Pour two pailfuls of boiling water upon twenty pounds of potash and
let it stand two hours. Have ready thirty pounds of clean grease, upon
which pour one pailful of the lye, adding another pail of water to the
potash ; let it stand three or four hours, stir it well ; then pour a gallon
of the lye upon the grease, stir it well ; and in half an hour another gallon
of the lye, stir it thoroughly ; in half an hour repeat the process, and thus
proceed until you have poured off all the lye ; then add two pails of
boiling hot water to the remainder of the potash, and let it stand ten
hours ; then stir the mixture, and^ if it has become stiff and the grease
has disappeared from the surface, take out a little and see whether the
weak lye will thicken it ; if it does, add the lye ; if it does not, try water,
and if that thickens it, let it stand another day, stirring it well five or six
times during the day; if the lye does not separate from the grease you
may fill up with water.
OLD-STYLE FAMILY SOFT SOAP.
Tlo set the leach, bore several holes in the bottom of a barrel, or use one
without a bottom; prepare a board larger than the barrel, then set the
barrel on it, and cut a grove around just outside the barrel, making one
grove from this to the edge of the board, to carry off the lye as it runs off,
with a groove around it, running into one in the centre of the board.
Place all two feet from the ground and tip it so that the lye may run
538
MISCELLANEOUS RECIPES.
easily from the board into the vessel below prepared to receive it. Put
half bricks or stones around the edge of the inside of the barrel ; place
on them one end of some sticks about two inches wide, inclining to the
centre ; on those place some straw to the depth of two inches, over it scat-
ter two pounds of slacked lime. Put in ashes, about half of a bushel
at a time, pack it well, by pounding it down, and continue doing so until
the barrel is full, leaving a funnel-shaped hollow in the centre large
enough to hold several quarts of water. Use rain-water boiling hot. Let
the water disappear before adding more. If the ashes are packed very
tightly it may require two or three days before the lye will begin to run,
but it will be the stronger for it, and much better.
To Make Boiled Soft Soap. — Put in a kettle the grease consisting of all
kinds of fat✪ Old-Style Family Soft Soap that has accumulated in the kitchen, such as scraps and bones
from the soup-kettle, rinds from meat, etc.; fill the kettle half full ; if there
is too much grease it can be skimmed off after the soap is cold, for another
kettle of soap. This is the only true test when enough grease is used, as
the lye will consume all that is needed and no more. Make a fire under
one side of it. The kettle should be in an out-house or out of doors. Let
it heat very hot so as to fry ; stir occasionally to prevent burning. Now
put in the lye a gallon at a time, watching it closely until it boils, as it
sometimes runs over at the beginning. Add lye until the kettle is full
enough, but not too full to hoil well. Soap should boil from the side and
not the middle, as this would be more likely to cause it to boil over.
To test the soap, to one spoonful of soap add one of rain-water ; if it stirs
up very thick, the soap is good and will keep ; if it becomes thinner, it is
not good.
Page 359 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1887. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Pour two pailfuls of boiling water upon twenty pounds of potash and let it stand two hours. Have ready thirty pounds of clean grease, upon which pour one pailful of the lye, adding another pail of water to the potash ; let it stand three or four hours, stir it well ; then pour a gallon of the lye upon the grease, stir it well ; and in half an hour another gallon of the lye, stir it thoroughly ; in half an hour repeat the process, and thus proceed until you have poured off all the lye ; then add two pails of boiling hot water to the remainder of the potash, and let it stand ten hours ; then stir the mixture, and if it has become stiff and the grease has disappeared from the surface, take out a little and see whether the weak lye will thicken it ; if it does, add the lye ; if it does not, try water, and if that thickens it, let it stand another day, stirring it well five or six times during the day; if the lye does not separate from the grease you may fill up with water.
OLD-STYLE FAMILY SOFT SOAP.
Tlo set the leach, bore several holes in the bottom of a barrel, or use one without a bottom; prepare a board larger than the barrel, then set the barrel on it, and cut a grove around just outside the barrel, making one grove from this to the edge of the board, to carry off the lye as it runs off, with a groove around it, running into one in the centre of the board. Place all two feet from the ground and tip it so that the lye may run
easily from the board into the vessel below prepared to receive it. Put half bricks or stones around the edge of the inside of the barrel ; place on them one end of some sticks about two inches wide, inclining to the centre ; on those place some straw to the depth of two inches, over it scatter two pounds of slacked lime. Put in ashes, about half of a bushel at a time, pack it well, by pounding it down, and continue doing so until the barrel is full, leaving a funnel-shaped hollow in the centre large enough to hold several quarts of water. Use rain-water boiling hot. Let the water disappear before adding more. If the ashes are packed very tightly it may require two or three days before the lye will begin to run, but it will be the stronger for it, and much better.
To Make Boiled Soft Soap. — Put in a kettle the grease consisting of all kinds of fat that has accumulated in the kitchen, such as scraps and bones from the soup-kettle, rinds from meat, etc.; fill the kettle half full ; if there is too much grease it can be skimmed off after the soap is cold, for another kettle of soap. This is the only true test when enough grease is used, as the lye will consume all that is needed and no more. Make a fire under one side of it. The kettle should be in an out-house or out of doors. Let it heat very hot so as to fry ; stir occasionally to prevent burning. Now put in the lye a gallon at a time, watching it closely until it boils, as it sometimes runs over at the beginning. Add lye until the kettle is full enough, but not too full to hoil well. Soap should boil from the side and not the middle, as this would be more likely to cause it to boil over. To test the soap, to one spoonful of soap add one of rain-water ; if it stirs up very thick, the soap is good and will keep ; if it becomes thinner, it is not good.
Records on this page
Old-Style Family Soft Soap