Halachot and Customs
How is it permitted to eat hybrid fruits?
Question
Hello,
As far as I know, I understand that we are not allowed to consume fruits and vegetables that are a hybrid between two kinds of fruit.
I recently read that the clementine fruit is a hybrid of two citrus fruits: tangerine and bitter orange, so I do not understand: how can it be that a clementine is kosher?
Thank you,
Hodaya
Answer
Greetings,
It is a good question - for there is a prohibition against grafting two kinds of fruit trees together, and as the Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah (section 295, paragraph 1) wrote, the prohibited mixtures of trees are included in what is said: Your field you shall not sow with mixed species. How so? One who grafts a tree onto a tree, such as grafting a twig of an apple onto a citron, or a citron onto an apple, is liable for lashes from the Torah, in all places, both in the Land and outside the Land.
And the answer is - although it is forbidden to do so, and it is also forbidden to maintain these trees, the fruit that comes from them is permitted to eat, as the Shulchan Aruch (there, paragraph 7) wrote: It is forbidden to maintain a grafted prohibited mixture, but the fruit that comes from it is permitted, even for the one who transgressed and grafted it.
With blessings,
Hillel Meirs
