I ran all my berries through a juicer last year,not sure if it was the seeds that gave it such a ghastly flavor or not, but the fresh juice about gagged me. I mixed it with apple juice at a 1to 5 ratio and it still had a nasty flavor, this year I'm just gonna mash em up and squeeze through cheese cloth to see it it makes a difference.

BTW, Mine is an Aronia melanocarpa.

tj

Aronia has been my mainstay freezer fruit for 5 years or more, lasting through the entire winter from my 2 Viking bushes. Until this year I was cooking it and making gelatin with it, but my son convinced me to overcome my slight dislike of the raw berry- actually frozen, so I've learned to eat them in a mixed fruit salad with yogurt or with stevia-sweetened whipping cream, and actually like the taste now, so no more cooking.:-) Yes, I do think they are incredibly healthy, not only that, they are the easiest berry to harvest that I grow, the berries hang in clusters, each cluster from a single stem, all ripen at the same time, so I can go out and strip them into a bag then sit around indoors and pick them off the stems directly into a freezer bag. So much easier than blueberries, raspberries, currants, etc. And super yields.

(I've learned to eat them in a mixed fruit salad with yogurt or with stevia-sweetened whipping cream, and actually like the taste now(

Here is a link that might be useful: ARo

I have Aronia Melanocarpa (Viking). As for health benefits etc. I will leave that up to whoever (blueberries, autumn olive, raw cocao and a dozen others are always touted) as I think most berries are a good choice.
They are very easy to grow, and sucker freely. The fruit is quite astringent from the tannins in the skin, my neighbor girl and I like them fresh, my wife and kids and everyone else we have tried them on are less than impressed. The best juice Ive made has been by using a steam juicer, the "cooked fruit" taste is more to my liking than when I freeze and press the berries. Jelly and Wine are both winners here as well. I have 2 bushes that are only about 5' tall and in diameter, they produce many many pounds of fruit. I also have 5 more bushes further away from the house, and the deer have decimated them. The birds dont seem too interested in the berries left on the bush until late winter when they are running out of other things, then they pick the bushes clean.

my advise it to definitly buy a couple plants, and experiment with the fruit. try some before a frost, try some after a hard frost, i am sure you will not be disappointed in the long run

I've found that the astringency level of my Viking aronia berries is mostly a function of the weather. Hot or dry years yield highly astringent berries that are pretty much inedible. Cool and moist weather yields berries with only a low to moderate astringency that make nice juice, jelly, etc.

I haven't ever given mine supplemental water, but I suspect that a lot of water and fertilizer would help it to make big, plump, low astringency berries.

Hi everyone,

I've had this berry on my wish list for a while....who can recommend a good supplier?

thanks,
lucia

Plants that I can't find locally I usually order from 'One Green World' I've bought Aronia from them before and it did well for the year I continued to live in that house... I haven't seen it since I moved away.

On their website Aronia is listed under 'fruiting trees and shrubs' not 'berries.'

Thank you peachymomo for the suggestion of One Green World!
They sell Dwarf, Nero, and Viking.
Which one to get??!!
Everyone here seems to have planted Viking, but most seem to agree the berry is not all that tasty. Anyone have experience with any other variety?
This berry has become a big deal in the health food market I think, and although I have little or no interest in distribuing, I do have an interest in reclaiming my own health after having cancer twice and now dealing with severe arthritis, and I'm "only" 53!
Ok.. too much information, but I hope more people get on this forum to chime in on aronia!
Thank you so much to all!
Elle

I found Aronia berry juice in Toronto area....
web site is www.aroniag.com

so happy

The Aronia berries which Tesco are now selling are grown in Scotland. They are absolutely disgusting, with an even worse flavour that cranberries. Even the birds, squirrels and foxes round here won't touch them. They must be indescribably good for you, since they taste so bad! My wife's sister, who actually bought them thought that she was buying blackcurrants and was very disappointed! The best description I can find for the flavour is 'exceedingly wersh'.