Savon de Marseille Traditional Soap
Savon de Marseille is the traditional soap manufactured in Marseille, a city in the Provence Alpes Cote d’ Azur region of France. Marseille is the second largest city in France and has the country’s largest port.
Nothing is quite the same as Savon de Marseille. They are heavy soaps, smell delicious and have a special texture. In the Middle Ages big blocks of this gentle soap were first crafted in Marseille with the olive oil from local groves, marine ash and sea salted water.
Genuine Savon de Marseille characteristics
Did you know the creation of an authentic block of Marseille soap requires numerous manual operations and is very labour intensive. The process which is three centuries-old has stood the test of time and is still used at the last remaining traditional soap factories of Savonnerie Le Serail and Marius Fabre.
Savon de Marseille is traditionally green or white with the white soap made with palm oil and the green with at least 50% olive oil.
The authenticity of genuine Savon de Marseille is given away by the fine white powder on the surface of the soap. This is actually only a bit of sea salt, which will disappear once the soap is wet so nothing to worry about, in fact it sets this soap apart as being authentic.
Savon de Marseille is totally biodegradable, requires little packaging and its manufacture is environmentally friendly. Authentic Savon de Marseille is stamped with its weight in grams, a practice left over from years ago which allowed households to compare prices and plan their inventories.
The History of Savon de Marseille
During the 1900s, Marseille sadly saw the decline of its soap industry with many manufacturers closing one after the other due to the influx of detergents.
In 1949 Vincent Boetto took the challenge to continue soap making with traditional methods with an aim to save and continue the know how of this ancient trade. He started Savonneries Le Serail and created the Seraglio Soap which has a high content of local olive oil.
Vincent Boetto’s story is one of determination. He acquired a farm located within the city, located and installed the large dough pots and other antique equipment needed to manufacture the cubed soap and went about creating the Seraglio Soap.
The antique equipment is lovingly preserved and cared for, and by solely using antique equipment and traditional methods, this soap house has earned the prestigious label of “Enterprise of Living Heritage” award by the CCI Marseille. Daniel, Vincent’s son, took over the control of the business in 2009 and continues in the steps of his father.
The business has diversified into manufacturing other products such as scented toilet soaps which are made from Marseille soap chips. The toilet soaps come in many colours and sizes ranging from small 25g shapes to 300g blocks, some even with crushed petals or lavender flowers that exfoliate the skin.
If you’d like to purchase authentic Savon de Marseille but don’t have a trip to the South of France planned, then you’ll find beautiful cubes of traditional Savon on my Amazon storefront A French Collection.
Marseilles is a popular city for tourists, with many bringing the traditional soap home as a souvenir. The Official Marseille Tourism website may help you plan your vacation.
The 6 Steps In Manufacturing Authentic Savon de Marseille
Step 1 Pasting: The ingredients are combined to make a paste
Step 2 Cooking and Washing (Cuisson et Lavage): The paste is boiled then washed with salt water
Step 3 Pouring into the Moulding Tanks: The paste mixture is poured into large tanks
Step 4 Cutting: The soap is cut usually finishing up as a square
Step 5 Drying: Slabs and rectangles of the soap are dried
Step 6 Stamping (Estampillage): Stamping the name or brand on the soap
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