Seaweed - Beracha

QUESTION: What beracha should be recited on seaweed?

ANSWER: Seaweed is an algae. With respect to reciting a beracha, seaweed is similar to mushrooms, as neither have roots, and they do not draw nutrients from the ground. Therefore, the beracha for both mushrooms and algae is shehakol. Furthermore, even if seaweed had roots, it can be argued that it would still be shehakol, since it grows hydroponically and not in soil. Although some poskim maintain that the beracha on hydroponic vegetables is ha’adama, that is because these poskim maintain that we look at the species and not at the specific way it is grown. Since vegetables ordinarily grow in soil, their beracha remains ha’adama even if grown in water. In contrast, seaweed never grows in soil and therefore all would agree that the beracha of borei pri ha’adama (“who created the produce of the ground”) would not be appropriate.

____________________________________________________

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.