1 It is aluminum potassium sulfate. 2  This is the type of alum that you find in the grocery store for pickling and in baking powder. 3  It is also used in leather tanning, as a flocculant in water purification, as an ingredient in aftershave and as a treatment to fireproof textiles. 4  It's chemical formula is KAl(SO 4) 2. It is also used in leather tanning, as a flocculant in water purification, as an ingredient in aftershave and as a treatment to fireproof textiles. 2  It's chemical formula is KAl(SO 4) 2. 3  Soda Alum. 4  Soda alum has the formula NaAl(SO 4) 2 Â·12H 2 O. It is used in baking powder and as an acidulent in food.
They were always creating new methods to increase their crop yields. Methods that they used included the building of terraces, irrigation and fertilization. Principle crops of the Aztecs were corn, beans, peppers, avocados, and tomatoes. Anthropology studies have also determined that the Aztecs also grew flowers for ceremony and decoration.
The other constants of Aztec food were salt and chili peppers and the basic definition of Aztec fasting was to abstain from these two flavors. The other major foods were beans and New World varieties of the grains amaranth (or pigweed), and chia. The combination of maize and these basic foods would have provided the average Aztec a very well-rounded diet without any significant deficiencies in vitamins or minerals.