This beautiful soap al-Ard, meaning "The Land," is made by the Women's Soap Cooperative of Beita, just south of Nablus. Since the cooperative works in relatively small batches and are connected with many local small producers, their olive oil - and soap - is considered among the very best of the remaining Nablus soap makers. Al-Ard's main market is in northern Palestine, in the areas around Nazareth and Jenin.
100% of profits from the sales of al-Ard will be donated to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, or PCRF.
Ingredients:
- Olive oil, water, and soda.
- Unscented.
- Approximately 5 oz each, 2" x 3" x 3" (cut by hand, so each vary slightly).
- Olive oil soap gets better with age. Keep your soap bars in a dry place for an increasingly olive-tan colored, dense, sudsy, and less soap-smelling bar. They can be aged even faster in a sunny window!
About Nablus soap:
Nablus soap is made from olive oil, water, and lye. The mix is soaked and cooked slowly in a cauldron through a traditional hot process until all of it has been converted to soap and no lye remains. It is then cooled on a stone floor and cured in chimney-shaped towers for up to 8 months to create a hard, long-lasting, and pure bar. Famously healthy for the skin, Nablus soap is often considered by those who've used it to be the best soap in the world.
Its smooth lather washes away without leaving a film, and it is prescribed in the Mediterranean for skin ailments such as eczema, psoriasis, rashes, dandruff, acne, cold sores, and itchiness. Just as strong-cleaning as it is mild, it can be used for almost any kind of washing whether household or medical.
Nablus soap continues a soap tradition dating back 4500 years to ancient Syria and Iraq: a hot-cooked soap made solely from olive oil. Europeans adapted the Nablus soap recipe after discovering it during the Crusades, producing the famous vegetable soaps of Castile and Marseilles. Nablus soap is the higher-quality precursor to those better-known descendants.