Brachot - GrowTorah Q&A
Knowing which brachot to recite - or if to recite a bracha at all - before eating different foods is generally straightforward. This section explores questions about reciting brachot for situations that are not as commonly dealt with.
1. What Bracha do you make on hydroponically grown food?
2. What Bracha do you make on food grown in raised beds?
3. If something is not commonly eaten but I frequently eat it, does that change the Bracha status for me?
4. Can one make Birkat hailanot on crab apple trees, which are considered non-edible but people in the foraging community eat them?
1. What Bracha do you make on hydroponically grown food?
In general, when one makes a significant change to a food or the way it is eaten, the Bracha on the food changes. Since hydroponically grown food is not grown from ha’adamah (האדמה- the ground), it raises the question of if you can make the regular Bracha on vegetables, boreh pri ha’adamah (בורא פרי האדמה).
There was a major dispute:
The Chayei Adam (18th-19th century prominent posek) (Hayyei Adam I:51:17) explains that one should not make the regular Bracha on foods grown in an atzitz sh’eino nakuv (עציץ שאינו נקוב): a bin without holes in the bottom (E.g. a flowerpot). For example, one can’t make the Bracha of Hamotzi lechem min ha’aretz (המוציא לחם מן הארץ- “Who draws bread from the ground”) since it was produced from wheat that is not directly drawn from the ground.
The same thing applies to vegetables; one cannot say ha’adamah (האדמה) on produce that did not grow physically from the Earth. Instead, people would make the Bracha of shehakol nihiya b’dvaro (שהכל נהיה בדברו). Since the Bracha Shehakol is more general, we use it when we aren’t sure about a food’s status, or when the food itself does not fit into any of the normal categories (grown from trees, grown from the ground, etc.).
In contrast, some modern Poskim disagree with the Chayei Adam and explain that the Bracha on a food is inherently connected with the species. The way the food was grown is secondary to the type of food it is. Vegetables are fundamentally boreh pri ha’adamah even if one happens to grow them hydroponically or in an atzitz sh’eino nakuv because that does not change the fact that it is still a vegetable, aso it would have the same Bracha as a vegetable.
The more intuitive approach seems to be to consider the species more than the way it was grown. However, there is a general rule in Hilchot Brachot that when someone is not sure which Bracha to make, they usually make the less specific one. That means that in this debate, the proper solution might be to make a Shehakol.
2. What Bracha do you make on food grown in raised beds?
Raised beds have holes in the bottom, so they would be considered an atziz nakuv (עציץ נקוב): grounded plant. Even though it is raised off the ground and there is no connection botanically, the vegetables have the status of growing from the ground. In a case where there is no way that the vegetables roots would reach all the way to the ground, one can still say ha’adamah (האדמה).
In recent years there has been a shift towards greenhouse growing and controlled environmental agriculture (CEA). It is possible that the Halachic rulings will change and the “typical” Brachot will predominate, with people blessing ha’adamah on vegetables grown by modern methods, instead of including it in the broader shehakol.
3. If something is not commonly eaten but I frequently eat it, does that change the Bracha status for me?
It is hard to say exactly what the shiur (שיעור- measurement) is for this consideration but a relatively small number of people eating it does not change its Bracha. It must be a fairly widespread practice in order to change from shehakol (שהכל) to a more specific category. It does not necessarily have to be a majority, but if there are many people who do eat the unusual food, then it becomes אורחיה: a normal practice/method, so it would probably get the Bracha of a more specific category (ha’etz, ha’adamah). If it is not commonly eaten, then the Bracha would remain as is (shehakol).
It is often necessary to take this case by case. Many people eat weeds (E.g. in a salad) without knowing that they are weeds, or people work hard to eliminate dandelions in their gardens that are of high value in certain places. Certain foods that many would think are not worth eating but are served in fancy restaurants.
It is also important to consider the way things are normally eaten. Although parsley is a commonly eaten food (unlike dandelions), it is very rare for people to eat parsley by itself, since it does not lend itself to be eaten that way. Because of that, it is possible that people should say a different Bracha when eating pure parsley (not boreh pri ha’adamah).
4. Can one make Birkat hailanot on crab apple trees, which are considered non-edible but people in the foraging community eat them?
See the following article on Bikat Ha-Ilanot for some background.
If someone can eat it, it is likely that the Bracha would be a shehakol (שהכל) instead of boreh pri ha’etz (בורא פרי העץ). But that would not impact its status for birchat hailanot (ברכת האילנות). The Bracha on ilanot (אילנות- trees) is not considered in the category of birchothanehenin (הנהנין): on food that one benefits from. On those kinds of brachot (ברכות), it is important which Bracha is said in which case. Birkat hailanot is actually in the category of a birchat hashevach (ברכת השבח): thanking God for the fruit trees that provide food for us. If it provides food (i.e. crab apples) for a specific person. There does not seem to be a reason why they cannot make the Bracha on it. Since the person eats the fruit, they should be able to make Birchat hailanot on the tree.