Mixed with fats, lye produces soap. Mixed with urine ("chamber lye"), it becomes a more potent bleach. Ashes from the wood of apple and pear were particularly suited to bleaching.
Lye
During the Middle Ages, lye was produced by passing water over wood ash, leaching strong alkali, predominantly potassium carbonate (KOH, "potash") from the material.
Mixed with fats, lye produces soap. Mixed with urine ("chamber lye"), it becomes a more potent bleach. Ashes from the wood of apple and pear were particularly suited to bleaching.
Mixed with fats, lye produces soap. Mixed with urine ("chamber lye"), it becomes a more potent bleach. Ashes from the wood of apple and pear were particularly suited to bleaching.
