The first evidence of the use of natural soap with EVOO as a key ingredient dates back to the time when the Sumerians ruledMesopotamia. The remains were found in clay jars. Also, there were inscriptions describing a mixture of potash and EVOO.
The use of homemade soap became widespread throughout many civilizations, so much so that the Phoenicians used it to clean textile fibers from wool and cotton in 600 B.C. It is believed that this tradition was originally brought to Europe by the Phoenicians through the mouth of the Rhone River.
Greeks and Romans used EVOO as a method of cleaning and for hygiene, but they did not include it as an ingredient in the soap they produced. Instead, they rubbed their bodies with EVOO and sand, and used a tool that is similar to a scraper, called a Strigil, with which they removed oil, sand, dirt and dead skin cells.
Spain became the world’s main producer of soap in 800 BC, as it produced a product called Castile soap. To make it, they used EVOO and barilla, which were the ashes from the salt extracted by fire from a plant native to Egypt called Kali, and its salts were called alkali. This plant was abundant in our peninsula, as it was found on the banks and sandbanks of the Mediterranean Sea.
The industries dedicated to Castile soap production in Andalusia were considered extremely important. They were later called almonas, which is of Arab origin.
It did not take long for cities like Marseille, Genoa, Venice and Savona to succeed Spain in soap making. In fact, it was in Marseilles where they made their own soap bearing the name Marseille soap, although it was merely an imitation of Castile soap. Thus, in 1688, Louis XIV introduced regulations to limit the use of the name Savon de Marseille through the Edict of Colvert. He made it compulsory that, in order to bear the name Marseille soap, the soap had to be produced with EVOO as a key ingredient. However, this edict no longer gives prominence to EVOO, which was the fundamental ingredient of the soap. Now, it can be made with other vegetable oils as well, although we all know that it is made best with EVOO.