With gallons and gallons of Aronia’s in the field ready for harvest the question becomes what do we do with them? Aronia wine sounds plausible. Last year I juiced the Aronia’s and cut the mixture with apple and pear juice.
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I’ve never seen this berry before and I’ve never tasted it. It is one beautiful thing. What do they taste like? Jam? Pie? Smoothies?
They are dry to taste and not at all sweet. I have acres of them. They are delicious when cut with apple juice making a concoction reminiscent of grape juice.
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Why acres of them? I’d grow raspberries.
At the time when I planted them they sold easily to a specialty market at $1 per pound wholesale. The market dried up so I still have several acres of the berries. They are vehemently sought after for producing dry red wine with the caveat being there are no wineries here. There are not enough to transport them and to many to use.
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On a side note they are undoubtedly among the healthiest if not the healthiest fruit grown. Their orac levels are off the charts. Pemmican which the native Americans used was actually Aronia’s mixed with buffalo meat which was a staple food. This variety is Viking. Here is additional information on the orac level http://midwestaronia.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/MAA-Brochure20141.pdf
http://oracdatabase.com/list-one-2/?item=99012&whichdb=main&keyword=aronia
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This is my aronia, this year fruits are earlier ripe than usual 
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Very nice Aronia’s! Aronia juice is wonderful mixed with apple juice 40 to 1. My Aronia are ripening faster than normal this year like yours. Viking and Mckenzie are not ripe yet in zone 6. Oddly most things are ripening later than normal.
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Vodka extraction is good - nice flavor, great color… still a bit of the astringency that gives them their common name, ‘chokeberry’.
I snagged (OK, it would probably qualify as stealing) about a quart of fruit off of plants growing around the parking lot when we were moving my youngest daughter into her freshman dorm, almost 4 years ago…
Made me consider planting some - though not ACRES of them! - but haven’t come across a good source when I’ve thought to look for them.
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Lucky,
I can send you some fruit or if you like try my hand at propagating some cuttings.
you notice any wildlife eating them?
Sure they love them but this time of year even my blackberry crop is left alone in Kansas. The fields are very hot right now and most things have withdrawn close to the water. Animals are nocturnal so I’m not noticing when they are up in the fields eating. The birds have moved down by the water.
Many people have seen pictures of my main crop of Aronia’s. I seldom post pictures of this red berried variety I grew as a test crop years ago. I still have a few of these bushes around.
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You mentioned aronia was sought after for wine. Have you tried making some? Sounds like it would add complexity to blander fruits like strawberry.
I was first introduced to aronia at Starbucks of all places. They had a short-lived drink (2010 I think) using it, cider, and chai flavoring. It was fantastic!
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It makes a very dry wine which I don’t care for. The people that like that type of wine love it!
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Clark! As I recall you have buckets of Aronia and your berries are incrediby plentiful!!! Always beautiful, how do you use them?
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I’ve used them heavily in juice. That mixture is 40 parts apple / pear to 1 part aronia. Until I can find a winery to buy them many will go to waste.
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thats a shame. have you tried to sell them at farmers markets? with their health benefits surely someone would be interested in them. i have 2 bushes that are loaded right now.viking and a polish variety that i don’t remember the name. i have 13 varieties of fruit that i grow for their health benefits. aronia is definitely at the top of the list! i believe if we consume these fruits on a regular bases they will help fight diseases and cancers that are so prevalent nowadays.
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Our Costco planted aronia as landscaping. I’ve considered picking some, but decided the pollution and risk of systemic pesticide use probably cancels out any health benefits. Still, seeing a hundred bushes laden with fruit go to waste hurts. I can only imagine acres and acres!
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