Clark，I wish I lived near you and could easily drive over to buy some berry from you. I just picked my aronia berry a week ago, and wish had 5~10 pound more to make another batch of wine. Mine is aronia nero, very disease resistance, good size fruits, can eat fresh when fully ripe, hint of sweet but dry. JP loves its leaf though
do you mix with other fruit or just aronia?i bet concord grape would make a good mixed red wine.i plan to make some elderberry wine also.
50/50with grapes
It’s floating around in my head that I read somewhere that some juice companies add a small percentage of aronia to bottled juice for color. Don’t know where I read it or if it’s true, but I wanted to contribute to the discussion!
KYWeaver,
It is true I’ve seen it as an ingredient in what I believe was old orchard juice at the grocery store.
These are a few pictures from earlier today. I took a break from my other work and picked a bucket of aronia.
They are beautiful.
Just curious,How do you pick aronia berries？I only have one bush.by the time I picked all the berry off branches, I my back hurts
They are really bad when they are younger because they are shorter. Just grab a handful and move them back in forth in your fingers over the bucket and they fall in. If your back hurts you are likely doing it the right way. Like picking green beans kind of but not that bad. As the bush gets taller the backache goes away.
i kneel on a foam pad to pick . next year I’m pruning out those low branches. should be easier picking next year. mine are 3rd leaf.
i have to say, i enjoy eating them fresh over jam. tried 2 different recipes and the taste is too sweet and bland for me. got 1 bush left to pick and I’m going to freeze them to use in other recipes and to eat with my oatmeal . 
Viking aronia seem much sweeter than McKenzie at my property which is fortunate for me since I have more Viking. The berries I have this year are very high quality as far as aronia goes.
i have viking and a polish cultivar, galicjanka. both are similar in size and flavor.
My 4 bushes were loaded this year, picked some on august 22, when I went back august 27, about everything was gone, maybe birds.
I’m considering adding a few Aronia plants. Do they have any pest issues such as swd?
Mine have been free of pests and diseases so far. I do not have SWD at my location.
I have SWD actively ruining my elderberries, they are not interested in my aronia which is adjacent and at peak ripeness.
same here. no pests bother them. their skin is rather tough with a waxy like coating. maybe thats why the bugs can’t affect them. no swd up here so far but is in s. Maine.
Thanks
