NCERT Solutions Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 the Mystery of Food

F R E E S T U D Y M AT E R I A L F O R E V E R Y S T U D E N T

CLASS 5 · THE WORLD AROUND US

NCERT Solutions

Chapter 3: The Mystery of Food

NCERT Textbook — Our Wondrous World

BOOK PAGES SECTIONS QUESTIONS MEDIUM

40 – 54 22 33 English

Solutions, notes, sample papers & more at 42 pages

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CLASS 5 · THE WORLD AROUND US · OUR WONDROUS WORLD

NCERT Solutions — Chapter 3: The Mystery of Food
Chapter 3 of Our Wondrous World opens Unit 2, Health and Well-being. Disha finds the tiffin box she forgot in
school on Friday. The uttapam inside smells foul and has coloured patches on it. Detective Disha decides to
solve the mystery — and that takes her through food spoilage and microbes, food preservation (drying,
pickling, cooling, salting, canning), the good microbes in curd and idli batter, buying fresh and seasonal
food, chewing and the four kinds of teeth, oral hygiene and the danger of choking. The chapter carries 13
Findings, 5 Activities, three Think and Write prompts each, one Discuss box and the closing Let us reflect
set of 4 items. There is no separate exercise at the end — the questions are spread through the chapter.

TEXTBOOK BOOK PAGES

Our Wondrous World (Class 5) 40 – 54

SECTIONS QUESTIONS

22 33

MEDIUM

English

Mystery #1 — Page 41
Food Spoilage — What made my uttapam spoil?

Q1 Mystery #1: What made my uttapam spoil?

Tiny living things called microbes grew on the uttapam and spoiled it. The coloured patches
Disha saw were mould. Mould is not one creature — it is a colony, that is a large crowd, of
thousands of microbes living together. We can see the patch even though we cannot see one
microbe.
Here is what happened inside the closed tiffin box, step by step.

1. The uttapam was soft and moist. Moisture means the water in a food.
2. The box was shut, but there was still air inside it.
3. The box lay in a warm room for three days — Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
4. Moisture, air and warmth are exactly the three things microbes need. So the few microbes
already on the food began to grow and multiply.
5. By Monday there were so many of them that they showed up as coloured patches, and the
food had begun to smell foul.

Page 1 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WHAT DISHA NOTICED WHAT IT REALLY WAS

A foul smell when she opened the box Microbes had broken down the food and made new smelly
substances

Coloured patches on the uttapam Mould — a colony of thousands of microbes

The food no longer looked or felt like fresh The microbes had changed its colour, taste and texture
uttapam

Why it happens: Microbes are alive, so they must eat. Our food is their food too. As
they eat it, they change it — that is why the taste and the smell change. Warm, moist
food that is left standing gives them the perfect place to grow.

Important: Food with mould on it must never be eaten, even after scraping the
patch off. Throw it away, wash the box with soap and hot water, and dry it well.

Q2 Disha enquired, “Microbes? Are they like little lice?”.

No. Microbes are much, much smaller than lice. You can see a louse with your own eyes. You
cannot see a single microbe at all — you need an instrument called a microscope, which makes
very tiny things look big.

A LOUSE A MICROBE

Can you see one? Yes, with your No — only through a microscope
eyes

Where does it On hair and skin Everywhere — soil, water, air, plants, animals, and inside us
live?

What does it do? It bites and itches Some spoil food; some help us make curd and idli, and help us
digest food

Finding #1 in Disha's notebook: Microbes are found in soil, water, the air around us; in plants,
animals, and inside us!

Why we see mould but not microbes: One microbe is far too small for our eyes.
But when millions of them grow together in one spot, the crowd becomes big
enough to see — and that crowd is the coloured patch we call mould.

Page 2 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Not all microbes are harmful. The very same family of tiny living things gives us
curd, buttermilk, idli, dosa and bread. Some live inside our stomach and help us
digest our food. Only some kinds spoil food or make us ill.

Think — Page 42
An upset stomach

THINK

Q1 Have you ever had an upset stomach? Do you know what could have caused it?

Almost everyone has had an upset stomach at some time. It usually happens because
something we ate or drank carried harmful microbes into our body.
The common causes are easy to list.

Stale or spoiled food. Food that was kept too long, or kept uncovered, and had microbes
growing in it.
Cut fruit or food left open. Flies sit on it and leave microbes and dust behind.
Unwashed hands. Eating without washing hands carries microbes from the hands straight
into the mouth.
Unsafe water. Water that has not been boiled or filtered.
Eating in a hurry, or eating too much at one time. The book calls this a bad eating habit,
and it also leads to indigestion.
Fruits and vegetables that were not washed before being eaten raw.

Sample answer: “Yes. Last summer I drank a cold drink from an open glass at a fair and ate a
cut fruit that had been lying in the sun. That night my stomach hurt and I felt like vomiting. I
think the food had microbes on it, because it had been kept open for a long time in the heat.”

Why it happens: Harmful microbes that enter with food do not stay quiet. They
grow inside the stomach and intestines and irritate them. The body then tries to
push them out quickly — and that is felt as pain, vomiting or loose motions.

Page 3 of 42

as e
Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
What could happen if spoiled food is eaten by mistake?
e
Q2

m l as
.co a g
a s em
a gl spoiled food can make a person ill. The harmful microbes in it go into the body along
Eating
with the food.

com
. ag
What a person may feel, usually within a few hours:

se m
l a
1. Pain or a heavy, uneasy feeling in the stomach.

ag actually vomiting.
2. Feeling like vomiting, and sometimes
3. Loose motions (diarrhoea).
4. Weakness, headache, and sometimes a mild fever.
. com
m a s emis the part that
5. Because of vomiting and loose motions, the body loses a lot of water. This
makescaoperson feel weakest.
. a gl
s m
eshould
g l
Whata be done:
a Tell an elder at once. Do not hide it.

m a s
.co agl
Drink plenty of safe water — boiled and cooled, or filtered — in small sips, again and
again.
se m
g l a
a
Take ORS (oral rehydration solution) or home-made nimbu-shakkar-namak water if an elder
gives it, to put back the water and salts the body has lost.

m
Eat light, simple food — khichdi, curd, banana, rice — for a day or two.

. co
m
If the problem is severe, or does not get better, see a doctor and take only the medicines

m as e
.co l
the doctor gives. The book says this too.
a g
s m
eWhy
gl a the water matters most: With vomiting and loose motions, the body loses far
a more water than usual. Putting that water back, sip by sip, is what helps a person

se m
com a
feel better and stops them from becoming very weak.
. a g l
m
gl ase
a
The best cure is not needing one: smell and look at food before eating it, do not
eat anything that smells odd or has patches on it, keep food covered, and wash your
hands with soap before every meal.
co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
a s emQ3
gl
What did you do to get well? Share your experiences with the class.
a c
m .
m a s e
co agl

m .
as e
Answer from your own experience. A good answer says three things: what you felt, what was

a g
done at home, and what finally helped.l

co m
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 4 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Sample answer: “When my stomach was upset, Amma first stopped giving me heavy or oily
food. She gave me warm water to drink again and again, and a glass of ORS. In the evening I
had a little khichdi and a bowl of curd. Aji gave me some ajwain with a pinch of salt, and later a
glass of buttermilk. I rested for a day. By the next morning I felt much better. When my cousin
had the same problem and it did not get better in two days, my uncle took him to the doctor
and he was given medicine.”

WHAT WAS DONE WHY IT HELPED

Rest, and no heavy or oily food The stomach got time to settle down

Water and ORS, in small sips Put back the water and salts the body had lost

Curd and buttermilk They carry good microbes that help the stomach work again

Simple food — khichdi, banana, rice Easy to digest, so the stomach was not made to work hard

Going to a doctor when it did not get Some illnesses need proper medicine; only a doctor can decide
better that

When you share in class, listen to your friends' stories too. You will find that the
same few home remedies — ajwain, jeera water, buttermilk, curd, ginger, rest —
come up again and again in different homes across India.

Mystery #2 — Page 42
Why do some foods spoil faster?

Q1 Mystery #2: Why do some foods spoil faster? — “Strange!”, whispered Disha. “Why
does some food spoil fast, and some last for a long time?”

A food spoils fast when microbes can grow easily on it, and lasts long when something is
stopping them. The slice of bread on the balcony had everything microbes need — moisture,
air and warmth. The pickle did not, because it was covered with oil.

Page 5 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

THE BREAD ON THE PAATI'S MANGO PICKLE
BALCONY

How long it lasted Spoiled in two days Still good after two months

Moisture in it Soft and moist Salt has pulled the water out of the mango
pieces

Air reaching it Lying open in the air A layer of oil on top keeps the air out

Anything stopping Nothing at all Salt, spices and oil all make it hard for
microbes? microbes to grow

Result Coloured patches of mould Still delicious

The rule in one line: foods that are wet, soft and left open spoil quickly; foods that are dry,
salty, sugary, oily, cold or sealed last a long time.

Moisture + air + warmth = microbes grow → food spoils fast

Take away any one of them = food lasts longer

Why the oil works: Oil and water do not mix, and oil is heavy enough to sit as a
layer on top of the pickle. Microbes below cannot get the air they need. So they
simply do not grow.

Try this ranking: milk and cooked rice spoil in a day; bread and fruit in two or three
days; a boiled-and-cooled dry ladoo in a week; papad, chilli powder and pickle last
for months. Notice how the amount of water in each one goes down as you move
along that list.

Write — Page 42

Page 6 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why food gets spoiled

WRITE

Q1 Why do you think food gets spoiled?

Food gets spoiled because microbes grow on it and change it. They eat the food, and as they
do so its colour, smell, taste and feel all change. Then it is no longer safe to eat.
Four things make this happen quickly.

1. Moisture. Wet or soft food — cooked rice, milk, cut fruit, bread — has plenty of water in it,
and microbes need water to grow.
2. Air. Food left open lets air, dust and flies reach it, and each one brings more microbes.
3. Warmth. A warm room is the right temperature for microbes. That is why food spoils faster
in summer than in winter.
4. Time. The longer food is kept, the more the microbes multiply. Disha's uttapam had three
whole days.

REASON WHAT WE SEE HOW WE CAN STOP IT

Moisture in the Mould patches on soft food Dry it in the Sun — papad, chilli, badi
food

Air reaching the Food smells bad; flies sit on it Cover it; add oil on top; seal it in an airtight
food box or can

Warm temperature Milk turns sour by evening in Keep it in a fridge, or in a cool, shady place
summer

Too much time Old food changes colour and Cook only what is needed; eat it the same day
taste

Why it is not the food's fault: Nothing goes bad by itself. Something living has to
work on it. That something is the microbes — which is exactly why every way of
saving food works by keeping microbes away, or by taking away what they need.

In-text Question — Page 43

Page 7 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What do microbes need to grow?

Q1 She went back to her Anna and asked, “What do these microbes need to grow?”.

Microbes need three things to grow: moisture, air and the right temperature. If we take
away even one of these three, they cannot grow — we can stop them in their tracks. That is
Finding #2 in Disha's notebook.

What a microbe needs How we take it away

Moisture
Dry it in the Sun
(water in the food)

Cover it with oil,
Air
or seal it airtight

The right
Keep it cold
temperature (warmth)

Remove any one of the three, and the microbes stop growing.

Every method of preserving food takes away one of the three things microbes need.

WHAT MICROBES WHY THEY NEED IT THE METHOD THAT TAKES IT AWAY
NEED

Moisture Like all living things, they need Sun-drying and dehydration — chillies,
water to live papad, badi, dried fish

Air They need air to survive and grow A layer of oil on a pickle; airtight cans and
packets

The right They grow best in warmth; cold A fridge or a freezer
temperature slows them down

Page 8 of 42

ase
Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
Why this is the key to the whole chapter: Anna added one more sentence — all

m l a se
life needs water and air to survive. Microbes are alive, so the rule applies to them
o
too. Once.cyou know this, every preservation method in the chapter
a g stops being a
m
se trick. Each one is simply a way of removing moisture, or air, or warmth.
l a
ag
separate

co m
em . ag
as
Mystery #3 — Page 43
a g l
Food Preservation — How do we save our food from spoilage?

co m
m.
Q1 Mystery #3: How do we save our food from spoilage?

o m l a se
ANSWER .c a g
e m
ssave
l a
ag
We food by keeping microbes away from it. We do that in five main ways, and Detective
Disha found all of them in her own home.

m a s
. c o agl
1. Drying and dehydration. Keep the food in the Sun until its water is gone. Chillies dried on a
mat become chilli powder that lasts amwhole year. Papads, badis, aam papad and dried fish
l a se
ag
are made this way.
2. Pickling and oiling. Put the food in salt and spices and pour oil on top. The oil stops air from

m
getting in — that is how Paati's mango pickle stayed good for two months.
. co
m
3. Refrigeration and freezing. Keep the food cold. A fridge is too cold for microbes to grow

o m l a se
well, so milk, vegetables, butter and cake stay fresh in it. A freezer is colder still.
.c sugar and spices. Disha's grandfather told her that people
a g have long used salt, sugar
m
se and spices like black pepper to keep food from spoiling. Salt pulls the water out of the food.
4. Salt,
a
agl We still use these methods today — in murabba, in jam, in salted fish.

se m
m it. a
5. Airtight cans and packaging. In food factories, food is sealed in cans and packets so that
no air, and therefore no microbe, canco
. reach
a g l
a s em
agl
Take away moisture → drying

Take away air → oil, cans, sealed packets
co m
m .
m
Take away warmth → fridge, freezer
as e
c o
.Add salt, sugar or spices → microbes cannot grow in them a g l
se m
g l a
a c
m .
Why we need to preserve at all: Fruits, vegetables, grain and fish are ready only at
m a s e
. co
certain times of the year, and in certain places. Preserving lets a family eat mangoes
m agl
l a se
in December, use chilli powder in June, and carry food on a journey — instead of
g
throwing away whatacannot be eaten at once.

com
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 9 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Do you know? Matka as a cooler: we use clay pots (matkas) to keep water cool.
Water seeps very slowly through the clay wall and evaporates from the outside, and
evaporation takes heat away — so the water inside stays cool without any electricity.

Q2 “Why are you drying these, Amma?”, she asked.

Amma answered, “To make chilli powder. This should last us for the entire year!” The
chillies are dried so that they do not spoil, and so that they can be ground into powder and
stored.
What drying does, step by step:

1. Fresh green or red chillies are full of water. Water is exactly what microbes need.
2. The chillies are spread on a mat, in a single layer, in strong sunlight.
3. The Sun's heat makes the water inside them evaporate — it turns into water vapour and
goes into the air.
4. After some days the chillies become dry, light and brittle. They snap when you bend them.
5. Now there is no moisture left, so microbes cannot grow. The dried chillies are ground into
chilli powder and kept in a dry container for the whole year.

Finding #3: Drying in the Sun removes the moisture from the chillies. Without moisture,
microbes cannot grow!

Why the Sun is enough: Water does not need to boil to leave a food. Gentle heat
and moving air are enough — the same reason wet clothes dry on a line. Sun-drying
costs nothing, needs no machine, and works in most parts of India for most of the
year.

One rule while sun-drying: the food must be brought in before evening, when the
air becomes damp. If it is left out at night it takes moisture back in, and then it can
grow mould instead.

Write — Page 44

Page 10 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Other things that are dried

WRITE

Q1 What other things are dried so that they remain unspoilt throughout the year?

The four pictures printed above this question.

First, look carefully at the four pictures printed above the question in your book.

PICTURE WHAT IT SHOWS WHAT IS BEING DRIED

First A round bamboo tray holding many pale-yellow Sun-dried badis (dal dumplings) and
round lumps, with a heap of thin white strands in sevai (vermicelli)
one corner

Second Three women bending over a bright green field, Green leaves being harvested — leafy
picking a leafy crop into cane baskets greens are dried and stored, like kasuri
methi

Third A heap of small oval pods, some fresh green and A spice being dried — cardamom-like
some dried cream-coloured pods, green when fresh and pale when
dried

Fourth A round bamboo tray filled with bright red Red chillies drying in the Sun
chillies spread out flat

Many other things are dried in India so that they last all year. Here they are, sorted into
groups.

Page 11 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

GROUP THINGS THAT ARE DRIED

From dal and Papad, badi / vadi / mangodi, sevai, sabudana papad, dried poha
grain

Vegetables Sun-dried tomato, dried potato (aloo papad), dried okra and brinjal slices, dried bottle
gourd, dried peas, dried mushrooms, dried gongura and other greens, dried bamboo shoots

Fruits Aam papad, amchur (dry mango powder), raisins from grapes, dried figs, dried apricots,
dates, dried amla, kokum, tamarind

Spices and Red chillies, turmeric, coriander seeds, cumin, black pepper, cardamom, dried ginger
flavourings (sonth), dried curry leaves, kasuri methi

Non-vegetarian Dried fish and dried prawns, made along the coasts of Gujarat, Odisha, Kerala and the
foods North-East

Other Nuts and seeds after harvest, and grain itself, which is dried before it is stored

Why drying works for all of them: Every one of these foods is full of water when it
is fresh. The Sun takes that water away. With no moisture left, microbes cannot
grow, so the food stays unspoilt for months. When we want to cook it, we simply add
water back — which is what happens when you soak badis or dried mushrooms
before cooking.

Find out at home: ask which foods your family dries in your own region. In
Rajasthan it may be ker-sangri; in Kerala, tapioca and fish; in Punjab, badis and
methi; in the North-East, bamboo shoots and fish. Every region has its own list.

Activity 1 — Page 44

Page 12 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Items made from mangoes

ACTIVITY

Q1 Activity 1: What items can be made from mangoes to enjoy them for longer
durations? Write their names in the space given below.

The six blank boxes printed around the mango picture in the book.

There are six blank boxes around the mango picture. Here are six items you can write in them,
and how each one is preserved.

Page 13 of 42

as e
Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
BOX ITEM MADE FROM HOW IT KEEPS FOR LONG
MANGOES
m as e
. c o a g l
sem
1 Mango pickle (aam ka achar) Raw mango pieces are kept in salt, spices and oil. The oil keeps
a
agl
air out.

2 Aam papad Ripe mango pulp is spread in thin layers and dried in the Sun

co m
. ag
until no water is left.

m
semango slices are sun-dried and then ground into powder.
l a
ag
3 Amchur (dry mango powder) Raw

4 Mango murabba Mango pieces are cooked in thick sugar syrup. Microbes cannot
grow in so much sugar.
co m
e m.
m l as
.co
5 Mango jam or mango squash Made with sugar, filled hot into a clean bottle and closed tightly.

a g
se m Canned or packed mango
l a
6 Heated and sealed in an airtight can or tetra pack so that no air

a g pulp / juice gets in.

m a s
.co agl
You may also write: aam panna (raw mango drink), mango chutney, mango leather strips, or
dried mango slices.
se m
g l a
a
m
Mango pickle .copapad
Aam
m
a se
.com a g l
m
ase
agl Amchur powder Mango Mango murabba
se m
com g l a
m . a
gl ase
Mango jam
a Canned mango
pulp / juice
co m
m .
m as e
.co g l
Six ways to enjoy mangoes long after the mango season is over.
a
se m
g l a
a c
.
Why mangoes especially: The mango season lasts only two or three months, and a

s e m
m a
ripe mango spoils within days. Every item in the table above takes one of the three

m . co
things microbes need — water, air or a temperature they like — away from the
e agl
l as
mango, so families can enjoy mango taste right through the year.
g
a

com
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 14 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Activity 2 — Page 45
Drying tomato slices in sunlight

ACTIVITY

Q1 Activity 2: 1. Take a tomato and cut it into slices. 2. Put the slices of tomatoes on a
tray and place it on the window where the sunlight comes through. 3. What
changes did you observe in the fruit?

What you will see: the tomato slices slowly lose their water. They shrink, become wrinkled
and leathery, turn a darker red, and after several days they are dry, light and hard. They
stop looking juicy at all.
How to do it, step by step:

1. Wash one ripe tomato and wipe it dry.
2. Ask an elder to cut it into thin round slices — thin slices dry faster.
3. Spread the slices on a clean plate or tray in a single layer, so that no slice sits on another.
4. Put the tray on a sunny windowsill where sunlight falls on it for most of the day.
5. Bring the tray inside in the evening, and put it back in the Sun the next morning.
6. Look at the slices each day and write down what has changed.

DAY WHAT YOU OBSERVE WHAT IS HAPPENING

Day 1 Slices are red, wet and shiny. The plate becomes Water is starting to leave the slices
damp.

Day 2 Edges begin to curl. Slices are smaller and no The Sun's heat is evaporating the water
longer shiny.

Day 3– Slices are wrinkled, darker red, soft and leathery Most of the water has gone
4 to touch.

Day 5– Slices are small, hard, thin and very light. They do Almost no moisture is left — microbes
7 not feel wet at all. cannot grow now

How many days it takes depends on the weather. In strong summer sunlight it may take three days; in
a cool or cloudy week it can take longer.

Page 15 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why it happens: A tomato is mostly water. The Sun's heat turns that water into
water vapour, which mixes into the air. What is left behind is the solid part of the
tomato — the skin, the pulp and the taste, packed into a much smaller piece. Since
microbes need moisture to grow, the dried slice keeps for a long time while a fresh
tomato spoils in a few days.

Watch out for one thing: if a slice is left out on a damp or rainy day, it may grow
mould instead of drying. Mould means the slice took in moisture instead of losing it.
Throw such a slice away and start again on a sunny day.

Q2 Can you think of a way to preserve items like tomato?

Yes — there are several ways, and each one takes away moisture, air or warmth.

WAY TO PRESERVE HOW IT IS DONE WHICH OF THE THREE IT
TOMATOES TAKES AWAY

Sun-drying Slice and dry in the Sun until leathery; Moisture
store in a dry jar

Keeping in the fridge Store whole tomatoes in the vegetable Warmth
tray of a fridge

Freezing Make a purée and freeze it in a box Warmth (much more of it)

Tomato purée or sauce in Cook the pulp, fill it hot into a clean Air
a bottle bottle and seal it tightly

Tomato ketchup Cooked with salt, sugar and vinegar, Air, plus salt and sugar that
then bottled microbes cannot grow in

Tomato pickle or chutney Cooked with salt, spices and oil, kept Air, plus salt
under a layer of oil

Canned tomatoes Sealed in airtight cans in a factory Air

Dried slices kept in oil Sun-dried slices packed in a jar of oil Moisture and air together

Page 16 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why so many ways work: There is nothing magic about any one method. Each of
them simply removes something the microbes need. That is why you can choose
whichever suits your home — a fridge if you have one, the Sun if you do not.

Simplest at home: make tomato purée. Boil the tomatoes, peel them, mash them,
cook the pulp for a few minutes with a little salt, pour it hot into a clean dry glass
bottle, and close the lid at once. Keep it in the fridge and use it within a week.

In-text Question — Page 45
Pickling and Oiling

Q1 “But why is oil added to the pickle?”, Disha asked eagerly.

Paati's answer: “Oil stops air from getting in. That keeps the pickles safe!” The oil floats on
top and makes a cover that air cannot pass through.
Here is how a pickle is protected, in order:

1. The raw mango pieces are first rubbed with salt. Salt pulls the water out of them.
2. Spices are added. Many spices, like black pepper and mustard, make it hard for microbes to
grow.
3. Mustard oil is poured on top until the pieces are fully covered.
4. Oil does not mix with water, and it is heavy enough to stay as a layer above the pickle.
5. With no air below the oil, microbes cannot grow — so the pickle stays good for months.

Finding #4: Oil keeps out air and stops the growth of microbes.

Salt takes away moisture

Oil takes away air

Together = a pickle that lasts for months

Why air matters so much: Microbes are living things. Most of the ones that spoil
food need air to grow, just as we do. Cut off their air, and they simply cannot get
going — even though the food itself has not been changed at all.

Page 17 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Two pickle rules every home follows: always use a clean, completely dry spoon,
and keep the oil layer above the pieces. A wet spoon brings water and microbes in,
and a piece sticking out above the oil is the first one to grow mould.

Discuss — Page 45
Pickle without oil

DISCUSS

Q1 Discuss: What would happen to this pickle if no oil had been added?

Without oil, air would reach the pickle, microbes would grow on it, and it would spoil in a
few days or weeks instead of lasting for months.
What would happen, in order:

1. Air, and the microbes floating in it, would settle on the top pieces.
2. The mango pieces would still hold a little moisture, so those microbes would begin to grow.
3. White, green or black patches of mould would appear on the surface.
4. The pickle would start smelling sour and bad instead of spicy and fresh.
5. The pieces would go soft and slimy, and the whole jar would have to be thrown away.

PICKLE WITH OIL PICKLE WITHOUT OIL

Air reaching the pieces Blocked by the oil layer Reaches them freely

Mould on the top Does not form Forms in a few days

Smell Spicy and pleasant Sour and foul

How long it lasts Months, even a year A few days to a few weeks

Sample answer for the discussion: “Oil is the pickle's lid. Without it, air can touch the mango
pieces, and where there is air, moisture and warmth, microbes grow. The pickle would grow
mould on top, smell bad and have to be thrown away. That is why Paati fills the jar with oil until
every piece is covered.”

Some pickles use no oil at all — lemon pickle in the South is often made with only
salt and lemon juice, and salt does the same job by pulling out all the moisture. So
the rule is not “always oil”; the rule is “take away air or water, one way or another”.

Page 18 of 42

as e
Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
In-text Question — Page 46
m as e
.co
Refrigeration and Freezing
a g l
a s em
aQ1gl Why does butter need refrigeration and ghee does not? Hint: Find out how butter
and ghee are made at home.

com
e m . ag
as

a g l
Because butter still has water in it, and ghee does not. Microbes need moisture. Butter gives
them moisture, so it must be kept cold. Ghee has no water left, so microbes cannot grow in it
even at room temperature.
co m
se
How ghee is made at home — these are the four steps shown in the picture on page 46.
m.
o m g l a
m .c butter. Butter is put in a pan on a low flame.
1. Heat the
a
l a se separates from the butter. The butter melts and the water in it comes out.
2. Water
g
a 3. Water evaporates. The heat turns that water into vapour, which goes into the air. You can
s
hear it crackling.
m a
.co agl
4. Ghee is prepared. What is left is clear golden ghee. The brown milk solids settle at the

se m
a
bottom and are strained out.

a g l

co m
m .
m Heat 3. Water lase
. c o1. 2. Water
ag
4. Ghee is

a s em the butter separates evaporates ready

agl
Once the water is gone, microbes have nothing to grow in.
se m
com g l a
m . a
ase
Making ghee from butter is really a way of removing every drop of water.

agl

co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a c
m .
m a s e
e m . co agl
g l as
a

com
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 19 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

BUTTER GHEE

How it is made Cream or malai is churned; the fat Butter is heated until the water
gathers as butter evaporates

Water in it Quite a lot, plus milk solids Almost none

Can microbes grow Yes, easily, if it is left warm No — there is no moisture for them
in it?

How it is stored In the fridge In a covered jar in the kitchen, at room
temperature

How long it keeps A few days to a few weeks Many months

Finding #5: Cold temperature slows down microbes. That is why butter, milk, vegetables and
cake are kept in a fridge.

Why cold works at all: Microbes do not die in a fridge — they only become very
slow. That is why a fridge makes food last days or weeks, but not forever. Making
ghee is stronger: it removes the water altogether, and then no fridge is needed.

One care with ghee: always take it out with a dry spoon. A wet spoon puts water
back into the jar, and where there is water there can be microbes.

Activity 3 — Page 46
Food preservation in your family

ACTIVITY

Q1 Activity 3: Find out about food preservation practices at your family by asking the
elders at home. Write at least one such practice.

How to do this activity

1. Choose an elder at home — your grandmother, grandfather, mother, father or an aunt.
2. Ask them three questions: What do you store for the whole year? How do you make it last? Who
taught you this?
3. Watch them do it if you can, and note the steps in order.
4. Write it down in your notebook in your own words, with the name of the person who told
you.

Page 20 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Sample answer (one practice, written in full):
“My grandmother makes badis every year in March. She soaks urad dal overnight, grinds it into a
thick paste and beats it well with her hand until it becomes light. She adds salt and a little ash gourd.
Then she drops small lumps of the paste onto a clean cloth spread on a cot, and keeps the cot in full
sunlight. She turns the badis every day. After four days they are hard and light, and she stores them in
a steel tin with a tight lid. They last us the whole year. She learnt this from her own mother in the
village.”
Other practices you may hear about at home:

PRACTICE WHY IT WORKS

Grain stored in a steel drum with dried neem leaves The drum keeps out moisture and insects; neem
keeps pests away

Mango or lemon pickle made every summer and Salt removes moisture, oil keeps out air
kept under oil

Papads and badis dried on the terrace before the Sun-drying removes moisture
rains

Amla or ginger murabba made in thick sugar syrup Microbes cannot grow in very sweet syrup

Fish or prawns salted and sun-dried along the coast Salt plus drying removes almost all the moisture

Milk boiled twice a day in summer Heating kills most of the microbes in it

Water kept in a matka Clay keeps water cool without electricity

Roasted and ground masala kept in an airtight steel Roasting removes moisture, the tight lid keeps out air
dabba

What you will notice: nobody in your family had to learn the science of microbes to
do these things. They learnt them from their own elders, and every single practice
turns out to remove moisture, air or warmth. That is what Disha found too —
traditional practices carry real science inside them.

In-text Question — Page 47

Page 21 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

How are Idlis made?

Q1 Disha watched her mother make idlis at home. Can you find out how idlis are made?

Idlis are made from a batter of rice and urad dal, which is left overnight to rise, and is
then steamed.
Here are the steps, in order.

1. Soak. Rice and urad dal (split black gram) are washed and soaked separately in water for
four to six hours.
2. Grind. Each is ground into a smooth, thick paste, and the two are mixed together with a little
salt. This is the batter.
3. Keep it aside. The batter is covered and left in a warm place overnight, or for about eight to
ten hours.
4. It rises. In the morning the batter has grown bigger, looks light and full of tiny bubbles, and
smells slightly sour.
5. Steam. The batter is poured into the round moulds of an idli stand and steamed for about
ten to twelve minutes.
6. Ready. Soft, white, fluffy idlis are taken out and served hot with sambar and chutney.

Why the batter must rest overnight: This is the most important step, and it is the
one that needs time rather than work. During those hours the good microbes get
busy in the batter. If the batter is steamed at once, without resting, the idlis come
out flat and hard.

Warmth helps: in winter, families keep the batter near a warm place or wrap the
vessel in a cloth. Microbes work faster in warmth — the very same rule that makes
food spoil faster in summer.

Q2 Is there something that makes the idli batter fluffy? Do you know what is it?

Yes — microbes. Microbes present in the air get into the batter and grow in it overnight. As
they grow they give off a gas. The gas makes tiny bubbles all through the batter, and those
bubbles make the idli soft and fluffy.
Finding #7: Microbes in the air help make idli batter rise.

Page 22 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Batter + good microbes + warmth + time

→ tiny gas bubbles → batter rises → soft, fluffy idlis

How you can see it for yourself:

1. Mark the level of the fresh batter on the outside of the vessel with a piece of tape.
2. Cover it and leave it overnight in a warm place.
3. In the morning, look at the mark. The batter has risen well above it.
4. Stir it gently. You will see small bubbles and hear a soft hiss.

Why this is the useful side of microbes: The same kind of tiny living things that
spoiled Disha's uttapam also make our idli, dosa, dhokla, bhatura, bread, curd and
cheese. This slow changing of food by good microbes is called fermentation. Here
we want the microbes to grow — so we give them warmth and time on purpose.

Did you know? Fermented rice — called pakhala in Odisha and kanji in some other
places — is eaten in many parts of India. Cooked rice is soaked in water overnight
and eaten the next day. It cools the body in summer and is full of good bacteria.

Think — Page 48
Indigestion and Home Remedies

THINK

Q1 Think: Did you ever have an upset stomach, vomiting or indigestion? Did you use
any home remedies? Write about the home remedy given to you.

Answer from your own home. A good answer names the problem, the remedy, how it was
made or given, and whether it helped.
Sample answer: “Last month I ate too many puris at a wedding and my stomach felt heavy and
full all evening. My mother did not give me any medicine. She roasted a spoonful of ajwain
(carom seeds) with a pinch of black salt and made me chew it with warm water. Later she gave
me a glass of buttermilk with a little roasted jeera powder in it. I did not eat anything heavy at
night. By the next morning my stomach felt normal again.”
Home remedies that families commonly use for a heavy stomach:

Page 23 of 42

ase
Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
REMEDY WHY FAMILIES USE IT

m as e
.co
Ajwain (carom seeds) with a pinch of salt, and warm
a g l
A very old remedy for a heavy, gassy stomach
water
se m
g l a
aJeera (cumin) water, or roasted jeera in buttermilk Buttermilk carries good microbes; jeera settles the
stomach

. comThe good microbes in it help digestion ag
Curd or buttermilk (chaas)
se m
l a
water
agwarm
Ginger with a little rock salt, or ginger in Used for nausea and a full feeling

co m
m.
Saunf (fennel) after a meal
e
Chewed at the end of a meal in most Indian homes

m l as
m .co
Light food — khichdi, plain rice, banana — and rest
a g
Gives the stomach less work to do

l a se
a g Warm water, sipped through the day Keeps the body from losing too much water

m a s
.co agl
Finding #8: Sometimes, bad eating habits can also lead to indigestion. Eating too

a s em
fast, eating far too much at one time, not chewing properly, or eating very oily food

a l of these make the stomach struggle. So the best
when you are already full —gall
remedy is a habit, not a cure.

co m
m .
o m l a se
Remember what the book says: home remedies are for small problems. If the
.c is severe, or lasts more than a day or two, you may
a g have to consult a doctor
m
aseand take medicines. Never take a medicine on your own.
problem

agl
se m
com g l a
m . a
ase
Have your parents given you curd or some product like buttermilk made from it, for

agl
Q2
an upset stomach.

c om

Yes — curd and buttermilk are given in almost every Indian homem .
s e when the stomach is

. comand there is a good reason for it.
upset,
a gla
a semThe book explains it in one sentence: there are small microbes in curd that join the good
agl microbes in your stomach to help in digestion.
c
m .
1. Curd is made by good microbes working in warm milk.
m a s e
. co
2. When we eat curd, those microbes go into our stomach and intestines.
m agl
l a se
3. Our body already has its own good microbes living there, which help digest food.
agcurd join them and add to their number.
4. The microbes from the
5. With more good microbes at work, digestion becomes easier and the stomach settles.

co m
m .
m as e
.co


a g l Page 24 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

MADE FROM CURD HOW IT IS TAKEN

Buttermilk (chaas, mattha, majjige) Curd thinned with water, with a little salt and jeera

Plain curd with rice Curd rice, given all over South India when the stomach is weak

Lassi Curd whisked with water; taken cool in summer

Kadhi Curd cooked with besan, eaten with rice

Why this is the friendliest idea in the chapter: The chapter began with microbes
as the villains that spoiled an uttapam. It ends with microbes as helpers — making
our curd, raising our idli batter, and living inside us to help digest our food. Same
family of tiny living things; different kinds, different work.

If the trouble is serious — repeated vomiting, a lot of loose motions, high fever, or
a stomach that keeps hurting — curd is not enough. The book says so plainly:
consult a doctor and take the medicines advised.

Activity 4 — Page 49
A Visit to the Vegetable Market

ACTIVITY

Q1 Activity 4: Do you ever accompany your elders for buying vegetables and fruits?
During such visits, observe how elders select fruits and vegetables in the market.

Go along, stand beside the elder, and watch their hands and eyes. Disha noticed that her
Thatha examined each fruit and vegetable carefully before he bought it. Here is what elders
actually check.

Page 25 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WHAT THEY HOW THEY CHECK IT WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR
CHECK

Look Turn the fruit or vegetable over in Bright, even colour; no black spots, cuts, holes or
the hand mould patches

Feel Press very gently with the thumb Firm, not soft, mushy or wrinkled

Smell Hold it near the nose, especially A sweet, fresh smell — a sour or foul smell means
melons and mangoes it has begun to spoil

Weight Hold two of the same size and The heavier one usually has more juice in it
compare

Stalk and leaves Look at the stem end Green, fresh leaves mean it was picked recently;
dry or yellow leaves mean it is old

Insects Look for tiny holes or spots No holes, no crawling insects

Season and Ask the seller where it came from Local and in-season produce is fresher and
place cheaper

Quantity Think about the next few days Only as much as the family will actually eat, so
that nothing spoils and is wasted

Why all this checking matters: A fruit that is already bruised or cracked has an
opening, and microbes can get in through it. Such a piece spoils in a day and can
spoil the ones lying next to it. Choosing carefully at the market is really the first step
of preserving food.

After you get home: take out anything that is bruised and use it first, wash
everything before storing, dry it well (wet vegetables spoil faster), and store leafy
greens and cut vegetables in the fridge or in a cool, airy place.

Q2 Write one thing that you learnt from your shopping trip and write it as a Finding #9,
the way Disha would write.

Disha writes her findings as one short sentence that states a rule. Copy that style: no story,
just the lesson.
Sample answer — written as Disha would:

Page 26 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Finding #9

Fresh fruits and vegetables are firm to touch and have no cuts or dark spots. A bruised piece

spoils first, so it must not be bought.

Other findings you could write, depending on what you saw:

Finding #9: A vegetable with fresh green leaves at its stalk was picked recently, so it will stay
good longer.
Finding #9: Local vegetables are fresher than those brought from far away, because they
spend less time travelling.
Finding #9: Fruits and vegetables of the season are cheaper, tastier and easier to find.
Finding #9: Buying only as much as we can eat in a few days means less food is thrown
away.
Finding #9: A soft, wrinkled or bad-smelling vegetable has already begun to spoil, so it
should be left behind.

How to write a good finding: begin with what you saw, then say why it matters.
Keep it to one or two lines, the way Disha does in all thirteen of her findings.

Write — Page 50
Seasonal fruits and vegetables of your region

WRITE

Q1 Name three seasonal fruits or vegetables of your region. For example, amla in
winter and jamun in summer.

Write the ones that actually grow near your home. Here is a table you can choose from and
check with an elder.

Page 27 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

SEASON FRUITS VEGETABLES

Winter (November – Amla, orange, guava, sitaphal Carrot, radish, peas, spinach, methi, mustard
February) (custard apple), ber, sugarcane, greens (sarson), cauliflower, cabbage
papaya

Summer (March – Mango, jamun, litchi, watermelon, Bottle gourd (lauki), ridge gourd (torai),
June) muskmelon, phalsa, jackfruit cucumber, tinda, okra (bhindi), raw mango

Rainy season (July – Litchi, pear, plum, peach, custard Colocasia (arbi), bitter gourd (karela), sponge
September) apple, banana gourd, corn (bhutta), pumpkin

All year Banana, papaya, coconut Potato, onion, tomato, brinjal

Sample answer: “In my region, amla and carrots come in winter, mango and jamun come in
summer, and bhutta (corn) comes in the rainy season.”
Finding #9 in the book: Fruits taste best when they are eaten in their season. Waiting for them
increases the joy.

Why seasonal food is better: A fruit picked in its own season is ripe, full of taste
and full of the good things our body needs. It is also cheaper, because there is plenty
of it. And it does not have to travel far — Appa said it himself: local mangoes are the
freshest, because they did not have to travel far to reach us.

Make your own seasonal chart: draw four boxes for the four seasons and fill in
what your local vegetable market sells in each one. Ask the vendor. You will find the
answer changes from state to state — and that is exactly what makes India's food so
varied.

In-text Question — Page 50
Chew Right! — Investigation

Q1 Investigation: What happens to food inside your mouth? — “What happens to food
after we eat it?”, she wondered.

Inside the mouth, food is cut, torn, crushed and ground by the teeth, mixed by the tongue,
wetted by saliva, and turned into a soft mush that can be swallowed easily. Digestion
actually starts right there in the mouth.
Follow one bite of roti, step by step.

Page 28 of 42

ase
Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

1. The front teeth (incisors) bite off a piece.
co m
2. The tongue pushes that piece to the back teeth.
e m.
m l as
.co a g
3. The premolars and molars crush and grind it into small bits.

a s em
4. Saliva — the watery juice made in the mouth — flows in and wets the food.
5. g l also begins to break down the food. That is why a piece of roti or rice starts tasting
a Saliva
slightly sweet if you keep chewing it.

co m
ag
6. The tongue rolls the wet bits into a soft, slippery ball, or mush.

m .
as e
7. Now it is smooth enough to be swallowed safely, and it slides down easily.

a g l
Bite → chew → saliva mixes in → mush → swallow

co m
em.
m l as
.co g
Why chewing matters so much: The stomach has no teeth. Whatever we swallow

em a
s
whole, the stomach has to deal with as it is. Chewing breaks the food into small

gl a
a
pieces, so the stomach's work becomes easy and digestion is faster and better. That
is Finding #10 in Disha's notebook.

m a s
em
.co agl
a s
Try it yourself: put a small piece of plain roti in your mouth and chew it slowly, thirty

agl two things — it turns into a soft paste, and it
times, without swallowing. Notice
begins to taste a little sweet. The sweetness is the saliva at work.

co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
m 5 — Pages 50–51
e
Activity
g l as
a
se m
com g l a
m . a
ase
agl

co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a c
m .
m a s e
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 29 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Chewing, and naming the types of teeth

ACTIVITY

Q1 Activity 5: When you eat, try chewing each item properly till it breaks down into
smaller pieces and then into mush. Which teeth did you use to cut and chew? Look
at the diagram given on the next page and name them.

Incisor

Canine Canine

Premolar Premolar

Molar Molar

Premolar Premolar

Canine Canine

Incisor

“Types of teeth” — the labelled diagram printed on the next page of the book.

You use all four kinds of teeth, one after another: incisors to cut, canines to tear,
premolars to crush and molars to grind.
How to do the activity:

1. Take one bite of something firm — a chapati, an apple, a guava or a piece of carrot.
2. Notice which teeth bite the piece off. Those are the flat, sharp front teeth.
3. Now move the piece to the back with your tongue and chew slowly.
4. Feel the wide, bumpy back teeth doing the grinding.

Page 30 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

5. Keep chewing until the food becomes a soft mush before you swallow. Count your chews —
try to reach twenty or thirty.
6. Now look at the “Types of teeth” diagram on page 51 and match each label to the tooth you
felt working.

The diagram on page 51 shows an open mouth with the upper and lower jaws. In each jaw,
from the front to the back, the labels read: Incisor in the middle at the front, Canine at each
corner, then Premolar, and Molar at the very back — the same four names on both the left and
the right side, in both jaws.

NAME OF WHERE IT IS WHAT IT LOOKS ITS JOB
THE TOOTH LIKE

Incisor Right at the front, Flat and chisel-like, To cut — biting into an apple or a roti
middle with a sharp edge

Canine At the corners, one on Pointed, like a To tear — pulling apart tougher food
each side, next to the small cone such as a piece of sugarcane, chicken
incisors or a hard chapati

Premolar Behind the canines Broad top with To crush — breaking food into smaller
two small bumps bits

Molar Right at the back of the Widest of all, with To grind — mashing food into a paste,
jaw a bumpy, uneven like two grinding stones
top

Incisor Canine Premolar Molar
cuts tears crushes grinds

Front of the mouth on the left, back of the mouth on the right.

The four kinds of teeth, in the order in which they sit in the jaw — and the job each one does.

Finding #11: Different types of teeth have different uses.

Page 31 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why we need four different kinds: One shape cannot do every job. A sharp edge
cuts but cannot grind; a wide bumpy top grinds but cannot bite cleanly into an
apple. Our teeth are a small set of tools, each shaped for its own work, and we use
them one after another on every mouthful.

Did you know? A young child first grows a set of 20 milk teeth. These fall out one by
one and are replaced by the permanent set of 32 teeth — 8 incisors, 4 canines, 8
premolars and 12 molars. If you are around ten years old, your mouth probably has
some of each set right now.

In-text Question — Page 51
Teeth and Chewing — saliva

Q1 Disha wondered whether more saliva come out when you chew the food for long.

Yes. The longer you chew, the more saliva comes out. Anna said it too — chewing properly
releases saliva, which helps digest the food.
Check it yourself:

1. Take a small piece of dry food — a plain biscuit, a puffed rice, or a bit of roti.
2. Chew it slowly and count to twenty.
3. Notice how the dry piece becomes wet and soft in your mouth.
4. The wetness did not come from the food. It came from your own saliva.
5. Now try just smelling hot food when you are hungry. Your mouth waters even before you
have eaten anything.

WHAT SALIVA DOES WHY IT HELPS

Wets the food Dry food becomes soft and easy to chew

Sticks the bits together Makes a smooth mush that can be swallowed safely

Starts breaking the food down Digestion begins in the mouth itself, before the food reaches the stomach

Cleans the mouth a little Washes bits of food off the teeth

Finding #10: Chewing food properly breaks down the food and releases saliva which helps in
digestion.

Page 32 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why the body works this way: The mouth is the first place food reaches, so it is the
best place to make the work easier. Chewing does the cutting, and saliva does the
wetting and the first bit of digesting. Food that is gulped down whole gets neither —
and then the stomach has to struggle.

A simple habit: put down your spoon between mouthfuls, or take smaller bites.
Both make you chew longer without even trying.

Write — Page 53
The Danger of Choking

WRITE

Q1 How can you avoid choking?

Eat slowly, take small mouthfuls, chew properly, and never talk, laugh, run or lie down
with food in your mouth.
The rules, one by one:

1. Take small bites. A big mouthful is the commonest cause of choking.
2. Chew every bite properly until it becomes soft mush. Never gulp food down — that is
exactly what Amma warned Disha about at dinner.
3. Swallow before you speak. Do not talk or laugh with food in your mouth.
4. Sit down to eat, upright, at one place. Do not eat while walking, running, playing or lying
down.
5. Do not eat in a hurry, even when you are late. Give your meal its few quiet minutes.
6. Be careful with slippery and hard foods — whole grapes, boiled eggs, big pieces of fruit,
nuts, hard sweets, fish with bones. Cut them small and check fish for bones.
7. Sip water between mouthfuls if the food is dry.
8. Do not laugh at the table when someone has just taken a bite, and do not make a friend
laugh while they are eating.

Finding #13: I must eat my food slowly to avoid choking on it.

Page 33 of 42

ase
Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
Why choking happens: Two passages start at the back of the throat — one goes to

m l a se
the stomach and one goes to the lungs. Normally the body closes the second one
o
c
while we .swallow. g
If we swallow a large or unchewed piece whileatalking
m
or laughing,
a e can go the wrong way and get stuck. That is choking, and it is frightening
spiece
g l
that
abecause it blocks the breath.

o m
e
. c
m loudly and at once. Do not slap them on ag
s
If someone does choke: call a grown-up

a g lapull anything out of their mouth — that can push
the back yourself and do not try to
the piece deeper. The fastest help is always an adult.

co m
e m.
com — Pages 53–54 g l as
. a
em
Let us reflect
a s
gl
Closing questions
aLET US REFLECT

om a s
. c
emfor weeks and others spoil in just a few days? agl
a s
1. Why do some food items last

agl
Q1

co m
Because microbes can grow easily on some foods and not on others. A food spoils fast if it
m .
m l a se
has plenty of moisture, is open to the air and is kept warm. A food lasts for weeks if it is dry,
o
c
salty, .sugary,
a g get what they need.
m
oily, sealed or cold — because then the microbes cannot

l a se
a g FOOD HOW LONG IT LASTS WHY

se m
Milk, cooked rice, cut fruit
com
Less than a day in summer Full of moisture, kept warm, open to air
g l a
m . a
ase
agl
Bread, uttapam in a tiffin Two to three days Soft and moist; warmth and air do the
box rest

om
Papad, chilli powder, badi Many months Sun-dried — almost no moisture left

. c
a semwater; a layer of oil keeps
com outlair
Pickle Months, even a year Salt removes

e m . ag
as Ghee
agl
Many months at room All the water was evaporated while
temperature making it
.c
s e m
m a
. co agl
Canned juice, sealed Months Airtight — no air, so no microbes
packets
se m
l a
Food in a fridge ag Several days to weeks Too cold for microbes to grow quickly

co m
m .
m as e
.co


a g l Page 34 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Moisture + air + warmth = microbes grow = food spoils fast

Remove any one of them = food lasts long

The whole chapter in one idea: Nothing spoils by itself. Microbes spoil it. So how
long a food lasts depends on one simple question — can microbes grow on it or not?

Q2 2. You are going on a field trip for two days. List five food items you will carry. How
will you keep them from getting spoiled?

Choose food that is dry, cooked without much water, whole, or sealed. Leave behind
anything with gravy, curd or a lot of water in it — those spoil within hours.

# FOOD ITEM I WILL WHY IT IS SAFE FOR TWO HOW I WILL PACK IT
CARRY DAYS

1 Theplas or khakhras (or Made with very little water and Wrapped in butter paper inside
dry parathas) roasted well, so they stay dry an airtight box

2 Roasted chana and Completely dry — microbes In a tight-lidded steel dabba or
peanuts cannot grow a sealed pouch

3 Chikki, or a jaggery-and- Made with jaggery; sugar keeps Wrapped separately so it does
sesame ladoo microbes away not stick

4 Whole fruits — bananas, The peel is a natural cover; Kept whole, never cut in
oranges, apples nothing is cut open advance; carried in a cloth bag

5 A sealed packet of biscuits Airtight packing keeps out air and Opened only when it is to be
or dry poha chivda moisture eaten

How I will keep them from spoiling:

1. Pack everything in clean, dry, airtight boxes. Even one drop of water can start mould.
2. Keep the bag out of direct sunlight and away from the hot part of the bus.
3. Carry no curd, no gravy, no cut fruit, no cooked rice — these spoil in a few hours.
4. Wash my hands before eating, and take food out with a dry spoon or clean hands.
5. Close every box tightly again after eating from it.
6. Carry drinking water in my own bottle, boiled or filtered at home.
7. Eat the softer items first — fruit on day one, dry snacks on day two.
8. If anything smells odd or looks changed, do not eat it. Throw it away in a dustbin.

Page 35 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why these choices work: Every item on the list is dry, sealed or protected by its own
peel. That takes away moisture and air — two of the three things microbes need.
The third, warmth, is taken care of by keeping the bag in the shade.

If your family eats non-vegetarian food and you want to carry some, choose
something dry and well-cooked, such as dry-roasted fish or a dry chicken sukka
packed in an airtight box, and eat it on the first day itself. Anything with gravy should
be left at home.

Q3 3. What if food cannot be preserved? Imagine a world without food preservation
and discuss the consequences.

A world without food preservation would be a world of daily shortage and enormous
waste. Everything would have to be eaten within hours of being grown or cooked, and
whatever was left would have to be thrown away.

Page 36 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WHERE IT WHAT WOULD HAPPEN WHY
WOULD SHOW

At home Food would have to be bought and cooked Nothing could be stored, not even
fresh two or three times a day for the evening

Waste A huge amount of food would be thrown away Whatever is not eaten at once
every day would spoil

Taste and variety No pickle, papad, jam, murabba, chilli powder, All of these are preserved foods
ghee, dried fish or aam papad

Seasons Mango only for two months a year; no amla in Nothing could be saved for the
summer, no peas in June rest of the year

Farmers They would have to sell the whole harvest Grain, pulses and chillies are all
within days, at any price they were offered stored after drying

Travel No food for a train journey, a pilgrimage, a Nothing would survive the
school trip, a soldier's post or a ship journey

Places far from Cities, deserts, high mountains and islands Food would spoil on the way
farms would struggle for food there

Hard times A flood, a drought or a long winter would There would be no stored grain
quickly become a famine to fall back on

Health More people would fall ill from eating food that Fresh food is not always
had begun to spoil available when hunger is

Price Food would become dearer and less certain Nothing could be kept back for
the days when there is less

Sample answer for the discussion: “Without preservation we could not keep food even for one
day. Every meal would have to be cooked and eaten at once, and the rest thrown away. There
would be no pickle, no papad, no chilli powder, no ghee. Farmers would have to sell everything
the day they harvested it. We could not carry food on a journey, and a single bad season would
leave people hungry. Preserving food is really a way of saving today's food for tomorrow's
need.”

Why preservation is not a modern idea: People worked this out long before
anyone knew what a microbe was. Drying, salting, pickling and storing in oil are
hundreds of years old, and the Do you know? box in your book points out that insects
such as solitary hunting wasps were preserving food for their larvae long before
humans did.

Page 37 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q4 4. Match the following. Which method is used to preserve the following food items
(A) to make the final product (B)? — Item (A): Roti, Papad, Mango, Lemon, Butter,
Juice, Chillies, Fish. Products (B): Khakhra, Dried papads, Aam papad, Lemon pickle,
Ghee, Canned juice, Chilli powder, Dried fish. (The first two methods, ‘Dehydration’
and ‘Dried in sun’, are already filled in.)

The middle column is what you have to fill in. The first two rows are already given in the book;
the rest are filled below.

ITEM METHOD OF PRODUCT WHY THAT METHOD
(A) PRESERVATION (B)

Roti Dehydration (given) Khakhra The roti is roasted and pressed thin until all its
moisture is gone, so it becomes crisp and
keeps for weeks.

Papad Dried in sun (given) Dried Rolled dal dough is dried in sunlight until it is
papads hard and brittle.

Mango Dried in sun Aam papad Ripe mango pulp is spread in thin layers and
(dehydration) sun-dried until no water is left.

Lemon Pickling — salt, spices Lemon Salt pulls the moisture out of the lemon pieces
and oil pickle and keeps microbes away.

Butter Heating, so that the water Ghee Once the water has gone, nothing is left for
evaporates microbes to grow in.

Juice Canning — sealed in Canned juice The juice is heated and sealed so that no air,
airtight cans and no microbe, can get in.

Chillies Dried in sun, then ground Chilli Drying removes the moisture; the powder is
powder then stored in a dry container.

Fish Salting and drying in the Dried fish Salt draws out the water and the Sun dries the
sun rest, so the fish keeps for months.

Page 38 of 42

ase
Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
e m.
Roti → dehydration → khakhra
m l as
.co
Papad → dried in sun → dried papads
m a g
l a se
g
Mango → dried in sun → aam papad
aLemon → pickling → lemon pickle

co m
. ag
Butter → heating → ghee
em
Juice → canning → canned juice
g l as
a
Chillies → dried in sun and ground → chilli powder

co m
m.
Fish → salted and sun-dried → dried fish

m as e
.co a g l
a s em
Notice the pattern: six of the eight rows are really the same idea — take the water

a gl out. Only the lemon uses salt and oil to keep air away, and only the juice is sealed in
a can. That is the whole science of food preservation, in one small table.

m a s
em
.co agl
a s
gl the good microbes.
Mystery solved. Disha's last finding is the one to carry home: Eat right, preserve and
store right, chew well — andathank

co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
a s em
a gl Chapter at a glance

m
Food spoils because tiny living things grow on it. Disha's uttapam sat in a closed tiffin box

a se
comMould is made of thousands of microbes living l
for three days. When she opened it, it smelt bad and had coloured patches. Her brother
. a g
em so small that you need a microscope — a special
Aditya told her the patches were mould.

a s
aglthings look big — to see even one of them.
together. Microbes are living things
instrument that makes tiny
Microbes are everywhere. They live in the soil, in water, in the air around us, on plants, on

. c om
animals, and inside our own bodies. That is Finding #1 in Disha's notebook. Not all of them

s e
are harmful. Some spoil our food. Others are good microbes — theym turn milk into curd,
a
om idli batter fluffy, and help our stomach digest what awegleat.
cmake
.
a s em Microbes need three things to grow: moisture, air and the right temperature. Moisture
agl means the water present in a food. If we take away even one of these three, the microbes
c
m .
e
cannot grow, and the food stays safe for much longer. Every method of preserving food

m a s
co agl
works on this one simple idea.

m .
as e
Drying takes the water away. Disha saw her Amma and Appa drying chillies in the Sun on

a g l
a mat. Dried chillies are ground into chilli powder that lasts the whole year. In the same way
we sun-dry papads, badis, aam papad, fish, and many vegetables. This is called drying or

m
dehydration.

. co
e m
m l as
.co a g
Page 39 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Oil, cold and airtight packing keep microbes out. Paati poured mustard oil over her
pickled green mangoes — the oil sits on top and stops air from reaching the pickle. A fridge
keeps food so cold that microbes work very slowly, so milk, vegetables and butter stay
fresh. In food factories, food is sealed in airtight cans and packets so no air can get in at all.
Long ago people also used salt, sugar and spices like black pepper. We still do.
Good microbes make food for us. Idli batter rises and becomes fluffy because microbes
from the air work in it overnight — that is Finding #7. Curd is made by microbes too, and
the microbes in curd join the good microbes in our stomach and help digestion. Fermented
rice — called pakhala in Odisha, kanji elsewhere — is eaten in many parts of India; it cools
the body and is full of good bacteria.
Buy fresh, eat seasonal, eat local. Disha's Thatha checks each fruit and vegetable carefully
before buying it. Appa brought lychees in the rains and said we must wait for a seasonal
fruit — waiting makes the joy greater. He also said local mangoes taste fresher, because
they do not have to travel far to reach us.
Eating a variety of foods keeps a growing body strong. India is the world's largest
producer of millets and of pulses (dal), and one of the largest producers of bananas. A
traditional Indian thali puts many different foods on one plate — grain, dal, vegetables,
curd, a pickle — and in the North-East, tender bamboo shoots are cooked into tasty curries.
Different foods do different jobs for the body, so eating enough of many kinds is what helps
you grow, play and think well.
Chew well, and look after your teeth. We have four kinds of teeth: incisors to cut,
canines to tear, premolars to crush and molars to grind. Chewing breaks food into small
pieces and brings out saliva, the watery juice of the mouth that starts digesting food. Rinse
your mouth after eating, brush regularly, and see a dentist if a tooth aches — Disha's
toothache turned out to be a cavity, a hole in the tooth. And never gulp food down: eat
slowly, take small mouthfuls and chew properly, so that food does not get stuck in your
throat.

Page 40 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Quick revision

WORD WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT AN EVERYDAY
APPEARS EXAMPLE

Microbe A living thing so tiny that you need a Mystery #1, page 41 The green-black growth
microscope to see it on an old roti

Mould A patch made of thousands of Page 41 Coloured furry patches on
microbes growing together on food stale bread

Spoilage Food going bad — its colour, smell Food Spoilage, page The uttapam left in the
and taste change and it is not safe to 40 tiffin box for three days
eat

Moisture The water present inside a food Finding #2, page 43 The wetness you feel
inside a fresh chilli

Drying / Taking the water out of a food, usually Finding #3, page 44 Chillies dried on a mat to
Dehydration by keeping it in the Sun make chilli powder

Pickling Keeping food in salt, spices and oil so Pickling and Oiling, Paati's jar of mango pickle
that air cannot reach it page 45

Refrigeration Keeping food cold in a fridge so that Refrigeration and Milk and vegetables in
microbes grow very slowly Freezing, page 45 the fridge

Freezing Making food so cold that it turns hard, Page 45 Peas kept in the freezer
and microbes stop growing

Airtight Sealed so tightly that no air can get in Page 47 A sealed can of juice

Fermentation Good microbes working in food and Finding #7, page 48 Idli batter rising
changing it — making it sour, soft or overnight
fluffy

Good microbes Microbes that help us make food and Page 48 The microbes in curd and
help us digest it buttermilk

Seasonal fruit A fruit that grows only in one season Finding #9, page 50 Lychee in the rains, amla
of the year in winter

Saliva The watery juice made in the mouth; it Finding #10, page 52 Your mouth watering at
wets food and starts digesting it the smell of food

Types of teeth Incisors cut, canines tear, premolars Types of teeth, page Biting a guava with the
crush, molars grind 51 front teeth

Page 41 of 42

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 3 The Mystery of Food AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WORD WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT AN EVERYDAY
APPEARS EXAMPLE

Cavity A hole in a tooth Oral Hygiene, page 52 A toothache the dentist
fills up

Choking Food getting stuck in the throat when it Finding #13, page 52 Gulping food while
is swallowed in a hurry talking or laughing

Page 42 of 42