Jun 22, 2015
Interesting Psak: bracha on tortilla
I did not even know this was a question, but it seems to be relevant enough that it is worth pointing out..
Rav Moshe Katz, from the Kosharot organization, has written a psak regarding the correct bracha to be made on tortillas.
Rav Katz says there is a dispute what the correct bracha is to be made on tortillas.
Tortillas have been around for a long time in the USA and other countries, but they are still relatively new in Israel.
Rav Katz points out that the original form of tortilla, made from corn flour and water and then baked, has the bracha Shehakol made on it. Most tortillas sold nowadays in the supermarkets, at least in Israel, are not made from cornflour, but from regular flour.
With tortillas made from regular flour there is a dispute whether to make a mezonot bracha or hamotzi. Rav Katz says that because it is made from only flour and water, and is baked, it is clear the bracha should be Hamotzi.
I would note that some say it is a mezonot because it is very thin, does not qualify is pat haba bkisnin, isn't made the same as bread (fluffier wraps might be different and qualify for hamotzi according to this opinion), and is more of a snack than a sandwich meal.
I make a Hamotzi on tortillas. They always seemed like bread to me, and they are used as a replacement for bread in an alternate form of a sandwich - rather than as a different type of snack food, and I did not even realize that some say it is mezonot.
Interestingly as well, Rav Katz points out based on the Rambam that at the end of days, in the days of Mashiach, we will be blessed with tremendous amounts of good and treats will be found all over. Rav Katz says every time he goes into the supermarket he sees new delicacies and foods, from Israel and from elsewhere, and is impressed with the bounty and the variety, new forms of storage and ways to keep it fresh, freezers and refrigerators storing products from Israel and all over the world... there are always new products. Rav Katz suggests that this fits with the Rambam's comment about the days of Mashiach..
Rav Moshe Katz, from the Kosharot organization, has written a psak regarding the correct bracha to be made on tortillas.
Rav Katz says there is a dispute what the correct bracha is to be made on tortillas.
Tortillas have been around for a long time in the USA and other countries, but they are still relatively new in Israel.
Rav Katz points out that the original form of tortilla, made from corn flour and water and then baked, has the bracha Shehakol made on it. Most tortillas sold nowadays in the supermarkets, at least in Israel, are not made from cornflour, but from regular flour.
I would note that some say it is a mezonot because it is very thin, does not qualify is pat haba bkisnin, isn't made the same as bread (fluffier wraps might be different and qualify for hamotzi according to this opinion), and is more of a snack than a sandwich meal.
I make a Hamotzi on tortillas. They always seemed like bread to me, and they are used as a replacement for bread in an alternate form of a sandwich - rather than as a different type of snack food, and I did not even realize that some say it is mezonot.
Interestingly as well, Rav Katz points out based on the Rambam that at the end of days, in the days of Mashiach, we will be blessed with tremendous amounts of good and treats will be found all over. Rav Katz says every time he goes into the supermarket he sees new delicacies and foods, from Israel and from elsewhere, and is impressed with the bounty and the variety, new forms of storage and ways to keep it fresh, freezers and refrigerators storing products from Israel and all over the world... there are always new products. Rav Katz suggests that this fits with the Rambam's comment about the days of Mashiach..
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In the US, they are more often sold as "wraps" which are larger than what we call tortillas (a wrap has about a 10 inch diameter, while tortillas are closer to 5 inch).
ReplyDeleteThere doesn't seem to be any consensus among the poskim, but from what I've seen, majority lean towards hamotzie.
I'm not certain about this, but my personal impression is that in New York people tend towards hamotzie but in Lakewood toward mezonos. This may be because of the influence of R Pinchos Bodner (of "Halachos of Berochos", and who lives in Lakewood) who says they are mezonos.
Interestingly, according to wikipedia (so be sure to take with many grains of salt):
ReplyDeleteThe wheat flour tortilla was a Kosher innovation by exiled Spanish Jews who did not consider corn meal to be Kosher, using wheat brought from Europe, while this region was the colony of New Spain
Why did they not consider it kasher?
DeleteIn San Diego, many of us grew up on tortillas, believing that they were as American as apple pie, because we had they at least as much as bread.
ReplyDeleteSome added citrus juice to get around the "hamotzi," issue. I'm not convinced that did the trick, so to to speak. But, many tortillas were cooked by frying, and not baking. My mother made them by frying, but they were thick, not thin.
Did he address this? Does it matter?
Star-K did something interesting and significant as part of their determination that tortillas are pat. They spoke with the owners (or maybe it was managers) of two commercial tortilla bakeries and asked what role tortillas play in Mexican culture. Since they are treated like bread, Star-K took that to tip the scale in favor of them being pat that requires hamotzi. From the rest of their article, they already thought that; but the origin culture served to validate or nail down their thinking.
ReplyDeleteTortillas are certainly common here, with a very large Mexican or Mexican-descended population. It seems to me that they are usually treated like bread.
If you take flour and water and make a dough (nothing else), and then bake it on a flat surface, you have -- matzah! In other words, bread.
ReplyDeleteTortillas are probably roughly what matzah in the time of Chazal was like (Hillel was "korech" his matzah around the korban pesach and maror. Korech means to wrap) and even some of the Edot ha Mizrach use matzah that is similar.
(Nafka minah: it would be assur to eat a tortilla Erev Pesach in the morning, even during the time that chometz is permitted, because the tortilla may well be matzah.)
My understanding of those who take the mezonos side is that the original matzos were like laffas which are certainly bread. While tortillas are noticably thinner and cannot be considered bread.
DeleteI found the following, which briefly sums up the mezonos side: http://kashrut.org/forum/viewpost.asp?mid=1650
Delete...you make Mezonot. If it is so thick and almost like a Pita that can be eaten alone with Tehina or the like, then you make Hamotzie.
If you are frying it, like the Beduoin pitas, it is not baked.
Delete@JS
DeleteI think the reason that laffa's are thicker and fluffier is that their dough is allowed to rise first. As in chometz. If you made laffas without yeast or rising, I think it would be pretty close to a tortilla.
According to the Rama, matza can be pretty thick. Much thicker than a laffa.
Deletesfardim (at least Syrians) make a mezonot on matzah all year long , except on pesach. I presume the rationale is that matzah is a cracker, which everyone agrees we make mezonot.
ReplyDeleteas for adding "citrus" juice (everyone else uses apple juice concentrate) it is based on shulchan aruch haRav which defines pat haBa'ah beKisnin as something to which flavoring is added. shulchan aruch (rav karo) says the same thing, but not specifically (SA says onion flavoring, what we call onion pockets. of course, chocolate flavoring was not developed till 1848.)
in USA and mexico, tortilla is by definition corn flour; otherwise it is labeled "flour tortilla". of course, today, they make everything from everything else. my shul regularly serves corn based vodka. made in texas. sacrilege. but its not bad.
"sfardim (at least Syrians) make a mezonot on matzah all year long"
DeleteDoes that include the soft, pliable Sefardi matzos? Or just the cracker-like Ashkenazi ones?
The cracker like ones. Because they know about the soft ones, they make mezonot on the hard ones.
Delete