Suggestions for using aronia appreciated

Hi- At the Evanston farmer's market today, Teresa Brockman had organic aronia berries on sale for only $3 a pint. I ended up getting two pints of them. I asked Teresa what to do with them, and she said to add them to oatmeal or use them in a smoothy. I assume they are not very sweet, and so I would do better adding maybe blueberries to the smoothy. Does anybody have any other suggestions on what to do with them? She had lots of them left when I bought mine at noon. She also had lots of apples.

These are not great and are often referred to as chokeberries. They are a loose analog for cranberries and as about as palatable on their own. I think they'd be pretty awful when eaten raw and/or without being sweetened in some way. I'd use them the same way I'd use cranberries, cooked or processed in some way. I hope that helps.

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Teresa also sells aronia juice too for lots of money.

NFriday wrote:Teresa also sells aronia juice too for lots of money.

Guessing it's sweetened with something natural, maybe other fruit juices? It really is unpalatable on its own.

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ronnie_suburban wrote:

NFriday wrote:Teresa also sells aronia juice too for lots of money.

Guessing it's sweetened with something natural, maybe other fruit juices? It really is unpalatable on its own.

Nope. Her aronia juice is unadulterated.

Here is a link from Teresa's site about aronia. https://www.teresasunnylanefarm.com/aronia-faqs

The GP wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:

NFriday wrote:Teresa also sells aronia juice too for lots of money.

Guessing it's sweetened with something natural, maybe other fruit juices? It really is unpalatable on its own.

Nope. Her aronia juice is unadulterated.

Here is a link from Teresa's site about aronia. https://www.teresasunnylanefarm.com/aronia-faqs

That sounds positively awful.

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ronnie_suburban wrote:

The GP wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:

NFriday wrote:Teresa also sells aronia juice too for lots of money.

Guessing it's sweetened with something natural, maybe other fruit juices? It really is unpalatable on its own.

Nope. Her aronia juice is unadulterated.

Here is a link from Teresa's site about aronia. https://www.teresasunnylanefarm.com/aronia-faqs

That sounds positively awful.

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With enough sugar, I’m sure its palatable, though that might counteract some of the beneficial properties

boudreaulicious wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:

The GP wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:

NFriday wrote:Teresa also sells aronia juice too for lots of money.

Guessing it's sweetened with something natural, maybe other fruit juices? It really is unpalatable on its own.

Nope. Her aronia juice is unadulterated.

Here is a link from Teresa's site about aronia. https://www.teresasunnylanefarm.com/aronia-faqs

That sounds positively awful.

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With enough sugar, I’m sure its palatable, though that might counteract some of the beneficial properties

More often than not, juices like these are sweetened via the use of other, sweeter concentrates, like apple or white grape. They impart very little flavor, make the final product palatable and still allow the label to declare "no sugar added."

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I think they are the same as "choke-cherries." In that case, quite a few people make wine out of them. As they are not very good straight up.

Puckjam wrote:I think they are the same as "choke-cherries." In that case, quite a few people make wine out of them. As they are not very good straight up.

Yes, aka chokeberries. About as palatable as raw cranberry.

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Chokecherries and chokeberries are not the same thing (according to Wikipedia).
We've had chokeberry bushes in the past (lost them after a harsh winter) and the berries were generally the LAST thing the birds would eat over the winter. We've now got snowberries, which are white and similarly stay most of the winter because they're so astringent.

I had to laugh out loud over that.

If the birds won't eat them, why in the world do we try to eat them?

JoelF wrote:Chokecherries and chokeberries are not the same thing (according to Wikipedia).

Not sure about that but I do know that aronia is commonly referred to -- and traded as -- chokeberry in industrial circles.

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ronnie_suburban wrote:

JoelF wrote:Chokecherries and chokeberries are not the same thing (according to Wikipedia).

Not sure about that but I do know that aronia is commonly referred to -- and traded as -- chokeberry in industrial circles.

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Wikipedia wrote:Chokeberries are often mistakenly called chokecherries, the common name for Prunus virginiana. Further adding to the ambiguity, a variety of Prunus virginiana is melanocarpa,[9] and readily confused with black chokeberry because it is commonly referred to as "black chokeberry" or "aronia". Aronia berries and chokecherries both contain polyphenolic compounds, such as anthocyanins, yet the two plants are only distantly related within the Rosaceae.

ronnie_suburban wrote:

NFriday wrote:Teresa also sells aronia juice too for lots of money.

Guessing it's sweetened with something natural, maybe other fruit juices? It really is unpalatable on its own.

=R=

My mom has had several aronia bushes for about ten years, and she uses it as some sort of superfood, drinking the juice straight up. It is positively awful, but I guess it's supposed to be some sort of natural medicine. She also creates an alcohol maceration with it, a Polish naleweka a la something like a limoncello. That one she does add simple syrup to. But as much as she is convinced of their panacean properties or whatever, she's never found any use for them outside something to imbibe.

(And, yes, "chokeberry" is a common alternate name for them; never heard "chokecherry,"though.)