Helpful Orlah List - Summer Fruits 2014

I love figs

Majestic Pomegranates (not on the list, oddly)

Many people find themselves shopping at a shuk or a store without a teudah. It happens most often outside of the major city centers, like here in the Golan, in our weekly shuk.
However, we have a few things to keep in mind - terumah and maaser (tithing) obligations and the problem of orlah - the fruits of a tree in its first four years.
 
It's very helpful to know which fruits one can buy and not worry about orlah, even without a hechsher. One must still take terumah and maaser from non-certified fruits (without a bracha), even if there is no need to worry about orlah, though.

When I was trying to figure out what I could or could not buy at the shuk, I found this handy-dandy guide. It changes seasonally, and is not completely comprehensive, but is helpful in any case.

Here are the basics to keep in mind if you are buying fruit from a seller without a teudah/ishur kashrut (although many recommend just trying to buy from a certified kosher seller):

Ok to buy:

Pears
Annona
Olives (regular)
Quince (חבוש) Lemons
Lychee Apricots Pitaya (dragonfruit?) Kiwi Plums Loquats
Almonds
Figs
Apples

Not ok without Ishur Kashrut:

Blueberries
Peaches
Guava
Syrian Olives
Papaya
Passionfruit ("shi'unit" or "passiflora")
Eden fruit (really not sure what this is, anyone know?)
Sabra
Starfruit


Unclear, so recommended to only buy with an Ishur:

Nectarines
Grapes

Enjoy your summer fruits!

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Fruit trees

We've been talking a lot about fruit trees lately. Just in case you hadn't heard, we're buying a house and while there are a couple of fruit trees on the side of it, we'd like to plant a couple more trees.

I love figs

We're moving to a street called Rimon, so we figured we should probably plant a Rimon (pomegranate) tree, and I'm trying to figure out what other kind of tree I'd like. I'd love a fig tree, an avocado tree, and a mango tree, but I probably need to research what will grow best where we'll be living! And I'm not sure we have room for ALL those trees... We'll need to plan carefully so we don't overtake our sukkah space with fruit trees...

Pomegranates are so majestic

We've been discussing how we'll have to impatiently wait 4 years to enjoy the fruit of whatever trees we plant, but hopefully it will be worthwhile!

And while we discussed it, we were wondering about the fruits on the market, and how we know they are not from trees within their first 4 years!



So we came across this handy-dandy guide. It changes yearly.

Here are the basics to keep in mind if you are buying fruit from a seller without a teudah/ishur kashrut:

Ok to buy:

Pears
PawPaw Fruits
Olives
Lemons
Apricots
Pitaya
Kiwi
Plums
Loquats
Figs
Apples

Not ok without Ishur Kashrut:

Blueberries
Peaches
Guava
Syrian Olives
Papaya
Passionfruit
Eden fruit (really not sure what this is, anyone know?)
Sabra
Starfruit


Unclear, so recommended to buy with an Ishur:

Nectarines
Grapes