[Avodah] Shehechiyanu on esrog jam

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Jan 31, 2018 at 02:29:26PM +0000, Professor L. Levine via Avodah wrote:
: From today's OU Kosher Halacha Yomis
:> A. The Mishna Berura (225:16) writes that one does not recite
:> Shehechiyanu on an esrog, since the fruit does not have a season...
:>                                        [F]or another reason they too
:> conclude that one should not say Shehechiyanu. As was alluded to in
:> a previous Halacha Yomis, the bracha of Shehechiyanu was instituted
:> primarily to be said when seeing a new fruit...
:> in this case, the bracha of Shehechiyanu was already recited on the
:> esrog when we shook it with the lulav on Sukkos...

I think esrog jam is not necessarily a good idea for more balebatishe
reasons. Today's esrog grown for the mitzvah has a LOT of pesticides
on it.

The local maqolet has "buddah's hand" citrons, the same species as
an esrog, but with several smaller migdalot so that it looks like
someone's hands with their fingers bunched up pointing upward (if
you have enough imagination). Wikipedia
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddha%27s_hand>.

According to the MB, one can't use them either. But according to other
shitos... It is covered by esrog? (Can you use a fingered citron for the
mitzvah on Sukkos?)

Next, no one would be eating these things, or many of the other fruit
in the stor,e, if it weren't for Tu biShvat. We've gone quite a ways
from the grower excited about the new crops growing on his nachalah.
We're now using weird fruit that we didn't miss from the last time
they were in season. Nowadays, many fruit down't even seem seasonal.
Apples just cost a little more part for the year. How do we justify
making shehechiyanu at all, now that it's not about the excitement of
something new? Maybe only people who like the chance to experiment with
new taste who should make them?

And if you are trying a new front for the shehechiyanu, shouldn't both
the berakhah and the shehechiyanu wait until after the first taste, so
you know you like it?

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

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