What bracha do you make on smoothies?

Question

If I put grapes, apples, strawberrys, watermelons, and other fruits and vegetables, as ingredients, in a smoothie, what bracha do I make, because its filled with foods of different brachos?

Answer 1

If it's all mushed-up enough that you can't tell what it is anymore, the bracha becomes "shehakol." You only say "thank you Hashem for this fruit" (or vegetable) if it still looks like a piece of fruit or vegetable.

Even something like applesauce; it can be made of 100% apples (their bracha is "ha'etz", they're a fruit), but if the applesauce is pureed enough that there are no chunks of apple, the bracha is "shehakol."

If you have a fruit salad where you can see different pieces, some of which are "ha'etz" (like apples) and some are "ha'adama" (like watermelon), then make separate brachos on each. While there are many exceptions, usually you make the "ha'etz" before the "ha'adama."

Answer 2

Regarding a veg. or fruit smoothie that's not using grapes or one of the other 7 species of fruits, from the Brachot site:

Q43) What bracha does one make on a fruit or veggie smoothie / protein shake? We drink a lot of shakes. Generally the ingredients go as follows: Always present in every shake: Soy milk or Almond milk, Banana, plant-based protein powder. We also add some but not all of the following: blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, mango, spinach, and kale.

A43) It’s a great question. There’s two factors involved. The first is that the fruits or vegetables are pureed and not recognizable. Based on this factor alone, according to the Rama (202:7) and Mishna Brurah (202:42), who Asheknazim generally follow, it should be Shehakol and Boreh Nefashot (this assumes that we are discussing where the primary ingredient isn’t grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, or dates). The second factor is that by making fruits into a drink, they may lose their status as a fruit and become Shehakol (Gra 202:4 based on Tosfot Brachot 38a; additionally, see S”A 202:8).

This is true if it is thick and certainly if it is thin. However, if it is so thick that there are recognizable chunks one should make the bracha on a chunk (HaEtz or HaAdama) and with that exempt the rest of the smoothie.

I couldn't locate a direct answer regarding if you make a grape smoothie. However, here's one regarding grape popsicles:

Q41) What is the Bracha on Grape Popsicles?

A41) Although you would think that the bracha shouldn't change from being a hagefen, there is a dispute about this and the contemporary poskim say to make shehakol once it changed its form by being frozen (Laws of Brachos p. 313, Vezot HaBracha p. 396). By the way, since the ices aren't eaten as quickly as a drink would need to be drunk in order to make a bracha achrona, no bracha achrona should be made on the ices (Vezot HaBracha above).

My logical inference. I think that making the grape popsicles uses grape juice, not actual whole grapes. We know that normal grape juice gets "hagefen", but, he states that freezing it changes its form, causing it now to be "shehakol".

If you put whole grapes into a smoothie, you are changing the grape's form. I've never experimented with this, myself, but, if the smoothie were just grapes, then it seems like blending it would just make grape juice. Wouldn't that still be "hagefen" as any other grape juice? If grapes were the minority ingredient, then, it would follow the ruling of the previous question, i.e. - shehakol, unless there are recognizable chunks of fruit.

Answer 3

BS"D

"When a person squeezes fruit to extract its juices, he should recite the blessings shehakol beforehand and borei nephashoth afterward."- Hilkhoth Brakhoth 8:2 M"T

Answer 4

While this is highly disputed (see Shalom's answer), R. Yitzchak Abadi (Ohr Yitzchak II OC §77) holds that something which is commonly squeezed / mashed up etc. retains its beracha even after its original form is not discernible. With regard to mixtures, the correct beracha is established in these cases by whatever the greater part of the mixture is.