What Bracha Rishona Does One Recite on a Granola Bar?

(A consumer’s question)

Rav Belsky zt”l held that the bracha rishona on a granola bar is ha’adoma. Granola bars are made with rolled oats and syrups. Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 208:4) writes that the bracha for raw, toasted, or cooked grains (including oats) is ha’adoma, so long as the grains do not break apart and become sticky (in which case, the appropriate beracha would be borei minei mizonos). The oats in a granola bar do not break down and fuse together during the processing. Rather the oats are merely stuck together with syrup. If one were to wash or melt away the syrup, one would find that the oats remain separate and distinct. Therefore, the beracha on granola bars is ha’adoma. (The beracha acharona will be discussed in the next Halacha Yomis.)

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.