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The brachot site states:

Fruits and vegetables which are normally eaten cooked but not raw – would receive their ideal bracha (Ho’eitz or Ho’adomo) when cooked, and only shehakol when eaten raw.

Examples would be: quince, and peanuts. (almost all peanuts are roasted, either in or out of the shell, and therefore raw peanuts would be shehakol.)

I like to eat raw sesame seeds. However, as far as I know, sesame seeds are usually eaten when it is used as a topping on bread, pastries or borekas, etc. Offhand, I don't think that it is customary for people to eat raw sesame seeds in the U.S., but I'm not sure if this is common or not.

What bracha should I be making - ha'etz or shehakol?

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Neither! According to Rabbi Bodner's Halachos of Brochos (Chapter 22, D, e) the correct bracha on sesame seeds is borei pri hoadama. His source is the Abudraham cited by the Beis Yosef at the end of O.C. 204.

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  • I guess adama b/c the plant is short? I'll have to read the source to see why he believes that eating raw seeds is "customary". If you can summarize any details in that area, please edit it in.
    – DanF
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 17:48
  • @DanF - He does write that "they are usually used as a condiment or dressing for food and baked goods". My guess is that since it's sometimes used as a dressing etc., that makes it considered normal to eat it raw.
    – Jay
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 18:11
  • @DanF - I think this answers your other question as well - almost noone eats sesame seeds by themselves, yet the bracha is haadama!
    – Jay
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 18:15
  • Is he talking about raw or toasted sesame seeds?
    – user6591
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 23:58
  • @user6591 - He doesn't differentiate.
    – Jay
    Commented Aug 12, 2016 at 2:03

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