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If seaweed would be eaten by itself, what bracha is made on it?

It's defined as, "Large algae growing in the sea or on rocks below the high-water mark." See Wikipedia here for more. It's not considered by scientists to be a plant, then, which would presumably require the bracha "haadamah".

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I'm guessing it's like mushrooms –  Double AA Mar 7 '13 at 13:51
Do we use scientific definitions to determine Berachoth? –  Seth J Mar 7 '13 at 15:53
@SethJ how do you determine brachos for a food that it's not obvious where it comes from or well known to most people? (or most frum Jews) –  Yehoshua Mar 7 '13 at 19:20
@Yehoshua, I dunno. But see: judaism.stackexchange.com/q/3821/5 –  Seth J Mar 7 '13 at 19:29
@DoubleAA It's not at all like mushrooms. Mushrooms do not use use photosynthesis, and instead decompose other plants for food. But seaweed IS a plant. Yehoshua: Why do you think it's not a plant? It certainly is. Seaweed do not have roots, and halachically that might be necessary to be called a plant, but scientifically a plant is defined by photosynthesis. –  Ariel Mar 7 '13 at 21:02

2 Answers 2

Seaweeds are not considered to be plants. If you eat a whole of them by themselves without anything additional you should say "Shehakol".

It's in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 204 a. Seaweeds are like mushroom for this matter since they do not have roots in the ground, so although they are considerd to be plants kosher-wise (not meat), they are not considered to be fruits or vegetables Bracha-wise.

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According to these 2 links it is shehakol.



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Where did the internet get semicha from? –  Double AA Mar 7 '13 at 16:58
@DoubleAA AOL who in turn received it from the ArpaNet. This went back many doros to the chassidishe dynasty of Gore –  user2110 Mar 7 '13 at 17:06
@DoubleAA the ones answering at dinonline are people with smicha if it's worth anything –  Yehoshua Mar 7 '13 at 19:21
He says that seaweed is a type of algae, which is true. But why does he say that algae gets a shehakol? Hydroponic plants that grow in a container that is attached to the ground get a haadama after all. –  Ariel Mar 7 '13 at 21:06

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