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Introduction to Food Fore-Blessings (Bracha Rishona): The Five Grains
Bread or Mezonot: Intended Use
Whether a food made of the Five Grains qualifies as bread (ha'motzi) or mezonot (borei minei mezonot) depends on whether the food was intended to be eaten as a meal or as a snack, as follows:
  • Bread for a meal: Say ha'motzi.
  • Mezonot (but you will eat a full meal): Say ha'motzi.
  • A snack (including bread as a snack): Say borei minei mezonot.
    Note Some foods may qualify as either ha'motzi or mezonot (such as pizza).
    Note Whether the bread/mezonot was made with fruit juice instead of water may not affect its blessing, since the blessing is determined by the food's intended use. “Mezonot” rolls on airline flights may still require the blessing of ha'motzi if you eat them as part of a meal.
    Note Bread that has been cut into small pieces and fried may be reduced in status from bread to mezonot.
Bread/Mezonot: Amount of Five Grains Needed
In a non-bread food containing a mixture of grains, at least 20\% of the main ingredients must be from one of the Five Grains in order to require the fore-blessing (bracha rishona) of borei minei mezonot (after-blessing:al ha'michya).
If at least 20\% of a bread's flour is from one of the Five Grains, say a fore-blessing of ha'motzi (and birkat ha'mazon afterward if you ate at least 1.3 fl. oz. within four minutes).
Note If you do not know the actual percent of each grain, such as in cereal, say she'hakol (after-blessing: borei nefashot).  But you should try to determine the actual amounts of the grains.
Bread/Mezonot: Mixtures with Other Foods
Normally, the fore-blessing for bread (ha'motzi), or for other cooked or baked foods made from flour (borei minei mezonot), will override the remaining foods in a food mixture.
Note Bread that has been cut into small pieces and fried may be reduced in status from bread to mezonot.
Examples Saying HaMotzi over Bread Mixture
Wash and say ha'motzi over bread and bread-mixture foods such as French toast, if at least one piece is more than 1.3 fl. oz. (39 ml, or 1/6 cup) in volume.
If no individual piece is at least 1.3 fl. oz., say borei minei mezonot.
Reason Being fried changes the French toast's status, even if the total of all of the pieces is more than 1.3 fl. oz.
Saying Borei Minei Mezonot over Mezonot Mixture
Say borei minei mezonot over:
  • Cholent whose main ingredient is barley;
  • Ice cream cone (ice cream + cone)—see “ice cream cone” for further details;
  • Pie; and
  • Cheesecake with any kind of crust.
    Note Cheesecakes are sold in bakeries and not in cheese stores, indicating that the mezonot part is more important than the cheese part as regards fore- and after-blessings.
SheHakol: Which Foods: Unrecognizable Foods
You must be able to recognize, from at least one piece, that an ingredient is from the ground or from a tree in order to say borei pri ha'adama or borei pri ha'eitz. If not, say she'hakol.
So say she'hakol on:
  • All foods that did not grow in the ground or on a tree, but also
  • Foods that you cannot personally identify as having grown in the ground or on a tree—either because it has been finely ground or processed or because you personally do not know what it is.
Example Even if you know that a kugel is made with potatoes, unless you can see recognizable pieces of potato, do not say borei pri ha'adama, but rather she'hakol.
 
Examples (Foods that Get SheHakol)
  • Apple Sauce.
  • Beer, Cognac, Grape Brandy, and other alcoholic beverages other than wine and grape juice and their derivatives.
  • Cheese and other Dairy Products (unless they contain grain).
  • Eggs (plain).
  • Fish.
  • Fruits or vegetables whose identity is not recognizable.
  • Honey.
  • Ice Cream.
  • Juice.
  • Meat.
  • Mushrooms.
  • Poultry.
  • Seaweed.
  • Soda.
  • Soup (clear).
  • Sprouts.
  • Water.
Sheva Brachot: Over Which Cups To Bless
  • Birkat ha'mazon is made on one cup of wine at sheva brachot.
  • The first six sheva brachot blessings are made on the second cup.
  • Borei pri ha'gafen is made on the first cup.
Fore-Blessing: Bread/Cakes of Only Rice Flour
Bread or cakes made of only rice flour may not be used for any meal requiring eating bread and saying birkat ha'mazon.  The blessing is borei minei mezonot, not ha'motzi.
Fore-Blessing: Cooked Dough/Pasta
Bread must be baked in order to say ha'motzi on it ; dough that was cooked by any method other than baking (such as pasta) gets the fore-blessing of borei minei mezonot. 
Note Even if you eat enough to constitute a meal, you still say al ha'michya afterward.
Rosh Hashana: Symbolic Foods (Simanim): HaMotzi
On Rosh Hashana, before eating the symbolic foods (simanim):
  • Make kiddush,
  • Wash your hands,
  • Say ha'motzi, and
  • Eat bread.
Then eat the symbolic foods (simanim), saying the appropriate blessings (borei pri ha'eitz, borei pri ha'adama) before eating the simanim.
 
Orla: Papayas in Eretz Yisrael
Papayas grown in Eretz Yisrael may not be usable, since papaya trees don't normally live for four years.
Note There is a difference of opinion as to the blessing over eating papaya— borei pri ha'eitz or borei pri ha'adama.)
Blessings: Scents: Sniffing First
Situation You see a flower but do not know whether it has a scent.
What To Do You may sniff the flower and, if it does have a nice scent, you may then say borei minei (or atzei or isvei as appropriate) vesamim and then take a big whiff.
Fore-Blessing: Bread or Mezonot
To be halachically considered “bread,” the item must have been baked and have air holes in it. To determine whether a food made of the Five Grains qualifies as bread (ha'motzi) or mezonot (borei minei mezonot), decide whether the food had been made to be eaten as a meal or as a snack.  If it was made to be:
  • Bread (that is, for a meal), say ha'motzi.
  • Mezonot (but you will eat a full meal), say ha'motzi.
  • A snack, say borei minei mezonot.
Note Some foods may qualify as either ha'motzi or mezonot (such as pizza).
NoteIf at least 20\% of a bread's flour is from one of the Five Grains, say a fore-blessing of ha'motzi on the bread (and birkat ha'mazon afterward, if you ate at least 1.3 fl. oz. within four minutes).
NoteWhether the bread/mezonot was made with fruit juice instead of water may not affect its blessing, since the blessing is determined by its intended use. Mezonot rolls on airline flights may still require the blessing of ha'motzi if you eat them as part of a meal.
Note Since it does not have air holes, wheat tortillas get the blessing of mezonot and not ha'motzi.
NOTE The fore-blessing on stuffing made of bread or a bread kugel is mezonot if none of the pieces are 1 fl. oz. or larger.
Fore-Blessing (Bracha Rishona) over Cholent
Cholent blessing (if the cholent is not eaten as part of a meal) follows the most important ingredient and is somewhat subjective to the eater.  
  • German cholent —A variety of wheat is primary; say borei minei mezonot. 
  • Hungarian cholent—Barley is primary; say borei minei mezonot.
  • Polish cholent —Beans are primary; say borei pri ha'adama.
  • Russian cholent —Potatoes are primary; say borei pri ha'adama.
  • If meat is most important, say she'hakol.     
Note You may need to say more than one blessing (bracha rishona) if there is no one preeminently important ingredient in a mixture of food types in one utensil, such as a casserole or cholent,  but only if:
  • You especially like more than one ingredient, and
  • Both (or more than two) of the ingredients can be eaten distinctly. 
Everyone Must Drink at Seder
At the Passover seder, all Jews above the age of bar mitzva or bat mitzva (including women--unlike on other Jewish festivals) must drink wine for kiddush and for the other three times in the seder when the borei pri ha'gafen blessing is said.
Note On the other Jewish festivals, only one person needs to drink the wine when kiddush is said, and that will cover and fulfill everyone else's requirement for that kiddush.
Note Only children and people who will get sick if they drink alcohol are permitted to drink grape juice at seder.
Maror: How To Eat It
Say the blessing “al achilat maror.”
Dip the maror into the charoset and shake off all but a little bit of the charoset.
Do not lean when eating the maror.
Note The blessing for maror was included in the borei pri ha'adama blessing, which was said on the karpas earlier in the seder.
SheHecheyanu for New Fruit You Might Not Like
SITUATION
You have a fruit on which you would like to say she'hecheyanu, but you might not like it.
WHAT TO DO
To avoid saying a pointless blessing (bracha l'vatala), you may:
  • Say the blessing borei pri ha'eitz on a different fruit.
  • Eat from the fruit you just blessed over.
  • Taste the new fruit. If you like it—and before you have eaten all of the new fruit—
  • Swallow the small piece you tasted (if you do not like it, you do not need to swallow it).
  • Say she'hecheyanu.
  • Finish eating the new fruit.

NoteWhen saying she'hecheyanu on a new fruit, there is no preference for on which fruit to say borei pri ha'eitz--you may say it on the new fruit or on any other fruit.

Fore-Blessings (Bracha Rishona): Priorities
You must say the blessing which was designed to be said on each type of food. B'diavad, a lower level blessing will still cover the food.
From lowest to highest level, here are the food fore-blessings:
  • She'hakol,
  • Borei pri ha'adama,
  • Borei pri ha'eitz (on common fruits),
  • Borei pri ha'eitz (on the Five Special Fruits)
Note You will only say borei pri ha'eitz ONCE to include both common fruits and also special fruits that you will eat at one sitting,
  • Borei minei mezonot,
  • Borei pri ha'gafen, and
  • Ha'motzi lechem min ha'aretz.

Desserts that HaMotzi Does Not Cover
Non-mezonot dessert foods (which often have a sweet taste) are not normally eaten with bread. Say fore-blessings on desserts at a meal (for which you have already said ha'motzi and eaten bread) only on:
  • Fruit from “trees”(borei pri ha'eitz),
  • Fruit from the ground (borei pri ha'adama), such as melons and strawberries, and
  • Specialty items (she'hakol), such as ice cream.