Blessing on the Minority in a Mixture by Extracting It
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Question
I have a fruit salad, mostly consisting of tree fruits and a minority of ground fruits. Can I take out a bit of the ground fruits separately and bless it with "Borei Pri Ha'adama," or would that be a blessing in vain?
Answer
The Mishnah Berurah's approach is that this would be a blessing in vain, and one should recite the blessing for the majority.
Source
Mishnah Berurah, Siman 168, Subparagraph 43: "In matters of porridge that always come as part of the meal, even if they are filled with fruits like those called 'apple pancakes' and similar, the fruit becomes part of the dish, and the flour is primary, and the fruit is secondary. And one should not take some apples from them and bless 'Borei Pri Ha'etz,' as it would be a blessing in vain [Acharonim]."
"And there is no difference whether they were cooked together or it is a salad mixture, as proven from the words of Biur Halacha at the beginning of Siman 212, where he brings the opinion of Chayei Adam, who holds that the primary does not exempt the secondary in a mixture when each is recognizable on its own, and there he writes that one who wants to be concerned for his opinion should mash them together, and he did not write that when not cooked together, one should extract the secondary and bless, proving that for those who hold this has the status of primary and secondary, blessing by extracting the secondary from the primary is considered a blessing in vain."
"And although in Aruch HaShulchan, Orach Chaim, Siman 212, Paragraph 2, it is written: 'And if he collected the potatoes from the dish and eats them separately, he blesses on them 'Borei Pri Ha'adama' if the dish's blessing is Mezonot or Shehakol.' It seems that Mishnah Berurah does not rule this way."
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