Perhaps this will be of interest to you.
http://www.alcasoft.com/soapfact/historycontent.html
Finally The Soap Making Can Begin.
In another large kettle or pot the fat was placed with the amount of
lye solution determined to be the correct amount. This is easier said
than done. We will discuss it more later. Then this pot was placed
over a fire again outdoors and boiled. This mixture was boiled until
the soap was formed. This was determined when the mixture boiled up
into a thick frothy mass, and a small amount placed on the tongue
caused no noticeable "bite". This boiling process could take up to six
to eight hours depending on the amount of the mixture and the strength
of the lye.
[...]
The difficulties in making soap the colonists endured arose from the
lack of knowledge of the chemical processes involved and the inability
to obtain lye's of known and dependable strengths. There were many
superstitions which the colonist believe caused success or failure.
For making good soap, the tide and the phases of the moon among other
things were taken in account. A Pennsylvania Dutch recipe carefully
warned that a sassafrasas stick was the only kind of implement
suitable for stirring the soap and the stirring must be done always in
the same direction.
In later colonial times, when the trade of soap making was well
established in the cities and towns, many of these trades people
became very astute observers of the process and were able to produce
their soap with dependable high quality. However, many house holders,
particularly in rural areas, made their own potash soap until the
middle of the 19th century. There the difficulties and the related
folklore still existed around the soap making process.
From the diary of Elizabeth Ranch Norton, a niece of President John
Adams, written in 1799, we learn how an exasperating job soap making
could be. On one occasion Mrs. Norton had to make three batches of
soap before she was able to make one barrel of soap fit for her
family's needs. |
