If you cook that vegetable, and it was the derech (customary way) to eat it either raw or cooked, you still say... If you make a vegetable soup but do not want to eat the vegetables and only want to drink the liquid, the Shulchan Aruch, I believe, says... Now there is a middle case that doesn’t make any sense. I’m trying to sandwich here. I’m going to... You’re eating the vegetable itself, you say... Even if you eat only the liquid, the water, you say... Now there is a middle case: if I take this soup and grind the liquid with the vegetable. The Shulchan Aruch says that if you eat the vegetables, it’s Ha’adama (the earth); if you drink the liquid, it’s Ha’adama. But if you grind everything together, it becomes Shehakol (For everything). It doesn’t make any sense.
Perhaps the explanation is the following. I don’t know; I didn’t read it, but I think maybe the explanation is the following. In the first two halachot (Jewish laws), you have two ways to say Borei Peri Ha’adama (Who creates fruit of the earth): either by eating the vegetable itself or by eating the ta’am—the taste—of the vegetable. Clearly, when you eat the vegetable, you say Borei Peri Ha’adama because you’re eating the vegetable. When you’re drinking the liquid in which the vegetable was cooked, all you have there is the ta’am of the vegetable—you have the taste of the vegetable. That infusion, that ta’am of the vegetable, is good enough to make it Borei Peri Ha’adama. Ta’am ke-ikar. I know it’s more of a klal (principle) in Yoreh De’ah, but ta’am ke-ikar. The taste is like the vegetable itself. So you say Borei Peri Ha’adama.
I just strengthened the question. When you eat the soup that you grind, you also have the ta’am. You have the ta’am and the ikar (principal component) all together, blended. Why is it Shehakol? The answer is no. The ta’am could only come as an element to make it Borei Peri Ha’adama when you’re not eating the ikar. If I’m eating the vegetable itself, don’t come and tell me, “You know why you say Borei Peri Ha’adama on the vegetable? Because you have ta’am of the vegetable.” No, no, that’s not true. I say Borei Peri Ha’adama on the vegetable because I eat the vegetable. The ta’am only comes if I’m not eating the vegetable. So when you only have the liquid, I say Borei Peri Ha’adama because of the ta’am of the vegetable. Why? Because I’m not eating the vegetable. If I’m eating the vegetable itself, I say Borei Peri Ha’adama not because of the ta’am, but because I’m eating the vegetable.
The problem is that when you grind the vegetable, the concept of ta’am is out the window. Why? Because I’m eating the vegetable itself. So I don’t have the ta’am component here. All I have is the vegetable itself. But the vegetable is unrecognizable. Therefore, the Beracha (blessing) cannot be Borei Peri Ha’adama. So now I’m stuck. Mitzad (as for) the vegetable, I can’t recognize it. It’s liquid. “Oh, but there’s ta’am.” No, ta’am only comes if I don’t have the vegetable. But if I have the vegetable, I’m not going to say the Beracha on the ta’am because I’m eating the vegetable. And now, what is the Beracha of that vegetable when it’s completely ground? Shehakol nihyeh bidvaro (Everything was created by His word), because I cannot recognize it.
So now I’m stuck because it doesn’t fall under either of the two. As for the vegetable, it doesn’t fall under that category because there’s no to’ar (form) of the vegetable. You can’t see it. So it’s going to be Shehakol. As for the ta’am, I cannot say Borei Peri Ha’adama because I’m not eating the ta’am. I’m eating the actual vegetable, and its Beracha just switched from Borei Peri Ha’adama to Shehakol because I cannot recognize it. Therefore, the Shulchan Aruch says that in that case, we would say Shehakol nihyeh bidvaro.