Bracha Acharona on Yogurt, Ice Cream, Ices

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I heard that we do not say a bracha acharona (after blessing) on yogurt. Is this true and what is the reason?

The Aish Rabbi Replies

What you heard is correct according to many opinions. There is a general question regarding foods which are frozen or congealed liquids – which we do not chew up and eat but which we basically just swallow – such as yogurt, leben, ice cream, and ices. The question is if such foods are considered a food or a liquid.

This is significant in terms of the bracha acharona, the after blessing. We recite a bracha acharona on eating a kezayit (olive-sized quantity) of food (about an ounce), within four minutes. For liquids, however, we must eat three times that amount (a revi’it), and we must do so in the typical amount of time it takes to drink that amount, drinking it virtually in one shot (without removing the cup from your mouth).

Thus, if we consider creams and ices to be “liquids”, it is impossible to consume them quickly enough to recite the after blessing. Therefore, out of doubt, one should not say the bracha acharona on them. It’s proper instead to eat or drink something together with them which requires the same bracha acharona (“borei nefashot”) so the bracha acharona will be said on them as well, in case they do require it.

If one ate three ounces of ices or a cream thick enough that it will not pour in two minutes, he may recite the bracha acharona. (For a combination of reasons, this suffices according to almost all opinions.) This exception would not apply to leben or smoothies which can be poured.

(Note that this ruling applies to foods which are basically congealed or frozen liquids. Foods which began as mushy solids – such as whipped cream (if one would be inclined to eat it straight) – are considered solids and require a bracha acharona if eaten in four minutes.)

(Sources: V’Zot Habracha p. 44 with footnote, p. 381 footnote 128, birur halacha 11.)

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