Ash liquor

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Ash liquor (also: snow flower, formerly also: ash liquor) is a historical cleaning agent based on water and ash . Ash liquor was common for cleaning laundry and floors until the middle of the 20th century.

history

A roughly 2500 BC Chr. Recipe scratched on clay already refers to the effect of ash for cleaning. This comes from Tello (Mesopotamia) and is as follows: 1 liter of oil and five and a half times the serving of potash . Even if this is closer to the effect of soap, it can be assumed that washing or cleaning has been done with ash liquor for centuries. The handicraft of the soap boiler followed as a later development .

laundry detergent

Mixing ash with water creates an alkaline solution (lye), the effect of which is used to clean laundry (sixth). The word alkaline refers to al-quali ( Arabic القلية) which means plant ash. There are various ways of washing with ashes. Here are some of the ways in which the ashes were added:

  • The ashes are sprinkled directly on the laundry. Hot water is added.
  • Ash in linen sacks on the items to be washed. Hot water is added.
  • Add ash and water mixed to the laundry.

Usually this procedure was carried out several times and finally rinsed with pure water. The whole process could take several days.

Abrasives

Is used, for example, for (wooden) floors. Possible manufacture; Wood ash is scalded, the water is removed from it after 5 days, it is made hot and can then be cleaned with this.

Cautions

Due to the high pH value, ash lye can cause burns to the skin and mucous membranes if left in place for a long time.

Web links

Wiktionary: Lauge  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lye. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . tape 12 : L, M - (VI). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1885 ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).
  2. ↑ Roland Girtler: Aschenlauge - The old culture of the farmers . Böhlau, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-205-78858-4 , laundry washing, ash solution and soap - hygiene, p. 301 .
  3. ↑ sixth. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . tape 15 : Schiefeln – Soul - (IX). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1899 ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).
  4. ↑ Horgen year 2011 booklet, wash houses. (PDF) Internet Archive, p. 6
  5. ↑ By public transport over the Ofen Pass to Venice . Radio DRS1, broadcast Siesta, September 3, 2008, position 28:59.