A quick Google search reveals that a smoothie is:
There are two gemaras in Brachos that have a bearing on this question. One says that the bracha on all fruit juices (save two) is שהכל. (The two exceptions are: grape juice/wine, which is בורא פרי הגפן ; olive juice/oil, which is בורא פרי העץ.) The other gemara says that the bracha on vegetable soup is בורא פרי האדמה. What is the deciding factor? Obviously one talks about fruit and one about vegetables, but that only is not enough of a difference to account for the change in halacha. Let's see what differences we can express and then see if that helps.
First, one is juiced and one is cooked. You can certainly cook all of the taste out of something; that is, all of its taste goes into the enveloping liquid. No matter how hard you squeeze, though, the leftover vegetable matter has residual taste. Perhaps then, Chazal are saying that the bracha goes on the extracted taste and you just can't squeeze enough taste out of the fruit (or vegetable) to promote the extracted liquid to have a bracha of it's own. That would be the Rashba.
Second, people don't usually squeeze -- nor cook -- fruits. Most fruits are eaten "as is" right off the tree. Vegetables, though, are often cooked and made into a soup. According to that reasoning, it could be that juice made from oranges specifically grown for juicing might very well be בורא פרי העץ. Perhaps, though, we don't make that distinction and we just follow the usual practice at the time of Chazal. That whole line of reasoning is the Rosh.
The Shulchan Aruch basically paskens like the Rosh, though he brings the Rashba. The Mishna Brura comes down on the side of the Rosh.
WAIT!! Don't touch that smoothie yet! We haven't addressed the thick/thin issue yet. We also have one more opinion.
Soups are eaten and juices are imbibed. Perhaps taking a food and processing it into another food (ie, soup) leaves the bracha as is, but taking a food and downgrading it to a beverage also downgrades its bracha. That's Tosafos and the G"ra. Now you can forget raw/cooked, usual practice, and even thick thin. Beverages are שהכל; end of story. R' Moshe paskens like that. As does the Chazon Ish and R' Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. As does R' Fuerst. (But, if you'd come to R' Fuerst's popular Sunday morning Contemporary & Fascinating Halachic Issues" at Cong. Agudath Israel Bikur Cholim on Feb 11, 2018 CE, you would have known that.) [Disclaimer: When I say "soup", I mean regular soups. Not "cup o' soup"s, not broth. Those need a discussion on their own. In the meantime, eat a carrot and drink a schnapps before eating/imbibing that thin soup/broth/cup o' soup. Thank you.]
So raise your smoothie, praise the Lord, King of the Universe, Who has brought everything into being by His word... and enjoy.
A smoothie is a thick beverage made from blended raw fruit or vegetables with other ingredients such as water, ice, or sweeteners.Hmm... raw fruit or vegetables (I would actually include "and/or", but I'm not Google), thick and blended (that is, puréed), raw (that is, not cooked), beverage (so meant to be imbibed, not eaten). What's the bracha? I could tell you right now, but where's the fun in that?
There are two gemaras in Brachos that have a bearing on this question. One says that the bracha on all fruit juices (save two) is שהכל. (The two exceptions are: grape juice/wine, which is בורא פרי הגפן ; olive juice/oil, which is בורא פרי העץ.) The other gemara says that the bracha on vegetable soup is בורא פרי האדמה. What is the deciding factor? Obviously one talks about fruit and one about vegetables, but that only is not enough of a difference to account for the change in halacha. Let's see what differences we can express and then see if that helps.
First, one is juiced and one is cooked. You can certainly cook all of the taste out of something; that is, all of its taste goes into the enveloping liquid. No matter how hard you squeeze, though, the leftover vegetable matter has residual taste. Perhaps then, Chazal are saying that the bracha goes on the extracted taste and you just can't squeeze enough taste out of the fruit (or vegetable) to promote the extracted liquid to have a bracha of it's own. That would be the Rashba.
Second, people don't usually squeeze -- nor cook -- fruits. Most fruits are eaten "as is" right off the tree. Vegetables, though, are often cooked and made into a soup. According to that reasoning, it could be that juice made from oranges specifically grown for juicing might very well be בורא פרי העץ. Perhaps, though, we don't make that distinction and we just follow the usual practice at the time of Chazal. That whole line of reasoning is the Rosh.
The Shulchan Aruch basically paskens like the Rosh, though he brings the Rashba. The Mishna Brura comes down on the side of the Rosh.
WAIT!! Don't touch that smoothie yet! We haven't addressed the thick/thin issue yet. We also have one more opinion.
Soups are eaten and juices are imbibed. Perhaps taking a food and processing it into another food (ie, soup) leaves the bracha as is, but taking a food and downgrading it to a beverage also downgrades its bracha. That's Tosafos and the G"ra. Now you can forget raw/cooked, usual practice, and even thick thin. Beverages are שהכל; end of story. R' Moshe paskens like that. As does the Chazon Ish and R' Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. As does R' Fuerst. (But, if you'd come to R' Fuerst's popular Sunday morning Contemporary & Fascinating Halachic Issues" at Cong. Agudath Israel Bikur Cholim on Feb 11, 2018 CE, you would have known that.) [Disclaimer: When I say "soup", I mean regular soups. Not "cup o' soup"s, not broth. Those need a discussion on their own. In the meantime, eat a carrot and drink a schnapps before eating/imbibing that thin soup/broth/cup o' soup. Thank you.]
So raise your smoothie, praise the Lord, King of the Universe, Who has brought everything into being by His word... and enjoy.
Comments