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Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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Aronia Berry Vinaigrette

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chokeberry-or-aronia-berry_

I’ll be honest and tell you I’ve never picked Aronia berries (a.k.a chokeberries or Aronia melanocarpa) in the woods after a long hunt, or after walking around the edge of a clearing during berry season. They’re just not that common where I’ve hunted. But they’re often in urban areas, and I have no problem picking them if it isn’t on a busy street or next to a freeway.

Picking things in public takes a type of meditative state though, at least for me. I remember one of my first times picking these behind a goodwill after a hunt for cheap plating spoons. I walked out of the store with my plastic bag of bric-a-brac (half of which I knew I’d resent the moment I got back to my apartment but whatever, I love thrift stores) and I saw a couple bushes ripe with berries. The parking lot  was a little exposed while picking and it was in broad daylight, but if I could score some spoons *and* a gallon of chokeberries, I’d hit the jackpot.

I picked as quickly as I could and no one said anything, but you can feel people’s eyes, and, it’s awkward.

My chokeberries this year came from the same place, but now I go to the store because I know there’s chokeberries, hunting for spoons is just cover. I washed them, threw them in the freezer and forgot about them for a while until I was thinking of a salad for one of my 4 weekly changing menus at Lucia’s.

I do a lot of typing menus on the fly now, more cooking off the cuff than I’m used to with so many menus changing in quick succession. I knew I could make some sort of vinaigrette out of the berries in my freezer though, so I typed up the menu and just planned on making myself and not delegating it out to my prep cooks-a strategy I have to use with any ingredient I can’t afford to spend teaching the preparation of twice.

It only took all damn week, but I’m finally happy with it.

One reason I like Chokeberries is because they don’t have a stone to remove, just a few small seeds, which are actually smaller than raspberry seeds so you can just buzz them up in the blender and they’re good to go. The other reason is their color. It’s the richest red-purple, makes a wicked cool vinaigrette, and would also be a great addition to your finger-paint collection (wear gloves when you toss the salad unless you want to look like Grimace from the old McDonald’s adds).

grimace

Grimace=what I looked like after tossing a salad with Aronia berry vinaigrette with my hands. I suggest using some tongs or gloves.

The vinaigrette has been the highlight of my week mixed with lettuces and few different dance partners. I’ve put them with an evolving mix of honeycrisp apples, black radishes, fresh dill, black walnuts, and soft chevre. Everytime I plate one of the salads I can’t help but feel just a little silly, like a kid playing with finger-paint.

Chokeberry or Aronia Berry Vinaigrette

Chokeberry or Aronia Berry Vinaigrette
Print Recipe
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Aronia Berry or Chokeberry Vinaigrette

Yield: 4 cups
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time10 mins
Course: Appetizer, Salad
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Aronia Berry, Chokeberry

Ingredients

  • 1 cup chokeberries
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1.5 Tablespoons dijon mustard
  • 1/4 cup shallot diced 1/4 inch
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  • 1 cup virgin sunflower or extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 cup flavorless salad oil like grapeseed, safflower or canola
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 cup high quality red wine vinegar

Instructions

  • Heat the berries, honey, and water until hot throughout and syrupy, then reserve and cool. Combine the berries and their syrup, and all ingredients but the oils in the bowl of a blender.
  • Process the mixture, slowly adding the oils to form an emulsion. When the oil have been added and the
  • has thickened, transfer to a labeled, dated container and refrigerate until needed.

Notes

This is great with some fresh greens and little goat cheese, but would be equally good alongside some poultry or game. 
Red Oak Lettuce with Chokeberry Vingaigrette, Winter Radish and Chevre

One rendition of this week’s salad: with spanish black radish, black walnuts and Donnay chevre (the best chevre in the Midwest). At the end of the week I started subbing the radish for roasted, diced apple, which I think I like a little bit better.

Related

Previous Post: « Lentils, Chicken Heart Confit and Hedgehog Mushrooms
Next Post: Corned Venison Heart »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Joe Wiercinski

    December 10, 2016 at 10:09 am

    Here’s another comestible to look for in the mushroominous woods and berriferous vales of Pennsyltucky north of Picksburgh. Thanks for the recipe.

    Reply
  2. McRae Anderson

    December 10, 2016 at 10:11 am

    I guess I’ll need to start harvesting these from the plants by our driveway… just never knew what to do with them other than make jelly/jam with them.

    Reply
  3. Kathy Connelly

    December 11, 2016 at 1:09 am

    Recently we enjoyed this salad at Lucia’s – exceptional. Love what you are doing with the menus.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      December 15, 2016 at 6:54 pm

      Glad you liked it Kathy. Lucia’s is a complex restaurant with a staff I’ve inherited, but I think the place gets a little better every week.

      Reply
  4. Melissa Duffy

    September 12, 2019 at 12:52 am

    I’m a wild harvester and each year try new ventures. This year I threw some thimbleberries into white vinegar. The vinegar is already a lovely red/pink color. in my oven over low heat I am ‘melting’ the sugar wild Sitka spruce tips that has been hanging out on my sunny windwoside for 3 months. I accidentally made some ‘Stka spruce rock candy by overcooking the mixture on the stovetop. It breaks apart nicely and I sent some to my son as a birthday gift. My questions: Does it matter if I refrigerate the thimbleberries and white vinegar or just leave them out ‘soaking’ for th emonth? did you ‘shake your’ fruited vinegars ever? Did you ever just let the berries soak in white vinegar? I used cheapest possibly white vinegar and was thinking of adding some honey and maybe some peppermint leaves in some…
    I’ve finishing up some Saskatoon, persimmon, ginger freezer jam I made last year and I too harvest behind MY local thrift store. In my case it is some small yellow and red plums. I’ve made plum jam with lime and ginger and cardeomn but no one but me liked it!

    Reply
  5. Melissa Duffy

    September 12, 2019 at 12:54 am

    I’m wondering how long this recipe would last in the fridge before going bad?

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      October 7, 2019 at 9:41 am

      A very long time as it’s a vinaigrette.

      Reply
  6. Jake

    December 28, 2021 at 4:49 pm

    Just noticing how there is no vinegar in the ingredients list. is this a mistake?

    Reply
  7. Alan Bergo

    December 28, 2021 at 5:29 pm

    Hey thanks for catching that. I updated the recipe with some tweaks and re-organized the ingredient list recently. I must have nicked the vinegar by accident. I replaced it from my hard copy. A

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Foraging & Using Black Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) says:
    June 20, 2019 at 3:04 pm

    […] and I’m particularly excited about the Aronia Berry pie.  There’s also this fancy chokeberry vinaigrette, where the bittersweet flavors will compliment a salad […]

    Reply

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Alan Bergo
I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so much we filmed it instead of the original dish I’d planned. 

Cooked natural wild rice (not the black shiny stuff) is great hot, cold, sweet or savory. It’s a perfect, filling lunch for a long day of berry picking. 

I make them with whatever I have on hand. Mushrooms will fade into the background a little here, so I use a bunch of them, along with lots of herbs and hickory nut oil + dill flowers. 

I’m eating the leftovers today back up in the barrens (hopefully) getting some more bluebs for another shoot this week w @wild.fed 

#wilwilwice #wildrice #chanterelles #campfood #castironcooking
Baby’s first homegrown mushrooms! Backyard wine Baby’s first homegrown mushrooms! Backyard wine caps on hardwood sawdust from my lumberjack buddy.

Next up blewits. Spawn from @northsporemushrooms

#winecaps #strophariaaeruginosa #allthemushroomtags
It’s wild cherry season. I’ll be picking from It’s wild cherry season. I’ll be picking from my favorite spot tomorrow a.m. and have room for a couple helpers. It’s at an event on a farm just south of St. Cloud. 

If you’re interested send me a message and I’ll raffle off the spots. Plenty of cherries to go around. I’ll be leading a short plant walk around the farm too. 

#chokecherries #foraging #prunusvirginiana #summervibes
Special thanks to the beach in Ashland for hooking Special thanks to the beach in Ashland for hooking it up with on-site garnishes. Beach pea flowers taste strong and leguminous, similar to vetch, or like a rich tasting pea shoot. 

#lathyrusjaponicus #beachpeas #peaflower #foraging #northshore #bts
Great, long day of filming in near the south shore Great, long day of filming in near the south shore of Lake Superior yesterday. 

Blueberries were sparse, and some kind of blight seems to be affecting the serviceberries. Chanterelles weren’t as good as 2020, but they were there. 

Quick dip in the Lake Superior after we broke set was a bonus. 

W/ @barebonesliving  @misterberndt @jesseroesler

#barebonesliving #foraging #lakesuperiorrocks #serviceberries #chanterelles #bts
Green ramp seed make a great lactoferment. Just pu Green ramp seed make a great lactoferment. Just put the green seeds in brine in a jar, leave for 2 weeks. 

After they’re sour they can be water bath processed, although I’ve stored them at room temp without an issue too. 

Finished product is great minced or puréed into places where you’d like garlic, capers, or both. 

Makes a great tzatziki with a little crumbled, dried bee balm. 

#tzatziki #ramps #rampseeds #foraging #fermentation
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