Q. What brocho does one make on hydroponically or aeroponically grown vegetables?
A. Poskim disagree on what brocho one recites on fruits and vegetables grown in non-perforated soil pots. Chayei Adam (51: 17), maintains that the brocho is shehakol, since they are not nourished by the soil in the ground. (See also Nishmas Adam 152: 1, Kaf Hachaim 168: 77, Shearim Metzuyanim B. 41: 1, Tzitz Elezer 9: 12).
Although some Poskim disagree with the Chayei Adam many agree reciting shehakol on vegetables grown in water, which is even further distinguished from earth-grown vegetables. Pischei Halacha also recommends to recite shehakol on hydroponics (See also Yechaveh Da’as 6:12, Machazeh Eliyahu 28 and others.
However, Chazon Ish, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (Vezos HaBracha, Birur Halacha #24), Shevet HaLevi (1: 205), Teshuvos V’Hanhagos 2: 149, and Rav Shmuel Kaminetzky (Kovetz Halachos, Pesach 24:6), ruled that the proper bracha rishonah should be borei pri ho’adamah.
Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit'a opinion is also borei pri ho’adamah, including the aeroponically grown vegetables.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as advised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit’a
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