Castile soap is a name used in English-speaking countries for vegetable oil based soap made in a style similar to that originating in the Castile region of Spain. Traditionally made with olive oil, it now may be used for any hard, white, vegetable-based soap.
The origins of Castile soap go back to the Levant, where Aleppo soap-makers have made hard soaps based on olive and laurel oil for millennia.
It is commonly believed that the Crusaders brought Aleppo soap back to Europe with them in the 11th century, based on the claim that the earliest soap made in Europe was just after the crusades, but in fact the Romans in the first century AD knew about soap and Zosimos of Panopolis ca. 300 AD described soap and soapmaking. Following the Crusades, production of this soap extended to the whole Mediterranean area.
In the 17th century, the soap caused controversy in England, as it supplanted the unnamed local soap after the Spanish Catholic manufacturers purchased the monopoly on soap from the cash-strapped Carolinian government. Its ties to Catholicism caused a public relations campaign to be established featuring washerwomen showing how much more effective local soaps were over Castile soap. The sale of a monopoly in Protestant England to a Catholic company caused great uproar, ending with the Castile soap company eventually being stripped of the monopoly.
Castile soap is a name used in English-speaking countries for vegetable oil based soap made in a style similar to that originating in the Castile region of Spain. Traditionally made with olive oil, it now may be used for any hard, white, vegetable-based soap.
The origins of Castile soap go back to the Levant, where Aleppo soap-makers have made hard soaps based on olive and laurel oil for millennia.
It is commonly believed that the Crusaders brought Aleppo soap back to Europe with them in the 11th century, based on the claim that the earliest soap made in Europe was just after the crusades, but in fact the Romans in the first century AD knew about soap and Zosimos of Panopolis ca. 300 AD described soap and soapmaking. Following the Crusades, production of this soap extended to the whole Mediterranean area.
In the 17th century, the soap caused controversy in England, as it supplanted the unnamed local soap after the Spanish Catholic manufacturers purchased the monopoly on soap from the cash-strapped Carolinian government. Its ties to Catholicism caused a public relations campaign to be established featuring washerwomen showing how much more effective local soaps were over Castile soap. The sale of a monopoly in Protestant England to a Catholic company caused great uproar, ending with the Castile soap company eventually being stripped of the monopoly.
CNN | 25 Aug 2018
The Independent | 26 Aug 2018
CNN | 26 Aug 2018
The Malta Independent | 25 Aug 2018