An Aleppo Tradition is Revived in Paris as France’s Own Soapmakers Duel

Summary

The Syrian soap indus­try, includ­ing the famous Aleppo soap, was dev­as­tated by the war in Aleppo, forc­ing soap­maker Hassan Harastani to con­tinue pro­duc­ing Aleppo soap in France. Meanwhile, the soap indus­try in France faces its own con­tro­versy as rival groups of Marseille soap­mak­ers fight over what con­sti­tutes gen­uine Marseille soap, with the fate of the soap to be decided by the French gov­ern­ment.

Syrian soap­maker Hassan Harastani was forced out off Aleppo by years of bru­tal war dur­ing which the city’s famous Aleppo soap became one of the casu­al­ties.

The maze of alley­ways which once made up the ancient city of Aleppo used to house some 60 soap fac­to­ries before it was reduced to rub­ble. The dis­tinc­tive fra­grance of olives and lau­rel which once wafted from the soap fac­to­ries pro­duc­ing ​‘Aleppo’s Green Gold’ have long been over­pow­ered by the stench of smoke and rot­ting rub­bish.

We make it here the same way we make it at home: there’s olive oil, lau­rel leaves, water-only nat­ural ingre­di­ents.- Hassan Harastani

Samir Constantini a Franco-Syrian doc­tor and busi­ness­man began import­ing Aleppo soap to France in 2004. His plan had been to open a soap fac­tory on the out­skirts of Aleppo with Harastani. When the ongo­ing war pre­vented this Constantini resorted to open­ing a fac­tory in Santeny, 30 km from Paris. The Syrian soap mak­ers sell their Aleppo Green Gold under the brand name Alepia online and from a shop in Angers.

Constantini is adamant that Aleppo soap pro­duced in France is still Syrian. ​“If a top French chef opens a French restau­rant in New York it remains French cui­sine, not New York cui­sine. It’s the same for the soap. It is made by the mas­ter soap­maker Harastani and is, there­fore, proper Aleppo soap,” he insisted.

Harastani agreed: ​“We’ve been mak­ing Aleppo soap for 3,500 years — well before Jesus Christ. We make it here the same way we make it at home: there’s olive oil, lau­rel leaves, water-only nat­ural ingre­di­ents.”

“We could no longer go to the fac­tory because of the shelling and kid­nap­pings,” said Harastani, who is deter­mined to keep the Aleppo soap­mak­ing tra­di­tion alive. Harastani now pours the tra­di­tional soap mak­ing secrets passed down by his father, into bub­bling caul­drons of olive oil and lau­rel oil which morph into Aleppo soap on French soil.

Samir Constantini and Hassan Harastani

The Syrian soap indus­try was already under threat before Aleppo’s soap fac­to­ries were destroyed by shelling. According to Syrian busi­ness­man Safouh-al Deiri who has exported Aleppo soap to France since the 1980’s, cheap imi­ta­tions were being passed off as gen­uine Aleppo soap as long ago as 2010.

France’s own iconic olive oil soap, Savon de Marseille, is cur­rently embroiled in its own bit­ter bat­tle. Two rival groups of Marseille soap­mak­ers are in a legal fight over what con­sti­tutes gen­uine Marseille soap. Relations between the war­ring soap­mak­ers have dis­in­te­grated to the point that the rivals will only com­mu­ni­cate through a third party.

The Association of Makers of Savon de Marseille (AFSM) led by lux­ury cos­met­ics com­pany L’Occitane is demand­ing the right to add per­fumes to the soap and insist­ing the soap is given a geo­graph­i­cal indi­ca­tion (GI), as is granted to wines and cheeses to dis­tin­guish them from cheap imports.

Traditionalists have formed their own asso­ci­a­tion, the Union of Professionals of Savon de Marseille (UPSM). Their aim is to pro­tect the orig­i­nal recipe and they insist that true Savon de Marseille can only be pro­duced by arti­sanal soap­mak­ers from the Bouches-du-Rhone region of France.

Savon de Marseille

In true ​‘soap opera’ style the fate of Savon de Marseille will be decided by the French gov­ern­ment. If granted a GI, Savon de Marseille will become the first man­u­fac­tured item to obtain the stamp which is cur­rently exclu­sive to food and drinks.

One French cos­met­ics com­pany not get­ting into a froth over the con­tro­versy is La Maison de Savon de Marseilles. The company’s range includes tra­di­tional Marseille soap, scented soaps and Aleppo soap. They credit Aleppo soap as being the pre­de­ces­sor of Savon de Marseille, stat­ing on their web­site ​‘Originally Marseille soap was inspired by a soap that had existed in Syria for thou­sands of years, Aleppo soap, which is a mix of olive oil and lau­rels.’

Aleppo soap which is believed to be the world’s old­est soap is attrib­uted with keep­ing Cleopatra’s skin clean and silky. Europe was intro­duced to Aleppo soap in the 11th cen­tury by The Crusaders.