Hilchos B'rachos part XXV

Main and Secondary – òé÷ø åèôì, Part II

            A mixture of two or more items.

The laws of ikar and tafel also apply to a mixture comprised of various items, where one will often only recite a single b’racha.

Examples of various mixtures: rice and chicken, fruit salad, cholent, apple pie, vegetable salad, salad with croutons, chicken soup with vegetables and many more.

In such cases, is one required to recite two berachos or is one sufficient? What factors determine the correct b’racha?

 Two factors determine the correct b’racha. The first is to determine which item is the main ingredient. The second, when there is no main ingredient, which is the dominant item.

Importance: When there are two ingredients or more in a mixture and one of them is more “important” than the other, one only recites a b’racha on the main ingredient. [1]

How does one determine importance?

One item enhances the other. [2]

Raisins mixed into rice, pomegranate mixed into lettuce salad, almonds in cabbage salad. In all these cases the “important” item is the rice, the lettuce, the cabbage, and the tafel item enhances the main item. One recites a single b’racha over the important item and it will include the tafel item.

The same applies to cake where fruit is placed on the cake, or cake crumbs sprinkled on ice cream. One recites a single b’racha over the main item, and it includes the tafel.

What if the main item is less in quantity?

The poskim write that even in this case one recites a single b’racha over the main item. [3] This might be practical with meat balls or gefilte fish packed with ground matza or breadcrumbs. Even though breadcrumbs are important and they might be dominant, nevertheless, the main item is the meat or fish and a shehakol will include everything. [4]

The majority

When two or more items are in a mixture and are equally important, one recites the b’racha on the majority. [5] The Mishna Berura presents a case where for Purim people would cook sesame seeds in honey and then mix it with broken nuts. He rules that if the sesame is the majority, one would recite ha’adamah only. No b’racha is to be recited over the nuts.

How would this affect a fruit salad?

A fruit salad is a typical example of a mixture comprised of different items, where most often all items are equally important, with no particular preference. According to the Mishna Berura above, one would recite a single b’racha, over the dominant item.

The Chayei Adam however says [6] that one only follows this rule when the smaller items are not noticeable and separated. When one can discern the pieces and they are separated one from another, one recites a b’racha for each item.
The Mishna Berura rules that ñô÷ áøëåú ìä÷ì and one only recites a single b’racha. [7] The Shulchan Aruch HaRav rules [8] that one recites a single b’racha when cooked together, but if merely mixed together one recites two berachos.

How small must the pieces be to be considered a mixture?

It seems that the defining factor is if both items are usually scooped together into a spoon. If they are small enough that they are usually scooped up at the same time, it is a mixture. [9] If one needs to scoop them separately into a spoon they are not a mixture, and will require more than one b’racha according to all opinions.

What if there is no majority of a single fruit, only a majority b’racha?

For example, the boreh p’ri ha’eitz includes apples, pears and oranges, which total 30 pieces (10 apiece), and boreh p’ri ha’adamah includes banana and pineapple, which total 24 pieces (12 apiece). In total there is more ha’eitz, but each type is less than the ha’adamah, which b’racha is recited?

Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach ztz”l ruled [10] that the ha’eitz species unite and form a coalition, which in total outnumber the ha’adamah. The b’racha is ha’eitz.

What if I cannot discern what the majority is?

Many solutions are suggested, see footnote. [11] The most obvious is to add one of the species to make it a majority. Another option is to recite berachos on items that are not in the mixture, but this is a hidur and not always feasible.

Another is to recite two berachos on both species, subsequent to removing them from the mixture. Normally, to remove the tafel and recite a b’racha is prohibited, but in this case, because there is doubt, one may remove both items and recite berachos on both.