Natron is useful to dry and preserve fish, as an ancient household insecticide, to make leather, as a bleach for. The key difference between natron and baking soda is that natron is a mixture of sodium carbonate decahydrate and sodium bicarbonate, whereas baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. Wine made from grapes grown in the Nile Delta was a privilege of the elite. Natron and baking soda are important chemical compounds. Chicken, which is consumed in vast quantities in modern Egypt, was not available.īeer, a mild, thick, slightly sweet beverage best drunk through a filtering straw, was the main drink of the masses, consumed at every meal. The elite ate meat on a more regular basis. Natron is a chemical salt (Na 2 CO 3 ), which was used by the ancient Bronze Age societies in the eastern Mediterranean for a wide range of purposes, most importantly as an ingredient in making glass, and as a preservative used in making mummies. Vegetables and fish were widely available, and the typical peasant family ate a healthy diet rich in bread, fish, onions and pulses supplemented by occasional small game and fowl. The Chemical Used by Ancient Egyptians to Preserve Their Mummies. Everyone ate vast quantities of bread, even the gods, whose temples received daily offerings of hundreds of loaves. Grain – wheat or barley – was the principal source of carbohydrate. Water could be obtained from wells, the Nile, or irrigation canals built by the Egyptians. Food could be homegrown, earned in the form of rations (there was no money), hunted, fished or bartered at market.

Egypt was a very fertile land, and under normal circumstances no one went hungry.

What is natron ancient egypt