One of the things you have to understand about soapmaking if you're to become an expert is the very important difference between genuine Castile soap and the untraditional versions that crafters have named 'Bastile'.
Genuine Castile soap is made according to the traditions of the commercial soapmakers of Castile, Spain, who created a product that eventually became known the world over. Its basic characteristics are:
A light-colored boiled and salted-out soap made with olive oil.
Let's explore these characteristics further in the context of making genuine Castile craft soap:
-- Castile descended from olive oil soaps of the Levant, most notably from the cities of Aleppo and Nablus. These original soaps were made by the hot process, and the strongly-colored oils made them initially green because with HP everything that goes in the pot ends up in the soap. In contrast, the soap that made Castile famous was a very light-colored soap because it was made by boiling the ingredients and then adding salt to separate the soap from the lye, glycerin and impurities. Crafters don't really like to talk about this because making soap this way is a huge pain in the butt, so we've decided you can make the soap any way you want and still call it genuine Castile. You should try to forget what you've just read. You're welcome.
-- Like its forbears from the Levant, the famous Castile soap was a hard bar soap, especially because it was salted out as described above. However, crafters like to make liquid soap also and it's fun if you can do that and still be able to call it Castile soap. So go right ahead and don't worry about it. It's still Castile!
-- Unlike some of its forbears that included laurel berry oil to add bubbles to the soap, Castile soap was made only from olive oil. Crafters love this because it's the one traditional thing they can do that requires no additional effort whatsoever. Therefore, you can make anything you want any way you want and call it Castile as long as you only use olive oil. If you add a little coconut oil or anything else, you have totally *******ized your soap and can no longer call it GENUINE Castile. Due to your wanton disregard of tradition, you have now made Bastile soap.
Bastile soap is, of course, a name that crafters made up. Along with the rules above. Hope this clarifies things.
Genuine Castile soap is made according to the traditions of the commercial soapmakers of Castile, Spain, who created a product that eventually became known the world over. Its basic characteristics are:
A light-colored boiled and salted-out soap made with olive oil.
Let's explore these characteristics further in the context of making genuine Castile craft soap:
-- Castile descended from olive oil soaps of the Levant, most notably from the cities of Aleppo and Nablus. These original soaps were made by the hot process, and the strongly-colored oils made them initially green because with HP everything that goes in the pot ends up in the soap. In contrast, the soap that made Castile famous was a very light-colored soap because it was made by boiling the ingredients and then adding salt to separate the soap from the lye, glycerin and impurities. Crafters don't really like to talk about this because making soap this way is a huge pain in the butt, so we've decided you can make the soap any way you want and still call it genuine Castile. You should try to forget what you've just read. You're welcome.
-- Like its forbears from the Levant, the famous Castile soap was a hard bar soap, especially because it was salted out as described above. However, crafters like to make liquid soap also and it's fun if you can do that and still be able to call it Castile soap. So go right ahead and don't worry about it. It's still Castile!
-- Unlike some of its forbears that included laurel berry oil to add bubbles to the soap, Castile soap was made only from olive oil. Crafters love this because it's the one traditional thing they can do that requires no additional effort whatsoever. Therefore, you can make anything you want any way you want and call it Castile as long as you only use olive oil. If you add a little coconut oil or anything else, you have totally *******ized your soap and can no longer call it GENUINE Castile. Due to your wanton disregard of tradition, you have now made Bastile soap.
Bastile soap is, of course, a name that crafters made up. Along with the rules above. Hope this clarifies things.
