NCERT Solutions Poorvi Chapter 3 Spices that Heal Us — Let us explore
Book page 100 Updated on2026-09-05
Q1.
Guess the spice: 'When your tummy felt funny / I was used by your granny / I made you fit and fine / And brought back your smile. Who am I?'
Answer
Heeng (asafoetida).
Every line points to it. Daadi's letter says, “when you were babies and had gas in your tummy, I used to put heeng water on your tummy to give you some relief.” ‘Tummy felt funny’ is the gas, ‘used by your granny’ is Daadi herself, and the relief is what ‘brought back your smile’.
Also acceptable:jeera (cumin), since the letter says cumin seeds soaked in water “can also improve digestion”. But heeng is the better answer, because the riddle mentions the granny using it on a child, which is exactly what the letter describes.
Q2.
Guess the spice: 'I come from under the ground / Thousands of years, I've been around. / For cooking you use me daily / From cold I can cure you surely. Who am I?'
Answer
Adrak (ginger).
Line of the riddle
What the letter says
“I come from under the ground”
Ginger is an underground stem (a rhizome), dug out of the soil.
“Thousands of years, I've been around”
“ginger has been used in cooking for more than 4000 years”
“For cooking you use me daily”
“Even today, it is extensively used in cooking Indian food.”
“From cold I can cure you surely”
“Adrak (ginger) is another herb that can help us when we have cough and cold.”
Why not turmeric, which also grows under the ground? Because of the second and fourth lines. The letter gives the 4000-year fact and the cough-and-cold cure to ginger, not to haldi.
Q3.
Fill in the blanks to complete the riddle below: 'Brownish- _______ in colour, / and _______ to taste, / I help everyone, / to _______ their weight. Who am I? Ans: Fenugreek (methi)'
Answer
The completed riddle:
Brownish-yellow in colour,
and bitter to taste,
I help everyone,
to control their weight.
Who am I? Ans: Fenugreek (methi)
Blank
Answer
Where it comes from
colour
yellow
Methi seeds are brownish-yellow, as you can see in the picture on page 93.
taste
bitter
Everyone who has bitten a methi seed knows this; it also matches the ‘Taste’ box on page 96.
weight
control (‘reduce’ or ‘manage’ are also correct)
“it helps me in keeping my sugar level and my body weight in control”
Q4.
Write another riddle of your own and ask your family members to guess the spice.
Answer
How to build a riddle in four lines:
Line 1 — how I look: colour, shape or size.
Line 2 — how I taste or smell.
Line 3 — where you find me or what dish I go into.
Line 4 — what I cure. End with ‘Who am I?’
Keep the last words of lines 2 and 4 rhyming, and never name the spice inside the riddle.
Sample riddles:
Small and green, a pod so light, I hide black seeds packed in tight. In kheer and in your evening tea, For a fresh mouth, chew on me. (Elaichi — cardamom)
A yellow finger under the ground, In every Indian kitchen found. I colour your dal and heal your pain, In warm milk I am taken again. (Haldi — turmeric)
A dark little nail without a head, Press me where your tooth has bled. In pulao and garam masala too, One of me is enough for you. (Laung — clove)
Q5.
Close your eyes and learn about spices by smelling and feeling them. The teacher may also provide a few different spices to try.
Answer
This is a ‘guess by smell and touch’ game. Do it in pairs.
Your partner puts a small quantity of one spice into your palm while your eyes are closed.
Feel it first — is it a hard seed, a soft powder, a rolled piece of bark, a light pod?
Smell it next — sharp, sweet, warm, strong?
Say your guess aloud and give the reason before you open your eyes.
Spice
How it feels
How it smells
Elaichi
a light, papery pod with hard seeds inside
sweet and cool
Laung
hard, like a tiny nail with a round head
very strong and sharp
Dalchini
a dry rolled piece of bark that snaps
warm and sweet
Heeng
a fine, slightly sticky powder
the strongest of all — you know it at once
Saunf
small, smooth, curved green seeds
fresh and sweet
Jeera
small ridged seeds, rough to the fingers
earthy and warm
Rules for safety: only smell and touch — do not put a whole spice in your mouth, keep chilli and heeng far from your eyes, and wash your hands when the game is over.
Why the teacher asks you to close your eyes: Sight does all our work for us. With the eyes shut, the nose and the fingers wake up — and that is how a cook, a vaidya and your own grandmother learnt to tell one spice from another.