Little White Lye

Posted on February 9, 2015

What have we learned about making lye soap at the park this winter?  Don’t make lye soap during cold weather.  During the recent cold weather the water is freezing, the ashes are freezing, and the rangers are freezing! We have been slowly pouring water over cook-fire ashes.  The water dissolves the ashes to create lye water.  Lard is obtained from the hog the park purchased. Pioneers, like the Lincoln family, would make their soap after butchering their hogs (which is where they got their lard), usually done in the fall of the year.  (Also, a much better time to make soap…maybe we’ll do this program next fall instead!) The recipe we use calls for 4 ½ cups lye water to 13 cups lard.  This will make one cake (size 9X13 cake pan).  The soap will then be cut in cakes (or bars) about three days after being put in the mold.  We will let it set for 10 weeks to neutralize the acid so it’s safe to use. It’s a lot of work to make lye soap. That’s probably why the pioneers didn’t bathe very often.   Guest post by Bob Zimmerman of Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial