Good morning HaRav.
I am writing to you because I have doubts about Brachot:
What is the correct Berachah for pop corn? It is corn, but it has totally lost its form and features.
Answer:
According to most authorities, the berachah for popcorn is ha’adama.
Rav Moshe Feinstein explains (Torah Vehora’ah 5733) that this is because although the form has changed, it has not been mashed or ground, and a change of form other than mashing or grinding does not alter the blessing to shehakol. See also Birkas Hanehenin (p. 113), Vezos Haberachah (p. 102), and others.
Note that according to Rav Mordechai Aliyahu, the berachah for most communities (other than Yemenites) would be shehakol.
Another factor for popcorn being HAADAMA is the fact that popping corn (a variety of corn significantly different from sweet corn) is consumed by humans ONLY as popcorn. People do not eat popping corn in any other way. (Pigs do, by the way.)
That, added to the fact the the whole kernel is still there, albeit, exploded and turned inside out, leads to the conclusion that popcorn is HAADAMA.
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