289. Eating Fruit Mid-Meal

43:3 If one wanted to eat fruit during a meal, it was not covered by the bracha of hamotzi, even if it was on the table at the start of the meal. One does not need to recite a blessing after the fruit because that is covered by bentching. If one eats the fruit together with bread, it does not require a separate blessing. If one wants to eat some of this fruit with bread and some without, he should make sure to eat it without bread first and make a blessing on the fruit; he may then continue eating the fruit with or without bread. If one first eats fruit with bread and then continues to eat it without bread, there is a question as to whether or not a separate bracha is required. Appetizers eaten between courses, like olives and radishes, are considered part of the meal and do not call for separate brachos to be said. (Shaarei Tziyon 174:45 suggests that it’s not as simple as that and gives advice as to how to remove doubt from the situation.)

43:4 If fruit constitutes the main portion of one’s meal, and he eats it with bread, then it would be covered by hamotzi because it’s an integral part of the meal. This is true even if it the fruit was not on the table at the start of the meal. The only requirement is that the fruit should first be eaten together with bread. After that, one may continue eating it without bread and it would not require a separate bracha.