NCERT Solutions Poorvi Chapter 3 Spices that Heal Us — Let us do these activities before we read

Book page 93 & 94 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.

A spice is any seed, fruit, root, bark, leaf or any other part of a plant used to give taste and colour to our food. Try to recall the names of three spices that are used for cooking in your home. Write them below and share your answers with your teacher.

Answer

Open the masala box in your kitchen and name any three. Almost every Indian kitchen has these.

	Spice	What part of the plant it is	What it does to the food
1.	Haldi (turmeric)	root	gives a yellow colour and an earthy taste
2.	Jeera (cumin seeds)	seeds	gives a warm smell when put in hot oil
3.	Kali mirch (black pepper)	dried fruit	makes the food hot and sharp

Other names you could write: dhania (coriander), mirchi (chilli), rai/sarson (mustard seeds), elaichi (cardamom), laung (clove), dalchini (cinnamon), heeng (asafoetida), methi (fenugreek), ajwain (carom seeds), saunf (fennel).

Q2.

Given below are pictures of some spices. Work in pairs and write what you call them in your language. Their names in English are given in the last column. (Turmeric, Fenugreek, Cumin seeds, Asafoetida, Cinnamon, Clove, Ginger, Black pepper, Fennel seeds, Cardamom)

Answer

The pictures on page 93 show, in order: yellow turmeric fingers, a bowl of fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, lumps and powder of asafoetida, rolled sticks of cinnamon, dried cloves, fresh ginger, black peppercorns, fennel seeds and green cardamom pods.

The lesson itself gives you the Hindi name of every one of them, so the Hindi column can be filled straight from the letter.

S.No.	Name in English	Name in Hindi (from the letter)
1.	Turmeric	haldi
2.	Fenugreek	methi
3.	Cumin seeds	jeera
4.	Asafoetida	heeng
5.	Cinnamon	dalchini
6.	Clove	laung
7.	Ginger	adrak
8.	Black pepper	kali mirch
9.	Fennel seeds	saunf
10.	Cardamom	elaichi

Now do the real task: write the names in your own language beside these — for example, turmeric is manjal in Tamil, pasupu in Telugu, halad in Marathi, halud in Bengali, arisina in Kannada and haladhi in Odia. Ask at home for the ones you do not know.

Q3.

Do you know if these spices can be used for something else other than cooking? Let us find out by reading the letter given below.

Answer

Yes — every spice in that list is also a medicine. That is exactly what Daadi's letter goes on to prove.

Spice	Its use besides cooking (from the letter)
Haldi (turmeric)	improves energy level and digestion; reduces body pain
Methi (fenugreek)	seeds soaked overnight help control sugar level and body weight
Jeera (cumin)	soaked in water overnight, improves digestion and helps cure sleeplessness
Heeng (asafoetida)	heeng water on the tummy gives relief from gas; controls cough and cold
Dalchini and laung	give relief from toothache till a dentist can be consulted
Adrak (ginger)	helps in cough and cold; gives relief from pain
Kali mirch (black pepper)	helps digestion; relieves body pain
Saunf and ajwain	served after a meal because they help in digesting food
Elaichi (cardamom)	helps digestion and respiratory troubles; cures bad breath

Read the letter with a pencil and underline one benefit for each spice. Your table will then be complete before you reach the exercises.

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