Eva Ekeblad, The Woman Scientist Who Made Vodka From Potatoes

Most of you must be knowing about or familiar with Vodka. In current times, Vodka has become the modern elixir of life. Apart from drinking, Vodka has many uses which you must not be aware of. And I am pretty sure you probably didn’t knew that behind the life changing discovery of Vodka was a woman; Eva Ekeblad.

Eva Ekeblad (Eva De la Gardie) was a Swedish noble woman who was a salon hostess and an agronomist. She is one of the several prominent Swedish scientists who changed the world by the virtue of her notable discoveries. Eva proved that one can make use of starchy vegetables for not only preparing grain alcohol but also for making cosmetic products and cereals as well.

Eva was a pioneer in the scientific community. She was an epitome of inspiration as she perfectly executed the roles of a mother, a governess, a scientist and an activist. She was very close to the queen of Sweden and also a firm supporter of the less fortunate.

Ekeblad was a scientist responsible for the discovery of making alcohol from potatoes and as a result we have today what is known as Vodka. The same process was also employed in making flour from potatoes thus making potatoes very popular.

Eva was a young discoverer and she was only twenty two years old when she made this discovery. For her notable achievements Eva got the opportunity to become the first woman to attend the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Unfortunately since the academy was primarily for men, Eva was only designated as an honorary member. She had very good terms with the queen of Sweden. Eva was such a close friend to the queen that the queen offered her the honored title of chief lady-in-waiting and royal governess to the crown prince. However due to her chronic illness, Eva had to turn down both the titles. Ekeblad brought significant alteration in the textile industry as she discovered a way to bleach cotton textile and yarn and this process was later used to make soap.

Eva got married at a very young age of sixteen as in those days it was a common practice for girls to marry at a young age. Eva married a man twice her age.

Ekeblad was married to riksrad count Claes Claesson and they had one son and six daughters. She had a noblewoman status in Sweden. Her father was a count who fought in wars and served in politics. Eva was also a Salon hostess and her salon was located in Stockholm and was known to be popularized by philosophers and writers.

She was also the owner of a castle as her father gave her the ownership of Marital Castle and Lindholm Castle, Vastergortland. As Eva was an activist, she was being helped by her sister in law Charlotta to put an end to women being forced to confess to witch hunts.
Apart from making alcohol from potato, Eva found a new use of potatoes. She made shampoo out of the flower that grows out of potatoes. With her notable findings and discoveries, Eva apparently demonstrated so many uses of potato that it went on to become a staple food in Europe. Before her discoveries, the use of potatoes were limited to poultry feed. She also took care of the three estates owned by his husband as his husband was mostly away on business.

Eva had a good amount of power back in the day but she never abused the power and was widely known for protecting the lower class from the brutality of the government.

Ekeblad reduced the potential threat of feminine to people of Sweden by discovering the use of potato for making wheat flour and barley thus giving potato the status of staple food. Women used cosmetics even back then but they were deemed toxic and unsafe. Eva revolutionized cosmetics by preparing them with the flower that grows out of potato.

During the last six years of her life, Eva lived in her castle and was celebrated heavily until she died on May 15, 1786.

Eva Ekeblad was born on July 10, 1724 in Stockholm, Sweden. Recently on July 10 Google made a doodle to mark and celebrate the 295th birth anniversary of Eva Ekeblad.

Had she been alive today, she would have been 295 years old although not in a mood of taking vodka shots. Hundreds of years after Ekeblad’s death, Vodka is still being drunk today.