I’ve heard that R’ Abadi holds that breakfast cereals get a boreh pri adama - Is this really true? Something like Post Grape-Nuts doesn’t have anything minimally processed such as rolled oats or wheat flakes, but rather just “whole grain wheat flour, malted barley flour, salt, dried yeast.”
Thanks
That is correct, cold breakfast cereals are hadamah.
To understand this one needs to ask why the halacha is that roasted kernels of grain are hadamah and a bowl of cooked rice or a cookie are mezonot.
Are you sure R’ Abadi extends this to all cold cereals? It seems a stretch to say that just because he holds that by Rice Krispies (as per the teshuva in Ohr Yitzchak) - cereals where individual grains are roasted/puffed - that the halacha would be the same for the dozens of cereals whose ingredients are processed completely differently?
Yes, the Rav holds this for all cold cereals. These are not cake or a tavshil unlike farina which is a tavshil and would therefore be mezonot.
Again, to understand this one needs to ask why the halacha is that roasted kernels of grain are hadamah and a bowl of cooked rice or a cookie are mezonot.
I understand the Rav’s position as far as roasted grains, etc.
What seems different though - many cereals nowadays aren’t made from grain which is roasted, puffed, shredded, or flattened (like Rice Krispies, shredded wheat, puffed grain cereals, flake cereals, or something like Cheerios which is toasted & steamed). (And in the teshuva, he only refers to Rice Krispies; doesn’t say all cereal is the same.)
Grape Nuts cereal is made with wheat flour. Life cereal is made with oat flour, wheat flour, and corn flour. Cap’n Crunch cereal is made with corn flour and oat flour. Krave cereal is made with wheat flour, oat flour, and fine flour.
So those cereals are hardly just קליות, toasted, minimally processed grains.
Please clarify.
Thanks
The Rav holds all the cold cereals are haadama. Does not have to be puffed only.
However, hot cereal like farina would be mezonot.
