3,385. Produce That's Fit to Eat

Hilchos Maaser 2:3

Produce that is unfit to eat because it’s too small, such as because it hasn’t ripened, need not be tithed until it grows into edible food, as per Leviticus 27:30: “From the crops of the ground, from the fruit of the trees.” We see that one need not tithe his crops until they grow into fruit. The same is true of grain and legumes, as per Deuteronomy 14:22: “the produce of your crops,” from which we see that one need not tithe it until it’s “produce”; this is the time of its tithes. Before grain and fruit reach this stage, one may eat as much as he desires from them, in any way he likes.

Hilchos Maaser 2:4

Produce like gourds and cucumbers that are fit to eat when they are small but that are left so that they will grow larger must be tithed when small because they’re fit to eat right away. They emerge already in the time of their tithes.