[Sca-cooks] Re: Soap

[johnna holloway]

Sue Clemenger wrote:
> Soap....I'm going with some (relatively) modern recipes, and using all
> the modern safety precautions (I've got a friend who was burned with
> lye, and the scar is NOT pretty, nor is the description she sent me of
> her skin bubbling and turning black....<blech>).  I've got _no_ period
> references, other than some anectdotal (un-footnoted, etc.) stuff in the
> introductory section of a couple of books.  One reference in a class
> handout to "castile" soap, in a recipe apparently taken from Plat's
> _Delights for Ladies_ (anyone on this list know the dates for that, by
> the way?).
> Anyone out there have any sources on period soap recipes, references,
> etc.? (besides the Florilegium, of course <g>).> --Maire
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Platt or Plat is a 1600? for the earliest edition, according
to my notes. That edition is not reproduced, but the 1602 edition
and the 1608 and 1609 editions are. The 1948 Fussell edited
edition is the 1609 edition. There are editions going up to 1656.
Soap mentions are found in The English Countrywoman by G.E. and K.R.
Fussell. 1953, 1981,1985.
Also see Lost Country Life by Dorothy Hartley, 1979.
And a one with recipes that is practical, if not historic,
is entitled: Secrets of the Still by Grace Firth. EPM Publications
of McLean, Virginia published it in 1983. She covers soap in a couple
of pages, but also covers making creams, oils, and stillroom products
using stills. It's one of the only books that I know of that covers
use of stills for home use. I should have some other references, but
I shall have to dig them up.
Johnnae llyn Lewis Johnna Holloway