Q. Shalom Harav
I recently was zoche to host a talmud chacham for a shabbos seudah. When it came time for desert. we served chocolate, and fruit.
Since the bracha on the fruit was recited first he asked for and alternative shehakol. When I asked him what the source was for not being able to make a shehakol on the chocolate, he explained a sevora; since the bracha of chocolate may very well be haetz, it may have been covered by the haetz recited on fruit.
Is there a source for this sevora?
yoshar koach
A. On question 562 in regards to the brocho on chocolate covered raisins we wrote: In the case of chocolate covering, some Poiskim opine that you anyway recite haetz on chocolate, although most disagree. (Minchas Shlomo 91:2, Shevet Halevy (ibid.) Teshuvos Vehanhogos (1: 187). Today it is customary to recite shehakol on chocolate. Question 1372 mentions: Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a opinion is that we should follow the opinion of most Poskim that the proper brocho on chocolate is shehakol.
The reason for the ones that maintain the blessing is haetz is that chocolate is produced from the beans of the cocoa tree, and in principle they are the fruit of a tree. The rational for most Poskim who maintain the brocho is shehakol, is that after being processed, fermented, dried, roasted and ground, you cannot distinguish any similarity to the original fruit. The Rov also added, that there may be a reason for reciting adama.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit’a
Important Numbers
