You can use aronia berries in many different ways. You can grow your own aronia plants in your home garden and harvest your own aronia berries. The berries will be ripe in late summer or early fall. Then you can pick the berries and eat them fresh off the bush either raw or processed in many different ways. You can also dry or freeze the berries for later use. Fresh, dried, or frozen aronia berries can be used in many different ways.
If you don't want to do it yourself, then you can purchase many different commercial products made from aronia berries. There are several ads on this website for businesses that sell aronia berry chews, powders, supplements, and dried or dehydrated aronia berries. When you try these products you may be surprised to find out how easy it is to get the remarkable health benefits of aronia berries in your daily diet.
To view aronia recipes posted on other websites, click on the photos in this post or the word "recipes" in this sentence. For a few more recipes click here.
Thank you,
Dr. Eldon Everhart
P.S. -- To learn more about aronia, visit our website Everhart Horticulture Consulting.
If you don't want to do it yourself, then you can purchase many different commercial products made from aronia berries. There are several ads on this website for businesses that sell aronia berry chews, powders, supplements, and dried or dehydrated aronia berries. When you try these products you may be surprised to find out how easy it is to get the remarkable health benefits of aronia berries in your daily diet.
To view aronia recipes posted on other websites, click on the photos in this post or the word "recipes" in this sentence. For a few more recipes click here.
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| Aronia bread, wine, soap, jam, & hand cream |
I use aronia berries and aronia products in many of my favorite fruit-containing recipes. I completely or partly replace the fruit called for in the recipe with aronia berries or aronia products. You can do that too. Your “new” creation will taste great! And when you include aronia berries, you will get their health benefits too!
I will admit that my cooking skills are somewhat limited. So far in my life, the total number of homemade pies I have made is two! The first one I made from scratch was way back when I was in college. I knew it was a flop because the only person who would eat it was my mother! She thought everything I did was great!
A few months ago during the holiday season, I made my second pie. It was an aronia berry pie and it was much better than my first pie. The reason I know it was at least satisfactory is because most members of my family ate at least one slice. Even my mother-in-law Dorothy said it was good! (To read more about her and her very interesting posts, visit her blog entitled Thrive at Living Alone.)
I think my third pie will also be an aronia berry pie. I’m planning to take Dorothy’s advice and tweak my recipe slightly to make my third pie even more delicious! On-the-other-hand, I might make a pie from one of the pie recipes in the aronia cookbook, A is for Aronia, by my friend Cheryl Saker. To view and then purchase a copy, click on the ad near the bottom of the column on the right.
Pies are not the only thing you can make with aronia berries. You can use them like you use any other fruit. You can eat them fresh (or frozen) in hot breakfast cereals, salads, jelled dishes, with meats, or you can use them in many other ways. This includes using them in baked goods such as pies, bread, muffins, cookies, pastries, and cakes. Aronia fruit or aronia fruit juice can be used to make jams, jellies, sauce, toppings, gravy, syrup, icing, candy, salsa, barbecue sauce, ketchup, and to flavor and color yogurt, sorbet, ice cream, milk, vinegar, and other products. The berries can also be used to make tea, juice, smoothies, and stand alone aronia wine or blended with grapes or other fruits such as elderberries. The wine shown below is called Eldaronia. It is a blend of elderberry and aronia berry wines.
Or you can purchase many kinds of aronia products already made. Just click on the ads for any of the aronia products on the right. To purchase a bottle of aronia berry wine, visit the website of White Headed Robin Winery or visit the winery (shown in the photo below) located in Viborg, South Dakota.
One of the first retail businesses to sell aronia berries and products made from them is Mae's Health Solutions. Their products are for sale on the Internet and at more than 40 locations in the United States. Click on their ads on the right to view and then purchase their products.
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| Dorothy holding my aronia berry pie December 29, 2010 |
I think my third pie will also be an aronia berry pie. I’m planning to take Dorothy’s advice and tweak my recipe slightly to make my third pie even more delicious! On-the-other-hand, I might make a pie from one of the pie recipes in the aronia cookbook, A is for Aronia, by my friend Cheryl Saker. To view and then purchase a copy, click on the ad near the bottom of the column on the right.
Pies are not the only thing you can make with aronia berries. You can use them like you use any other fruit. You can eat them fresh (or frozen) in hot breakfast cereals, salads, jelled dishes, with meats, or you can use them in many other ways. This includes using them in baked goods such as pies, bread, muffins, cookies, pastries, and cakes. Aronia fruit or aronia fruit juice can be used to make jams, jellies, sauce, toppings, gravy, syrup, icing, candy, salsa, barbecue sauce, ketchup, and to flavor and color yogurt, sorbet, ice cream, milk, vinegar, and other products. The berries can also be used to make tea, juice, smoothies, and stand alone aronia wine or blended with grapes or other fruits such as elderberries. The wine shown below is called Eldaronia. It is a blend of elderberry and aronia berry wines.
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| Aronia grower Claude Nicholson |
Or you can purchase many kinds of aronia products already made. Just click on the ads for any of the aronia products on the right. To purchase a bottle of aronia berry wine, visit the website of White Headed Robin Winery or visit the winery (shown in the photo below) located in Viborg, South Dakota.
White Headed Robin Winery
(Click on photo above.)
One of the first retail businesses to sell aronia berries and products made from them is Mae's Health Solutions. Their products are for sale on the Internet and at more than 40 locations in the United States. Click on their ads on the right to view and then purchase their products.
You can also grow your own aronia berries. Several of the ads on the right sell aronia plants. Some or all of the berries can be left on the plants and used to provide food for songbirds in mid- to late-winter. Aronia plants also look great and they are easy to grow in the home landscape and in wildlife plantings or windbreaks.
But, in my opinion, aronia berries are too good to let the birds have them all but you may want to share some of them with the songbirds that visit your garden. So, if you haven’t tried aronia berries yet, you should do so immediately. If you already use them, then please share your experiences and your recipes. To see photos of other uses of aronia berries click here. Post your comments in the box below.
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| Ken Sailors, Mae’s Health Solutions Plus 8909 H Street, |
You can also grow your own aronia berries. Several of the ads on the right sell aronia plants. Some or all of the berries can be left on the plants and used to provide food for songbirds in mid- to late-winter. Aronia plants also look great and they are easy to grow in the home landscape and in wildlife plantings or windbreaks.
But, in my opinion, aronia berries are too good to let the birds have them all but you may want to share some of them with the songbirds that visit your garden. So, if you haven’t tried aronia berries yet, you should do so immediately. If you already use them, then please share your experiences and your recipes. To see photos of other uses of aronia berries click here. Post your comments in the box below.
Thank you,
Dr. Eldon Everhart
P.S. -- To learn more about aronia, visit our website Everhart Horticulture Consulting.
I commented about how I like aronia berry jelly in a different post but I think the comment might be even more appropriate here:
ReplyDelete"I think my favorite aronia berry food so far is the jelly. Just take some whole grain bread, omega3 enhanced peanut butter and aronia berry jelly and you've got an awesome snack that has fiber, protein, omega 3's, and antioxidants. Plus, it's yummy!"
Hello Aronia lovers! We have just harvested a ton of berries from our 3-year old bushes--one nero and one dwarf aronia. Can anyone share a good jelly or jam recipe?
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Wendy & Jonathan
Vermont
4 cups of berries, 1 cup of applesauce, juice and zest of one lemon, 2 cups of sugar. Cook Aronia berries in a little water for 20 minutes to soften. Then mash, add applesauce, lemon and sugar and cook until the desired thickness. About 15 minutes. Delicious
DeleteHi All,
ReplyDeleteWe've juiced most of our aronia berries this year, got about 13 qt off the one bush. I'm planning to use the dehydrator on the remaining robust crop.
Tell me if you enjoy dried aronia berries, just as you would cranberries??
And here's the really big question. What are the nutritional advantages of juice -vs- dehydrated? I can see some pros and cons each way, would like to get an expert nutritional opinion.
Hello Nancy, I would like to try making chokeberry juice. Can you share instructions with me? Do you cook and process in canner?
DeleteThank you for any suggestions!
I'd really like to learn how to use Aronia berries in salves and hand creams. Has anyone done this? Where could I find recipesetc. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHolly,
ReplyDeleteSeveral websites sell cosmetics that contain aronia but their recipes are most likely proprietary. However, there are recipes for homemade fruit-based salves and hand cream. Several of these recipes are available to the public. Here are a couple of websites with such recipes.
http://voices.yahoo.com/how-own-fruit-based-lotions-15192.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_5110233_make-fruit-face-cream.html
You might try substituting aronia berry juice, powder, or concentrate for the fruit listed in these recipes. However, be aware that the dark purple anthocyanins pigment in aronia berries may stain your skin and other surfaces. Let me know if this helps.
Dr. Eldon Everhart
Dear Dr. Everhart,
ReplyDeleteI just picked some berries from my backyard but I don't know if I can eat a 'whole' berry or have to remove the seed or expectorate it.
Please help me with this.
Thanks,
Peter
Peter,
DeleteYou can eat aronia berries whole without removing the seeds. The species Aronia melanocarpa and some the cultivars have one to five very small seeds per fruit. The seeds are the same dark purple color as the flesh and the juice. You probably will not even notice the seeds when you eat the fruit.
Viking, Nero, and several other aronia cultivars have a high degree of parthenocarpy. This means that they set fruit without pollination or fertilization and, consequently, most of the fruit is seedless or only contain one or two seeds.
Dr. Eldon Everhart
Dr. Eldon,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your FAST answer! Mine are Aronia Arbutifolia, bright red berries common in Connecticut, but I haven't had the time to look to see what the exact seed situation is but for only 2 bushes, they are really productive.
I'm going follow your blog and web site as of this moment. It is hard to believe something I purchased for wildlife is so good for humans as well.
Thank you again,
Peter
" You probably will not even notice the seeds when you eat the fruit."
ReplyDeleteYou were exactly right; they seem seedless. Also, they taste good, not bitter/pungent etc.
Peter
My brother recommended I might like this web site. He was entirely right. This post actually made my day. You can't imagine just how much time I had spent for this info! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHow do you know when Aronia berries are fully ripe?
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, I have access to a very large aronia berry bush and have never harvested them before.
DeletePlease make absolutely sure that your bush is an aronia bush. There are some lookalike shrubs that also have dark purple berries that are either poisonous or they are not edible.
DeleteDr. Everhart
Hi, what are the aronia look alikes and how can you tell them apart. I found what I was sure are aronia berries on an island off the caost of Maine but the seeds are tan, not dark purple so now I am wondering if it could be a look alike plant . . .
DeleteI do not know any plants that have tan seeds or fruit. There are many plants that have dark purple fruit. Some of them look similar to aronia fruit. Never eat anything that you have not identified accurately. Some plants have poisonous fruits and/or poisonous seeds..
DeleteThank you for the warning. This aronia bush is growing the demo garden at the nursery where I work :)
ReplyDeleteHello, How do I harvest aronia berries so that I don't damage the plant? Should I use scissors?
ReplyDeleteHi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteYou can use both of your hands to pull handfuls of berries off of the plants' stems. The berries grow in clumps, so its easy to grab a handful and just pull them off. This will not damage the plant. If you don't want your hands to be stained purple, then use rubber gloves.
Tie a small container, such as a plastic ice cream pail, around your neck and pick with both hands at the same time. This will be almost twice as fast as picking the berries with one hand and holding the container with your other hand.
Dr. Eldon Everhart
I picked some black chokeberries off a bush right after the first frost, I was told that they would be sweeter but theses are bitter, pungent and astringent. The garden service man that runs his own company told me the bush was a Aronia melanocarpa that the berries are the chokeberry. I enjoy to make jams from different berries and love to experiment with wild berries. I just finished making garden huckleberry jam and I think they are both similar in taste and looks.
ReplyDeleteI would like to know if they really require that much sugar in a recipe to make them sweet for jam (6c/sugar). Are here pictures of the ones You should NOT eat?
Thank You So Much For Your Help.
Tami
From Minnesota
Foods that have pH lower than 7 are acidic, those with a pH higher than 7 are basic or alkaline, and a pH of 7 is neutral. The lower the pH, the more acid the food is and the more natural sugar content or added sugar it will take to counteract the sourness.
DeleteListed below are a few acidic foods and their approximate pH levels
Cola pop (2.3)
Cranberries (2.4)
Lemons (2.4)
Aronia berries (3.5)
Apples (3.6)
Oranges (3.9)
Tomatoes (4.5)
Fully ripe aronia berries have a relatively high natural sugar content. They do not need as much added sugar, for example, as lemon juice (when making lemon aid) or cranberries but about the same a apples (for apple sauce or an apple pie).
However, the astringency of aronia berries cannot be counteracted by adding extra sugar. You either like the mouth-puckering effect of aronia berries (and dry wines) or you don't like it. It is an individual taste preference.
Also, not all aronia berries have the same composition. Their chemical make-up (pH, sugar content, tannin content, etc.) may vary depending on the cultivar (variety), degree of ripeness, and other factors.
Dr. Everhart
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI am wondering how to use the powdered berries for maximum health benefit. I am diabetic (not on meds, trying to control with diet + exercise) and have read that aronia can help with T2 diabetes. Do you know how much I should eat at a time? I've seen no information on the powdered form of this berry. Thank you for your help! ☺
As you may know, experimental and clinical research has shown that polyphenols-rich natural products may offer unique treatment for type 2 diabetes. So far, there is no consensus concerning the therapeutic dosage any of the polyphenols, including those found in aronia berries. (Dragan 2015)
ReplyDeleteCommercial websites may suggest dosages for the products that they sell. For example, 2 teaspoons per day is the suggested use of the Premium Purple Aronia Powder sold on-line at the Super Organic Foods website.
https://www.superorganicfoods.com/product_info.php?products_id=152
Examine.com claims to be an independent and unbiased encyclopedia on supplementation and nutrition. It is not affiliated in any way with any supplement company. The website states, “Approximately 200 ml of unsweetened black chokeberry juice or 300 mg of a black chokeberry extract have been shown to provide benefits….”
http://examine.com/supplements/Aronia+melanocarpa/
Dragan, S., F. Andrica, M.C. Serban, and R. Timar. 2015. Polyphenols-rich natural products for treatment of diabetes. Current medicinal chemistry, 22(1): 14-22.
Dr. Eldon Everhart
Are the seeds in the aronia berry toxic? Are they sort of the size of tomato seeds? I read somewhere not to let children eat them. I just got my FedEx shipment of 3 pounds of frozen aronia berries. I am a cancer patient on chemo, and I am trying to figure out how best to prepare the berries. Do I need to heat them, and sieve out the seeds? Or can I just thaw them and use in a smoothie without cooking them and just swallow the seeds? Thanks so much for your reply.
DeleteAronia berry seeds are not toxic. They are edible but, when you eat the fruit, you will not notice the seeds. Aronia seeds are much smaller than tomato seeds. In fact, aronia fruit often has very few seeds.
DeleteYou can cook aronia berries or eat them raw. Fresh, dried, or frozen aronia berries can be used in many different ways. They can be substitutes for the fruit in many fruit-containing recipes. You can completely or partly replace the fruit called for in the recipe with aronia berries. For more ways to use aronia berries, read the post on this blog entitled, “How to use aronia berries.”
http://aroniainamerica.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-do-you-use-aronia-berries.html#more
Dr. Eldon Everhart
How do you know when berries are fully ripe and ready to be picked?
ReplyDeleteWhen to harvest aronia berries depends on how you intend to use them and the risk you are willing to take with birds eating them. If you want your berries to develop the highest sugar content, then you will need to leave them on the plant longer. But birds also like sweeter berries and you might inadvertently share some berries with the.
DeleteIf you are willing to pay $25 to $100, you could buy a hand-held refractometer to measure the sugar content of your berries. If you are a commercial aronia grower, a refractometer is an essential piece of equipment. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=refractometer%20brix
If you only have a few aronia bushes, then you can just taste a few berries and judge their sweetness. Harvest them when they are sweet enough for you and after they are dark purple (almost black). Sweetness and color are subjective.
In other words, just use your common sense to decide when your berries are ready to pick. They might not all be at their peak of ripeness at the same time. Most people use the “taste test” to tell when to pick apples, apricots, peaches, tomatoes, etc. You can do the same thing with aronia berries.
Dr. Everhart
Dr. Everhart, my wife and I have 65 four year-old bushes. We have been harvesting the berries ourselves. We try to be careful picking them, but as you know leaf material is introduced in with the berries themselves often. When we wash them afterwards to be put in bags to be frozen, we find we spend as much time getting the leafy material off the berries as we actually do picking them. Any hints you can give us in our workflow that will allow us to separate the berries from the leafy material, thereby shortening the process would be greatly appreciated.
ReplyDeleteYou can remove the leaves and stems off of your berries by either rolling your berries over a sheet of cloth (berries roll but leaf material doesn't) or a screen (with holes big enough for the berries to fall through but catch most of the leaf material) or you can blow the leaf material off (this is called winnowing). See these videos for small scale versions of what big growers do.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhww1nMN7x4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48kSqP2Mipw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcU_IVBdBEE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfFsDHoACTA
Large commercial cranberry and blueberry growers use either or both methods just on a large scale.
Let me know if this helps.
do you have any recommendations for a source for dried aronia berries?
ReplyDeleteJames,
ReplyDeleteDried aronia berries are sold on the Internet by several businesses including Northwest Wild Foods and Nuts.com.
https://nwwildfoods.com/
https://nuts.com/
Dr. Eldon Everhart
I just bought a homestead with aronia bushes on it. How can I tell what variety they are?
ReplyDeleteYou will not be able to tell what cultivar aronia bushes. You can tell if they are one of the cultivars that have been selected for berry production because the plants and the berries will most likely be bigger that cultivars that are sold a ornamental shrubs.
ReplyDeleteI use aronia berries in a jam with blueberries (3 to 1, blueberries to aronia berries). I also use it in a mixed berry jam with blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries. I grow them at my house, vice my farm, because deer don't visit my house (200 miles from my farm), but they ravage the aronia bushes on the farm. Sometimes I will eat a couple of the raw. When I do, I seem to have more work stamina. It is a phenomenally healthful berry.
ReplyDeleteHere is a message I got -- "I atually I read this yesterday but I had some thoughts about it and today I wanted to read it again because it is very well written." -- anonymous
ReplyDelete