(Mishnah): If fenugreek of Terumah or Maaser Sheni fell into a pit of water, if there is enough fenugreek seed, rather than stalk, for it to be tasted, it is prohibited. And if it was Sheviis produce or the product of planting mixed seeds in a vineyard, if there is enough seed and stalk to be tasted, it is prohibited.

If a person had bundles of fenugreek that grew in a vineyard (thereby prohibiting them), they must be burned. If they were Tevel, he should crush them (thereby separating the seeds from the stalks) and then calculate the quantity of seeds that there are and separate Terumah from the seeds, but not from the stalks. If he did so (before separating the seeds from them), he should not say, "I will crush them and I will remove the stalks and only give the seeds''. Rather, he must give both.

(Gemara) Question: (Why did the Mishnah teach that if it was Sheviis produce or the product of planting mixed seeds in a vineyard, if there is enough seed and stalk to be tasted, it is prohibited.) Doesn't the stalk worsen the taste? Must we say that the Mishnah follows the opinion that even if the prohibition worsens the taste, it is still prohibited?

Answer: Even according to the opinion that when it worsens the taste, it is permitted; here it is prohibited. Why? Fenugreek improves anything into which it falls.

Question: (The Mishnah in Maseches Orlah teaches that according to R. Meir, bundles of fenugreek of Kilai HaKerem are never annulled in any amount, since they are 'important'.) And how many is considered a bundle? 25 stalks.

(R. Yochanan): And they must be so large that four of them could be used as the legs of a bed.

(The Mishnah taught about bundles of fenugreek of Tevel.) This shows that even when in bundles, they are already called Tevel, even though the seeds have not been banged.

Question: If so, grains should become Tevel whilst in their stalks, even before they are threshed?

Answer: They aren't usually left in that state.

Question: Ears that are brought in and made into rolled grains are not Tevel until they have been threshed?

Answer: Although they are sometimes brought in for rolling, they are not planted for that purpose; but fenugreek bundles are planted to grow into stalks together with their seeds.

(Mishnah): Chulin olives that were pickled with Terumah olives - whether pressed Chulin ones with pressed Terumah ones, pressed Chulin ones with whole Terumah ones or with their pickling water, they are prohibited (since they absorbed the taste of the Terumah). But whole Chulin olives with pressed Terumah ones are permitted (since whole ones don't absorb).

(Gemara) (R. Yona): This shows that pressed olives absorb (from Terumah) and emit and again absorb. Whole olives absorb and emit and do not again absorb.

The Mishnah taught that Chulin olives that absorbed from Terumah olives, even though their taste didn't change - this shows that not only if a prohibited item gives flavor and improves it does it prohibit, but even if it doesn't give any flavor, it still prohibits.

Rebuttal: Perhaps the Mishnah is like R. Shimon, who said that even if the prohibited item worsens the flavor, it still prohibits.

Question: Wasn't it R. Shimon who said earlier that if it worsens the flavor, it is permitted?! (And it was R. Meir who said that it is prohibited!)

Answer: The rebuttal was merely saying that the law that when it gives no flavor it is prohibited is not according to all opinions, as there's an opinion that any time the prohibited item mixes with something of its own type (known as Min b'Mino), it is always permitted - as the Mishnah teaches - if a cabbage that grew in an irrigated field was boiled with a Terumah cabbage that grew in a rain-subsisted field, R. Shimon says that the first cabbage is prohibited (to non-Kohanim) since it absorbs flavor from the other cabbage. (However, R. Akiva disagrees and permits since it mixed with its own type.)