The inorganic compositions of traditional lye, and lyes prepared from the stalks of five different agricultural products: beans, wheat, barley, buckwheat and red peppers, were analyzed. Traditional lye was composed mainly of a weak alkaline salt, potassium carbonate as the major component and neutral salts, potassium chloride and potassium sulfate as minor components. The ash and lye contents of buckwheat have significantly higher then those of the rest agricultgural products. Bean and red pepper stalks lyes were composed mainly of potassium carbonate, similar to the composition of traditional lye, but also contained potassium chloride or sulfate. In contrast, postassium chloride was the major component of wheat and barley stalk lye.