingsea water
Seawater, or salt water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM). This means that every kilogram (roughly one liter by volume) of seawater has approx ...
from the Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
, olive oil, and the alkaline ash from sea plants together in a large cauldron (usually making about 8 tons). This mixture is then heated for several days while being stirred continuously. The mixture is allowed to sit until ready and is then poured into a mold and allowed to set slightly. While still soft it is cut into bars, stamped, and left to completely harden. The whole process can take up to a month.
Today
Today there are two main types of Marseille soap, a greenish-hued variety made with added colour and a white one made of olive oil, or a palm andcoconut oil
frameless , right , alt = A cracked coconut and a bottle of coconut oil
Coconut oil (or coconut butter) is an edible oil derived from the wick, meat, and milk of the coconut palm fruit. Coconut oil is a white solid fat; in warmer climates duri ...
mixture. Originally sold only in 5 kg and 20 kg blocks, today they come in sizes between 300 g and 1 kg, though larger sizes are often available, some up to 40 kg.
Marseille soap is frequently used for domestic cleaning, including hand-washing of delicate garments such as those made of wool or silk. In its liquid form it is commonly sold as a hand soap. It can also be used in agriculture as a pesticide.
See also
* Aleppo soap *Azul e branco soap
Azul e branco (''blue and white''), also known as sabão Offenbach (''Offenbach soap'') or sabão macaco (''monkey soap''), is a type of soap used in Portugal. It is comparable to household soap, but has a rugged texture, bulky shape, lack of odor ...
* Castile soap
*Hot process
Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing
Bathing is the act of washing the body, usually with water, or the imme ...
*Moroccan black soap Moroccan black soap or beldi soap is a kind of soap originating in Morocco. It is a high-alkaline Castile soap made from olive oil and macerated olives with a gel-like consistency. This gives the soap its characteristic dark greenish-black color ...
*Nabulsi soap
Nabulsi soap ( ar, صابون نابلسي, ''ṣābūn Nābulsi'') is a type of castile soap produced only in Nablus in the West Bank, Palestine. Its chief ingredients are virgin olive oil (the main agricultural product of the region), water, a ...
References
{{reflist Soaps Culture of Marseille