Ice Cream - Additional Beracha

Q. I made a beracha on wine and will now be eating ice cream or ices. Are these considered drinks or food?

A. Sefer V’sein Beracha quotes Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l that ice cream should be viewed as a food and not as a drink. As such, ice cream is not covered by the beracha of wine. However, Minchas Yitzchok (2:110) maintains that if the ice cream or ices are still firm and require some level of chewing or biting, they are treated as a food and are not covered by the beracha on the wine. However, if the ices are soft, and can be swallowed without chewing, they are viewed as thick drinks and are covered by the beracha on the wine. Sefer B’tzeil Hachochma (3:116) writes that even if some of the ice cream has melted, so long as some portion remains frozen, the part that is frozen will require a beracha. However, he concludes that it would be better to add a mitigating factor and not bring the ice cream to the table until the wine has been removed.

____________________________________________________

The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.