The mixing of certain seeds isn’t allowed, does this also mean that fruits like minneola’s which are a mixture of grapefruits and tangarines aren’t kosher?
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Here in Israel, I was served a fruit formed from apple and pear seeds which I was assured is kosher.– Avrohom YitzchokAug 26, 2022 at 6:41
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Very related: judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/93467/…– Isaac Moses ♦Aug 26, 2022 at 8:20
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Grapefruits are pomelo+mandarins, so it's already a mixture– Double AA ♦Aug 26, 2022 at 11:03
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@DoubleAA good point, I was just looking for an example, but this is true.– LeviAug 26, 2022 at 20:31
1 Answer
The question was asked in Hidabroot. The answer is:
יש איסור להרכיב שני סוגי עצי פרי זה בזה, וכמו שכתב השלחן ערוך יורה דעה (סימן רצ"ה סעיף א') כלאי האילנות הרי הם בכלל מה שנאמר שדך לא תזרע כלאים, כיצד? המרכיב אילן באילן, כגון שהרכיב יחור של תפוח באתרוג או אתרוג בתפוח הרי זה לוקה מן התורה, בכל מקום - בין בארץ בין בחוץ לארץ.
והתשובה היא - על אף שאסור לעשות כן, וכן אסור לקיים עצים אלו, הפרי היוצא מהם מותר באכילה, וכמו שכתב השלחן ערוך (שם סעיף ז') אסור לקיים המורכב כלאים, אבל הפרי היוצא ממנו מותר, ואפילו לזה שעבר והרכיבו. ע"ש
It is forbidden to combine two types of fruit trees together, and as the Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah wrote (Simon 295, section 1), hybrids of trees are in general transgress the Torah's prohibition of sowing hybrids. How? Grafting an etrog into an apple is a violation of the Torah, everywhere - both in Israel and abroad.
And the answer is - although it is forbidden to do so, and it is also forbidden to maintain these trees, the fruit that comes from them is allowed to be eaten, and as the Shulchan Aruch wrote (ibid., section 7) it is not allowed to maintain the compound as a hybrid, but the fruit that comes from it is permitted, and even for the one who transgressed and made the graft.
So we see that it is permitted to eat the produce of grafted trees.
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1This is THE answer. Thank you! An interesting, separate question -- what types of citrus are closely-enough related that they may be hybridized to begin with?– ShalomAug 26, 2022 at 10:42
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2@Shalom All. Everything is a combination of citron pomelo and mandarin en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citrus_taxonomy– Double AA ♦Aug 26, 2022 at 11:02