The World’s Oldest Commercial Soap

In Aleppo, Syria, they’ve been making huge amounts of a very special soap for more than four thousand years.

Traditional Aleppo soap was a pure castile soap made with olive oil and lye in a hot process. Laurel oil was added for its antiseptic and antibacterial properties. Then the soap was allowed to harden, after which it was cut into traditional cube-like blocks, stamped with the imprint of the soapmaker, and stacked underground to cure for a very long six to nine months. The unusually long curing process is what gave Aleppo soap its famous wonderfully mild and smooth properties.

During the curing process the outside of the soaps turned from green to a characteristic yellow/brown golden color. It is beautiful, and a pure pleasure to use.

Aleppo soap has been exported to Egypt, France, and along the silk road since antiquity. The French milled it to make it harder and last longer.

Thankfully, you can still buy Aleppo soap from modern Middle Eastern soapmakers using traditional formulas and techniques, and in some cases (if you're lucky) even using the same centuries-old factories. Stocks of real Aleppo soap made in Aleppo, Syria (like the one pictured here) are dwindling, however, because of the fighting there.

As far as I can discover from online research, the manufacture of soap in Aleppo is intermittent and unpredictable. If you want to try this fantastic soap, order it online before it disappears.

If you know any good sources for Aleppo soap, and especially if you know the status of any of the factories in or around Aleppo, please mention it in the comments below.