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If seaweed would be eaten by itself, what bracha is made on it?

It's defined as, "Large algae growing in the sea or on rocks below the high-water mark." See Wikipedia here for more. It's not considered by scientists to be a plant, then, which would presumably require the bracha "haadamah".

msh210
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Yehoshua
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    I'm guessing it's like mushrooms – Double AA Mar 07 '13 at 13:51
  • Do we use scientific definitions to determine Berachoth? – Seth J Mar 07 '13 at 15:53
  • @SethJ how do you determine brachos for a food that it's not obvious where it comes from or well known to most people? (or most frum Jews) – Yehoshua Mar 07 '13 at 19:20
  • @Yehoshua, I dunno. But see: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/3821/5 – Seth J Mar 07 '13 at 19:29
  • @DoubleAA It's not at all like mushrooms. Mushrooms do not use use photosynthesis, and instead decompose other plants for food. But seaweed IS a plant. Yehoshua: Why do you think it's not a plant? It certainly is. Seaweed do not have roots, and halachically that might be necessary to be called a plant, but scientifically a plant is defined by photosynthesis. – Ariel Mar 07 '13 at 21:02
  • I should soften what I wrote. Some do not classify the red and brown seaweed as plants because they do not use chlorophyll but rather a different molecule. But I'm not convinced that chlorophyll is the halachic definition of haadama. – Ariel Mar 07 '13 at 21:11
  • @Ariel I know mushrooms don't use photosynthesis. I think roots in the ground is a good possible definition for haadama and both mushrooms and algae can lack that. – Double AA Mar 07 '13 at 21:30
  • @DoubleAA Then what about the plants in the Pleuston family, such as Duckweed? They float in water, and the roots just dangle freely. They are unquestionably plants. – Ariel Mar 08 '13 at 00:28
  • @Ariel What about it? They'd probably also be Shehakol like mushrooms. Why do you keep talking as if the taxonomic category of Plantae is even remotely relevant? – Double AA May 11 '15 at 17:21
  • @DoubleAA I never once said Plantae. I said the opposite: I'm not convinced that the scientific calssification is what counts. I was raising questions, not answering them. Does chlorophyll count? Do roots count? Deciding that can help in distinguishing brachas for mushrooms or duckweed. Don't forget about mistletoe which grows on a tree, not the ground, but is Ha'adama because its source is ultimately a living plant in the ground. – Ariel May 11 '15 at 21:10

2 Answers2

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According to these 2 links it is shehakol.

http://www.yeshiva.co/ask/?id=3089

http://www.dinonline.org/2011/06/14/berachah-on-seaweed/

Gershon Gold
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    Where did the internet get semicha from? – Double AA Mar 07 '13 at 16:58
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    @DoubleAA AOL who in turn received it from the ArpaNet. This went back many doros to the chassidishe dynasty of Gore –  Mar 07 '13 at 17:06
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    @DoubleAA the ones answering at dinonline are people with smicha if it's worth anything – Yehoshua Mar 07 '13 at 19:21
  • He says that seaweed is a type of algae, which is true. But why does he say that algae gets a shehakol? Hydroponic plants that grow in a container that is attached to the ground get a haadama after all. – Ariel Mar 07 '13 at 21:06
  • @Ariel Isn't the definition of hydroponic that it grows in the air and not on the ground? – DanF Nov 06 '17 at 00:42
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Seaweeds are not considered to be plants. If you eat a whole of them by themselves without anything additional you should say "Shehakol".

It's in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 204 a. Seaweeds are like mushroom for this matter since they do not have roots in the ground, so although they are considerd to be plants kosher-wise (not meat), they are not considered to be fruits or vegetables Bracha-wise.

Monica Cellio
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