Question #1: Lentil Soup?
What beracha should Eisav have recited on his lentil soup?
Question #2: Apple Sauce?
I am sitting down to a snack of apple sauce and coffee. Does it make any difference how I recite the beracha?
Question #3: Candied Ginger?
What is the correct beracha to recite on candied ginger?
Introduction:
The Torah teaches us that Yaakov gave Eisav bread and lentil soup, and, according to the old Jewish tradition, Eisav did not recite a beracha when he ate his meal. If Eisav had skipped the bread and made a beracha on the soup, what beracha should he have made? It might depend on the recipe that Yaakov used when he made the soup, and it might also depend on the consistency of the soup. So, although I know that some people assume that the beracha on all soups is shehakol, this is certainly not an accurate rule. As always, the goal of our column is not to provide definitve halachic ruling; that is the role of each individual’s rav or posek. The goal of our article is to educate about the halachic principle.
Let us begin with the Gemara, where it states that “the water of beets is treated like beets, and the water of turnips is treated like turnips, and the water of all cooked items is like the cooked item” (Berachos 39a). This means that if someone cooked beets, and then drank the liquid without the vegetable, he should recite the beracha of ha’adamah on the liquid, notwithstanding that he is not even eating the vegetable itself. This Gemara is teaching us an interesting application of the Mishnah, which states, “This is the rule: Whatever is primary, ikar, and is accompanied by something secondary, tafeil, one recites the beracha on the primary and absolves the secondary item” (Berachos 44a). According to the rule in this Mishnah, someone eating cooked beets does not recite a beracha on the liquid in which they were cooked, even should he drink some of the liquid by itself. A similar case is someone eating breakfast cereal and has some milk left in his bowl; he does not recite a beracha on the milk that is left. However, the Gemara extends the Mishnah’s ruling, teaching that even without eating any beets, the beracha on the water in which the beets were cooked is the same beracha as that of the beets, because the beets are still considered the ikar.
The Rambam (Hilchos Berachos 8:4) qualifies the ruling of the Gemara: “For vegetables that are commonly cooked, the beracha on the liquid is borei pri ha’adamah, provided that he cooked them in order to drink the liquid, because, when it is common to drink the water of cooked vegetables, the liquid has the same law as the vegetables.” The Shulchan Aruch quotes this ruling of the Gemara, although he omits the stipulation of the Rambam: “On the water in which vegetables were cooked, one should recite the same beracha that one would recite on the vegetables themselves, notwithstanding that you are consuming only the flavor of the vegetables” (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 205:2). Then he adds a different stipulation: “This is true only if the vegetables were cooked without any meat; if some meat was added, the beracha on the liquid is shehakol.”
Ikar and tafeil
To explain this ruling of the Shulchan Aruch, we need to examine the laws of ikar and tafeil.
There are two general categories of situations included in the halachos of ikar and tafeil; (1) enhancers and (2) mixtures.
(1) Enhancers: This category includes food items where the tafeil food makes the ikar food tastier. Some common examples include: Cereal with fruit and milk; eating latkes with apple sauce; stirring herbal tea with a cinnamon stick; breading fish or meat (schnitzel). In all of these cases, one recites the beracha for the ikar; that is, the cereal, latkes, tea, or meat; and the tafeil is included.
(2) Mixtures: This category includes cases where one food is not specifically enhancing the other, but both foods are important. For example, someone eating macaroni and cheese, blintzes (they always contain a filling), cholent, kugel, or stew is interested in eating all the different foods that comprise the dish. The same halacha applies when eating soups, which may contain vegetables, meat, noodles or barley. In these cases, all the food items eaten are important and none of these ingredients serve only to enhance the rest. Although these are mixtures, they are considered one complete food item and therefore have only one beracha. Thus, the concept of ikar and tafeil is very different here — it determines which beracha we recite on this food. The beracha of the ikar, usually the majority item, is the beracha on the entire item.
We will return to the concept of mixtures, but first I want to explain the concept of enhancers and how it affects the halacha regarding the water in which vegetables were cooked. The reason that the beracha prior to drinking the “water” of beets or turnips is ha’adamah, is because this is considered the enhancer of the water. In other words, the beet water (also known as borscht) is being drunk primarily because of its beet flavor. Therefore, if someone added meat to the borscht, the beracha becomes shehakol, since the meat flavor is now considered the ikar and the beracha on meat is, of course, shehakol.
Having noted how the Rambam understood the Gemara that taught that the beracha on “beet water” is ha’adamah, I will note a question on this passage of Gemara raised by other rishonim. An earlier passage of Gemara rules that the correct beracha to recite on the liquid squeezed out of dates, called date honey or silan, is shehakol. That passage then explains that this ruling is dependent on a dispute between the tanna’im Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua, whether or not date honey is still considered “fruit” germane to the laws of terumah. The Gemara concludes, in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehoshua, that the honey squeezed out of dates has lost the status of fruit and is shehakol. This leads the rishonim to question what is the difference between date honey, on which the beracha is shehakol, and beet or turnip soup, on which the beracha is ha’adamah. The Ba’al Halachos Gedolos (usually abbreviated Bahag), who predated the rishonim, writes that when the Gemara rules that the beracha on date honey is shehakol, it refers to date honey that was watered down, but the beracha on pure date honey is ha’etz. The rishonim explain that since the =posuk that praises Eretz Yisrael as the land of the seven special fruits refers to dates as devash, , the Bahag assumes that pure date honey must have the prominence of dates, presumably for the berachos both before and after eating it.
Nevertheless, most rishonim reject the Bahag’s approach and rule that the beracha before eating date honey is shehakol. There is also another opinion that the beracha before eating date honey is ha’adamah (see Hagahos Ashri, Berachos 6:12).
This returns us to our question: What is the difference between honey and beet soup? The rishonim and poskim suggest several possible distinctions, each of which results in a different halachic conclusion. Some understand that there is a difference between the flavor cooked out of a fruit or vegetable and that which is squeezed out. When cooking, a greater degree of the flavor is removed, and in the case of a fruit or vegetable that is eaten cooked, the beracha on the liquid extract is ha’eitz or ha’adamah (Rosh, Berachos 6:18, as explained by the Tur and the Bach, Orach Chayim 202).
Another approach is that the beracha ha’eitz or ha’adamah is recited on the liquid extract or soup of the fruit or vegetable only when the fruit or vegetable is usually eaten this way (Chiddushei Harashba, Berachos 38a s.v. Devash). There are fruits that are commonly eaten cooked, such as apples, quince, peaches and prunes, but few of these are eaten most of the time in the cooked state together with their liquid. Although the Bach (Orach Chayim 202 s.v. Ve’im bisheil) concludes that the beracha on the cooked liquid extract of any of these fruits is ha’eitz, this is not the conclusion of most acharonim. Based on their understanding of the Rashba, they conclude that the beracha of ha’adamah was recited on the liquid of the beets and turnips only because these vegetables were usually served cooked with their liquid. However, for vegetables that are often served cooked without the liquid, the beracha on the liquid is shehakol. According to this approach, the correct beracha on the lentil soup that Yaakov served would be ha’adamah if (1) there were pieces of lentil still in the soup or (2) lentils were usually served with the liquid in which they were cooked. However, if the lentils were removed from the soup (or already eaten) and it was unusual to serve lentils with the liquid in which they were cooked, the beracha on the lentil soup would be shehakol. In either case, if there were still significant quantities of lentils in the soup (enough to say that the person was eating lentils and not just their liquid), the beracha would be ha’adamah.
Mixture Berachos
Above, I mentioned that there are two rules governing the laws of ikar and tafeil, types of mixtures, one governing the laws of ikar that are enhancers and another governing foods that are true mixtures. I have already explained the rules of the enhancers germane to vegetable soups. Now I will explain the rules that determine the beracha of a mixture.
There are three rules to establish which beracha to recite on a mixture:
1. If one of the items is clearly the most important, it determines the beracha (Pri Megadim, Orach Chayim, Pesicha Koleles, Hilchos Berachos s.v. Hatenai; Mishnah Berurah 212:1). For example, the beracha on chicken or meat soup with vegetables is shehakol, since the chicken or the meat is the most important flavor component in the soup.
2. When there is no most important ingredient, the beracha is usually determined by the majority item in the product. Thus, the beracha on a peanut bar containing peanuts, honey, and sugar is ha’adamah,since peanuts are the major ingredient. The beracha on a tzimmes consisting of prunes and sweet potatoes depends on which item is the major ingredient.
3. However, when the mixture contains one of the five grains, the beracha is usually mezonos, unless the flour or grain is included only to provide texture (Shulchan Aruch 204:12; 208:2, 3). For example, flour added to thicken soup is tafeil.
Because grains are important, they are the ikar of the mixture even if they are a minority ingredient. For this reason, the beracha on vegetable-barley soup is usually mezonos. However, if the barley is completely dissolved, the beracha on the soup will be ha’adamah. Also, if you do not want the barley but a few pieces ended up in your bowl anyway, the beracha is ha’adamah, and the barley will be considered tafeil (Mishnah Berurah 212:1).
Similarly, the beracha on a trifle containing cake and ice cream is mezonos even if there is more ice cream than cake, since the cake is a grain product. However, the beracha on potato kugel that contains flour, bread crumbs, and/or matzoh meal to provide texture is ha’adamah (when there are visible pieces of potato). Since the grain product here functions only to hold the kugel together, it is tafeil and does not affect the beracha.
These rules are only for the five grains whose beracha is hamotzi when they are made into bread. The beracha regarding other grains and starches, such as millet, sorghum, tapioca, arrowroot, manioc and quinoa, is that if they are cooked or ground until there are no pieces left, the beracha is shehakol, even if they are the ikar. The same rule is true if these starches are tastier eaten raw rather than when they are cooked (Rema, Orach Chayim 208:8). Thus, a porridge or hot cereal made of kasha or millet will be shehakol if there are no pieces of the grain left, and ha’adamah if there are. The beracha on quinoa is, in most cases, ha’adamah, because it is usually not ground or cooked until the pieces completely dissolve.
Purees
What is the correct beracha to recite prior to eating fruit and vegetable products that no longer have their original consistency, such as apple sauce, jam, fruit puree, mashed potatoes, tomato paste and peanut butter? Is the correct beracha on these items borei pri ha’eitz/ha’adamah or shehakol?
The rishonim dispute this question, many contending that even a completely pureed fruit is still borei pri ha’eitz; a minority rule that the beracha on a fruit or vegetable that no longer has its original consistency is shehakol.
What do we conclude?
The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 202:7) rules that the beracha is ha’eitz, and this is the ruling followed by most Sefardim. Ashkenazim follow the ruling of the Rema, who contends that one should recite shehakol, because of the safek as to which opinion we should follow. In practice, Ashkenazim usually recite borei pri ha’eitz when eating a product that has some of the consistency of the original product, as is the case of jam with recognizable fruit pieces in it or “chunky” or “natural” apple sauce, but recite shehakol before eating a completely smooth apple sauce or a smooth jam, where the fruit has completely lost its consistency (Mishnah Berurah 202:42).
However, since the reason we recite shehakol is because it is a safek, several halachic differences result. For example, someone having a snack of apple sauce and a beverage should make sure to recite the shehakol on the apple sauce rather than on the beverage. If they recite the shehakol on the beverage without specifically including the apple sauce, they have created a safek whether the obligation to make a beracha on the apple sauce has been fulfilled. This is because, according to the opinions that the beracha should be ha’eitz, they did not fulfill the beracha by reciting shehakol on something else.
Similarly, someone eating a fruit and apple sauce at the same time who recited ha’eitz on the fruit should not recite shehakol (and certainly not ha’eitz)on the apple sauce. This is because the poskim who contend that apple sauce is ha’eitz rule that he has already fulfilled his duty by reciting ha’eitz on the other fruit. In this situation, he should first recite shehakol on the apple sauce and then ha’eitz on the other fruit (Ben Ish Chai, Parshas Pinchas 1:16).
Some authorities rule more strictly, contending that you should not eat an item that is definitely borei pri ha’eitz together with an item that is questionably borei pri ha’eitz, such as apple sauce. This is because there isn’t any way to fulfill the need for reciting a beracha on both items without creating an unnecessary beracha. If one recites the beracha on the fruit first, then one has a safek as to whether he can recite a beracha on the safek item. However, if you recite the shehakol on the safek item first, then, according to the opinions that the beracha is ha’eitz, you have now recited an unnecessary beracha (Maamar Mordechai 203:3).
Candied ginger?
At this point, we will discuss the third of our opening questions: What is the correct beracha to recite on candied ginger?
The Mishnah Berurah (202:44) rules that if you dry and grind up ginger until it is not identifiable and mix it with sugar, the beracha is ha’adamah. Based on several earlier authorities (Terumas Hadeshen #29; Shulchan Aruch Harav; Chayei Adam), he explains that since this is the usual way that ginger is eaten, it requires the same beracha it would receive were it eaten as a fresh spice. Since ginger is a root, that makes its beracha ha’adamah.
This ruling is even more obvious relative to the candied ginger that is commonly made today, which is usually dried pieces of ginger topped with a sugary glaze.
Conclusion
The Gemara (Bava Kamma 30a) quotes three approaches for someone to follow should he want to develop into a true chassid, meaning someone who acts exemplarily beyond the requirements of the halacha. The first approach recommends that he become expert in the rules of damages and torts; the second approach recommends that he become expert in the themes of Mesechta Avos; and the third that he study carefully the laws of Berachos. The Maharsha (ad loc.) explains that there are three aspects essential to growing as a mensch – one must be good to Hashem, good to others and good to yourself. Becoming expert in the rules of damages influences someone to focus on being good to others; becoming expert in the study of Avos results in the individual understanding himself well; and becoming an expert in the laws of Berachos is a way to train himself to appreciate what Hashem does for us. Our attempts to observe the halachos of Berachos correctly demonstrate a small expression on our part to praise Hashem for even His seemingly small kindnesses to us.
