Q&A: Anything That Contains It
Anything That Contains It
Question
There is white chocolate made by Elite with cookie pieces, and likewise white Click with cookie pieces.
The Badatz of the Edah HaHaredit notes on the package that its blessing is shehakol.
The cookies, without a doubt, are not there just to bind or support or the like; they contribute flavor, texture, and are even clearly noticeable as crumbs (12.5% of the chocolate) — seemingly the blessing on the chocolate should be mezonot.
My instinct was, “Where am I mistaken?” (Could it really be that chocolate gets the blessing of mezonot? Heaven forbid), but in light of your recent wonderful columns, maybe I should ask whether the Edah HaHaredit are right (the Badatz also dismissed it offhandedly: “Chocolate? Shehakol!”).
What is the blessing, and why?
Thank you very much
Answer
First of all, I’m glad my columns are having an effect. That is definitely a positive influence and in the right direction. That is exactly what I intended.
At first glance, you are right. See for example here: https://kavhalacha.co.il/%D7%90%D7%A7%D7%98%D7%95%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%94-%D7%91%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%9B%D7%94/%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%AA/2017-05-30-05-43-109
But on second thought, it’s not so simple. There is a common line of reasoning in the laws of blessings according to which the blessing depends on the question: what are you eating? Meaning, if you ask a person what he is eating, he will tell you that he is eating chocolate (just one that has the taste of cookie pieces). Therefore, in my opinion, here its blessing is shehakol.
See about this here: https://din.org.il/2019/02/19/%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%9B%D7%94-%D7%A2%D7%9C-%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%93-%D7%A2%D7%95%D7%92%D7%99%D7%95%D7%AA/
Also see a discussion here that extends this to ice cream with cookies. They seem to have overlooked the above reasoning: https://forum.otzar.org/viewtopic.php?t=57199
Though see there the comment by Frenkel תאומים regarding what he quoted in the name of “Vezot Haberakhah.”
In short, in my opinion its blessing is shehakol.
The Chazon Ish said about meat patties that they stuff with 30–40 percent bread that their blessing is shehakol.
I understand it the way the Rabbi said: that the rule of “anything that contains it” basically just means that, generally speaking, what defines the food revolves around the grain in it — unlike meat patties, and likewise this chocolate.