Daily Halacha: Handling Fruit Juice and Squeezing on Shabbat

If someone made a fruit salad and juice flowed from the fruits, is it allowed to drink the juice on Shabbat?

Halacha makes a distinction between different types of fruit juices on Shabbat.

If liquid flows naturally from olives or grapes, it is not permitted to drink that juice on Shabbat.

However, if the juice comes from other fruits, like oranges, apples, or melons, and the fruits were brought into the house with the intention to eat them (not to juice them), then the juice that flows from them is allowed to drink, even on Shabbat.

So, if you’re cutting a fruit salad and some juice collects at the bottom of the bowl, it is permitted to drink that juice as long as it didn’t come only from grapes. If the salad only contains cut grapes, then drinking the juice would be forbidden on Shabbat.
This halacha is based on Shulchan Aruch and explained in Chazon Ovadia.

Is it permitted to squeeze fruits over food on Shabbat?

Yes. It is permitted to squeeze fruit, even a cluster of grapes, directly over food, if the juice is meant to flavor the food or be absorbed into it.

As long as most of the juice gets absorbed into the food, or mixes with it, this is considered part of food preparation, not juicing and is therefore allowed on Shabbat.

This ruling comes from Shulchan Aruch and is further clarified in Yabia Omer.

From “Ach Tov V’Chesed – Daily Halacha” by Hidabroot