Bracha Decision Helper

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While studying the laws of B’rachos recently, I realized I was having trouble remembering when a bracha is required for a new food. 

I came across a wonderfully clear and well-organized guide titled The Laws of B’rachos: A Comprehensive Exposition of the Background and Laws of Blessings by Rabbi Binyamin Forst (who actually used to live around the corner from me!) and Rabbi Aaron D. Twerski.

The information was laid out so logically that it inspired me to put together a simple computer program to help me keep things straight. I pasted it below for my own reference, but I figured it might be helpful to someone else too.

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This interactive tool is designed to help you determine whether a new bracha (blessing) is required before eating a second food. It assumes that you already recited a bracha rishona (but not Hamotzi) on a first food item, without explicitly intending either to include or exclude other foods (staam daas). You now wish to eat another food that requires the same beracha and want to know whether a new bracha is necessary. This tool assumes there was no hesech hadaas (i.e., no interruption of focus or intent between the two foods, such as reciting a bracha achrona, sleeping, etc.), and that there was no change of location (e.g., moving to a different building). 

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