Did you know that France is famous for its soap? More specifically, Marseille soap or Saveon de Marseille. These traditional hard soap have been produced in Marseille and Salon de Provence area for 600 years. In the 17th century, Louis XIV introduced a regulation stating that only soaps made with Olive oil can be called Savon de Marseille, but the regulation has since been amended so that soaps made with other vegetable oils can bear the name.
After spending 3 nights in Valensole, we continued our journey towards Paris where we would take our flight home from. On the way, we made a small detour and stop at Marius Fabre Marseille Soap Museum.
At the museum we learnt about the history of the soap and also the making process. It was quite interesting. Then of course, we had to buy some to bring home for ourselves and for souvenir. The original olive oil soap does not smell good, but it definitely cleans really well! Meanwhile the ones made with other essential oils smell really good and also clean really well. The colours of Marseille soap are inconsistent, and this is because they get their colours from the oils used. Thus the soaps made with olive oil is always green but they may have different shades of green depending on the oil harvest.
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| Big blocks of olive oil soap |
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| Bulk Olive Oil Marseille Soap Scraps |
And that was our visit to the Marius Fabre Soap Factory and Marseille Soap Museum. Would you like to go too?
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