Hydroponic Vegetables - Beracha

QUESTION: What beracha is recited on vegetables that are grown hydroponically (in water without soil)?

ANSWER: Rav Ovadya Yosef zt”l (Yechaveh Daas 6:12) writes that the proper beracha to recite on hydroponically grown fruits and vegetables is shehakol. He explains that since they do not receive any nourishment from the soil, they are comparable to mushrooms for which the beracha is shehakol. He compares the halacha of a beracha for hydroponics to the status of shemita. Although it is forbidden to plant in soil in Israel during shemita (even in a flowerpot), the Chazon Ish and others ruled that one may plant hydroponically, because planting in water is not the same as planting in soil. However, Rav Wosner zt”l (Shevet HaLevi 1:205), Rav Sternbuch (Teshuvos V’Hanhgaos 2:149) and many others maintain that the beracha for hydroponically grown vegetables is ha’adama. They explain that Chazal established a uniform beracha for the entire species regardless of how a particular vegetable is grown. For example, since tomatoes ordinarily grow in soil, people refer to tomatoes as a “pri adama” (a fruit of the land), since that is how they typically grow. It is therefore appropriate to recite the beracha of “borei pri ha’adama", irrespective of whether a particular tomato was grown in the ground, in a flowerpot, or hydroponically. Rav Ovadya Yosef conceded that if one recited borei pri ha’adama on hydroponically grown vegetables, the beracha is valid bidieved.

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