Soap making was discovered by pure accident during Roman times. Women who laundered in a river near a sacrificial site noticed an increased cleaning ability following rainstorms. Unknown to them, the rain combined with the ashes and fats from the sacrifice of animals actually produced a soap.
Our more recent ancestors captured this same process and frequently made what has become commonly known as "ole fashioned lye soap". Talking to local folks, you hear tales of how their parents or grandparents made lye soap from the fat of hogs, lambs or cattle. SOme will tell you how mild the soap was and that the family used it as a bath soap and shampoo, even on babies. Others will tell you how the lye soap would take the hide off you, but did get the clothes clean. And most locals will tell you it is a sure fire remedy for poison ivy.
Through our research, we discovered the difference lays in the strength of the lye used. Our ancestors made their own lye by pouring water through the ashes left over in the wood stoves. The strength was dependent on the type of wood burned and the temperature of the fire.
The process we use for making soap is a two phase one that incorporates the traditional Castile Soap recipe from Spain and the French practice of hand-milling to create a more pleasing texture. Although many soaps are produced in one phase, we have come to prefer the hand-milled process. During a one phase process all ingredients are added when lye is most active. During the two phase process, ingredients that lend a special quality to each bar are added when the soap is saponified and have no chance of reacting with the active lye.
During the first phase pure olive oil is combined with commercially produced lye. The olive oil has to be heated to around 150 degrees, while the lye mixture is cooled to the same temperature. Once the two liquids are combined the mixture is hand-stirred for approximately 30 minutes, then poured into a mother mold where it saponifies and hardens. The soap is checked twice daily for 72 to 96 hours to ensure proper hardening, then cut into smaller blocks and turned out on racks to cure for four weeks. During this phase, the soap remains caustic and only after proper curing is it safe to handle. Unlike many commercially produced soaps the glycerin produced as a by-product during the process remains in our soap as a natural emollient.
During the second phase the basic soap is hand-milled (grated) to the consistency of grated cheese. The soap is then combined with small amounts of water and heated until it becomes liquid. High quality natural ingredients are added to the mixture, then it is poured into bar molds and put into the freezer for 5 to 6 hours. Frozen bars can be easily popped from the molds and placed onto racks to dry for an additional four weeks.
 Our soap takes 8 weeks from the start of a batch until it is ready to market.
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