Blessings on Food Mixtures vol.4, no. 32
When foods are mixed together there may be confusion as to which blessing must be recited on the mixture. We hope to present some guidelines which will clarify some of the issues involved.
Generally whichever part of the mixture is considered most important (ikar) will determine the blessing to be recited.1 For example if one is eating breakfast cereal with a little milk he should only make a blessing on the cereal. The cereal is considered the more important than the milk.
However there are many other examples which are not so clearly defined. The blessing to be recited will depend on what the person eating the food considers to be most important. This being the case the blessing may be different for each person. For example one eating a fruit salad made up of fruits requiring a blessing of pri ha’eits as well as pri ha’adama will have to determine for himself if one of the types is the most important while the others are of secondary importance. If he considers the other fruits to be secondary he does not need to recite a blessing on them. If he does not have a strong preference for any particular fruit he should recite the blessing of the fruit which constitutes the majority. If he cannot determine which fruit is in the majority he should recite the blessing pri ha’adama.
When grain products are mixed with other foods the blessing will usually be minei mezones even if they are not the main part of the food.2 For example, a fruit pie or cheese cake which only has a small amount of crust relative to the entire dessert requires a mezones. Breakfast cereals which are primarily corn which contain oat or wheat flour require a mezones even though the flour is a minority of the cereal. This rule applies when the grain product is added to enhance the food whether it be for the taste, appearance or the like. If the grain was only added as a binding agent, as in the case of gefilte fish, it is considered secondary to the main ingredient and the blessing is shehakol and not a mezones.
1) Mishneh Brurah 212:1 2) MB 208
