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According to Wikipedia, this is Gnocchi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnocchi

How do I know which beracha to make considering it is made from potatoes and is not a normal pasta? Should I just stick to she'hakol?

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    Wouldn't it depend on the ingredients in a particular gnocchi recipe?
    – Double AA
    Aug 12, 2012 at 17:48

5 Answers 5

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Gnocchi seem to be a form of pasta. See here 1, if made from the five species of grain (wheat, barley, rye, oat or spelt), make "mezonot".

If made from one of the five species and potatoes (or anything else for that matter), we need to know why one of the five species was used. (See here 2).

If it is added to add taste or nutrition AND it can be tasted – it would be the main part (ikar) and the brocho on the gnocchi is Mezonot.

If it is merely added as a binding ingredient to maintain a certain consistency – it would be secondary (tofel) and the brocho on the gnocchi would be shehakol.

Regarding saying shehakol in a doubtful situation, see here 3 which says, if you don't know which bracha to say because you didn't learn the halachot, you may not rely on on your lack of knowledge to say shehakol.. Rather, you should go and learn the halacha (or ask an authority) and then say the proper bracha.

Best is, of course, to CYLOR.

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  • I believe the questioner is asking what to do when it is made from both. As it often is.
    – avi
    Feb 26, 2012 at 14:31
  • @avi Thanks. I have updated the answer to take account of your point. Feb 26, 2012 at 16:15
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    ...and if made from only potatos say Shehakol.
    – Double AA
    Feb 26, 2012 at 16:28
  • About the penultimate paragraph: "go and learn the halacha" is the right thing to strive for, but that doesn't help when the plate of food is in front of you. The person in this situation needs to know what to do by default until he learns better. Feb 26, 2012 at 18:22
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    I don't know, whether it still bothers anyone, but I've asked an Italian rabbi, and he said that the flour content was usually insignificant (at least in the Italian version). Usually factory made gnocchis don't contain actual potatoes, but some powders that are shehakol. Though, if you actually made gnocchi at home from real potatoes, it's haadama. See also this question. Jun 5, 2018 at 10:58
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Gnocchi is a type of pasta. Though it might also have mashed up potatoes in it (which would lead one to think "shehakol") it still has substantial amounts of flour which, I would think, makes it a mezonos.

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  • according to this recipe, it's 1 c. flour for 2 lbs potatoes. It serves 6, which means each serving has 1/6 c flour. Is that enough for mezonot to be primary? Aug 13, 2012 at 14:55
  • I don't know what counts to make flour an ikkar, but I saw this berachot.org/Q+A/index.html -- question 34. The distinction the author made was that flour would be listed if there was "a substantial amount (meaning it comes up as one of the first several ingredients)". If you were to list all the ingredients in your gnocchi recipe by volume, flour would still rank rather high on the list.
    – rosends
    Aug 13, 2012 at 21:02
  • Mod Note: This answer was penned to a different version of this question and moved hither.
    – Double AA
    Aug 15, 2012 at 6:37
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Just to add on to Avrohom Yitzchok's answer with a source: See here where it is quoted from the Sefer שערי הברכה that Gnocchi is Mezonos / Al Hamichya.

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On the Brachos site they quote Sefer Shaarei Habracha as ruling it is Mezonos

http://www.brochos.com/item/225523

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  • Welcome to MY! Please consider reading my comment. Jun 22, 2021 at 20:21
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Gnocchi will never be eaten alone, there will always be a lot of cheese and spices and those are very important ingredients, I would go with shehakol

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  • That doesnt really make a difference in hilchos brachos. Mezonos is always considered the ikkar in a food mixture. Especially here where it is obvious that the pasta is the main part of the dish. Simply by the fact that on a restaurant menu it will say "gnocchi" and not "cheese with some pasta mixed in"
    – Mennyg
    Jul 26, 2016 at 13:12
  • I would not say it is mezonos to begin with, it is from potato?
    – Ana
    Jul 30, 2016 at 20:41
  • As far as I know, its a potato base wrapped in mezonos dough. That would be a mezonos, like ravioli
    – Mennyg
    Jul 31, 2016 at 4:52
  • Ok,I understand, but there are recipes without flour, I make my own, here where I live there are no kosher Gnocchi to buy anyway
    – Ana
    Aug 2, 2016 at 18:03

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