Gardening - Fruit of a Grafting

QUESTION: Are fruit from a grafted tree forbidden to be eaten? If they are permitted and I purchased such fruits, can I make a blessing of shehechiyanu on them like one would normally recite on the first fruits of the season that one eats?

ANSWER: The Rambam (Hilchos Kelayim 1:7) writes that although one transgressed the prohibition of Harkavah by grafting two species of trees together, the fruits of that fusion may be eaten. This is also true with Kilei Zera’im. The only time the fruits that are the result of a forbidden fusion are forbidden is by Kilei Hakerem.  

The blessing of shehechiyanu is recited the first time each season that one eats from a new fruit. However, Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l (Igros Moshe Orach Chaim 2:58) writes that perhaps it is improper to recite shehechiyanu on these fruits. Although these fruit are permitted to be eaten, Rav Moshe Feinstein questions whether it is proper to recite the blessing of shehechiyanu, since the fruit were produced as a result of an aveira (prohibited act). However, if one is unsure if the fruit were grown as a result of Harkavah, Rav Schachter says that a shehechiyanu may be said.

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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.