Alum Powder

Alum powder is alum ground to a fine powder, the mineral potassium aluminium sulfate. It tastes sharply astringent and mouth-drying rather than salty, and it dissolves readily into a brine where whole crystals would take much longer to disperse. The powder is white and odourless.

The powder is known for its natural astringent and preservative properties and has been used for centuries in cooking, personal care and traditional practices in homes around the world. It is the same mineral as our whole alum crystals, also sold as potash alum or fitkari, ground for quicker measuring and dissolving.

How to use it

In the kitchen it is best known for pickling and food preservation, where its mild acidity helps keep pickled fruit and vegetables crisp and vibrant, locking in both flavour and texture. Outside the kitchen, alum has traditionally been used in personal-care routines, in water purification as a natural coagulant, and as a mordant that helps natural dyes bind to wool and other fibres. Technique tip: use a small pinch per litre of brine and no more. Alum is powerful in tiny quantities, and too much leaves a lingering astringent taste on the finished pickle that cannot be rinsed out.

Details

Also known as

Alum Powder, Potash Alum, Potassium Aluminum Sulfate Powder, Fatakri Powder, Fitkari Powder, Phitkari Powder, مسحوق الشب, पिसी हुई फिटकरी, پسے ہوئے پھٹکری, Powdered Alum, Ground Alum