Thick as molasses with a color so purple it looks black, aronia berry juice is the main product made from black chokeberries. At nearly twenty-five times the cost of orange juice, it probably isn't something you'll be drinking with a plate of pancakes. If that sounds confusing, don't worry. Today we'll go over the basics: what it is, how to use it, and why the commercial product is very different from what most foragers will make.
What is Aronia Berry Juice?
Commercial aronia juice is made from cold-pressed aronia berries (aronia melanocarpa). The liquid is so thick it's nearly a syrup, and viscous enough that it can be drizzled like aged balsamic vinegar.
Aronia juice tastes tart and mildy astringent at first, followed by a rich berry flavor that will haunt you after the first taste. Some compare the flavor to elderberries and I agree. The juice also has notes of cherry and apple on the finish, a trait I can only assume comes from, cherries, apples and chokeberries all being in the Rosaceae family.
Ironically, black chokeberries are native to Eastern North America, but most of the fruit is enjoyed in Europe. Poland is one of the biggest producers.
Confusingly the cold pressed juice may also be sold as aronia juice concentrate. Chokeberries aren't a particularly juicy fruit, and it takes 7 pounds of aronia berries to make 16 ounces of juice. A pint of pure chokeberry juice costs about 32.95, or a little over $2 for a Dixie cup.
The most important difference between aronia and other fruit juices is probably that aronia is marketed as a health supplement. The juice is high in antioxidants and anthocyanins, and you'll find all kinds of flowery descriptions of what it can do online. Personally, I just love the fruit for their history, taste and color.
Aronia juice is said to have a laxative effect on some people. I assume that caution only needs to considered with cold pressed juice. I've never had issues with the "juice" produced by pureeing the fruit with water as most foragers do.
How Foragers Make Aronia Juice
Ask a forager what aronia juice is and most will say it's made by pureeing the fruit with water. Water is added because extracting juice from fruit that's relatively dry is difficult without special equipment.
Some people might say you could use a steam juicer, but cooking the fruit will exacerbate the astringency. depending on what I want to make I may do it either way. I'll make cold-extracted juice if I want to drink it. With jams and jellies a more astringent juice made from cooked berries can help balance the sugar. Another thing to mention is that heating breaks down the antioxidants in fruit juices, which is why companies sell the juice packed in ice.
How To Make Aronia Berry Juice
Making aronia juice is as easy as pureeing the fruit with water and straining through cheesecloth. After straining, it comes pretty close to the flavor of cold pressed juice mixed with water. It's not as concentrated as the commercial product but it has a good flavor, and the price is right. Here's a step-by-step walkthrough of the process.
How to Use it
Cold Pressed Juice
Tart and thick, the cold pressed juice is a good substitute for aged balsamic vinegar or birch syrup. Here's a few other ways to use it.
- Drizzle it on stone fruit with a dollop of yogurt or soft cheese.
- Pour some over vanilla ice cream or dairy based desserts.
- Serve a spoonful with grilled or roasted meat.
- Use small amounts as a natural food coloring.
Cold Extracted Juice
Cold-extracted chokeberry juice is fine to drink by itself but milder than other fruit juices. I usually mix it with other fruits, or add it to smoothies and cocktails.
An easy way to enjoy the juice is to make ice cubes. Drop a few cubes into a glass of agua fresca or another cold drink for a splash of color.
My favorite thing to make using only the juice is probably agua fresca. Traditionally this is a drink made with prickly pear cactus fruit, water, sugar, lime juice, and a pinch of salt. It's cheap, easy to make, serves a crowd, and is refreshing on a hot day. Last year I made 16 gallons for the Wild Harvest Festival using wild grape juice and a mix of other foraged fruit.
You can mix and match fruit juices together to create interesting blends. It's usually thinned with water, but you can increase the amount of fruit juice to your taste. The basic recipe is described in the notes below.
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Homemade Aronia Berry Juice
Equipment
- 1 High speed blender
- Cheesecloth as needed, roughly a 2x2 ft square.
Ingredients
- 1 lb Fresh or frozen aronia berries See note
- 4 cups Filtered water
Instructions
- Combine the berries and water in a blender and puree until well-blended.
- Pour the liquid into a container and refrigerate overnight.
- The next day, strain the juice through cheesecloth or a fine sieve. Using gloves, squeeze the excess out with your hands.
- The fruit scrap can be used to make homemade vinegar, or dried and powdered for adding to smoothies. It also makes a nice addition to cooked applesauce.
- Store the juice in the fridge, it will last for a few weeks.
Liz Francis
I did the cold extraction on a small batch of aronia berries and it worked great. But I used a juicer (small home centrifuge, really) instead of wringing it out by hand. There is a danger of splatter here (and you know how good aronia is at staining). So I used a small funnel to drip the thick, cold slurry into the juicer opening.
And, voila! clear, deep-red, cold extract came out the spout and firm, dry residue stayed on the screen.
Cleanup in the stainless steel laundry room sink was pretty easy.
Thanks for the sane, useful and esthetically nice website.
Alan Bergo
Thanks Liz! I think people will find your experience really helpful here.
Mare
Looking to can this…pressure or steam???
Alan Bergo
If it’s just the juice with nothing else you’ll need to pressure can it.
Lida
Out of curiosity, why do you recommend letting it sit overnight before straining? If I’m in a rush to make something with the juice and strain right after blending will it taste different? Thank you!
Alan Bergo
Because it gives a stronger infusion. If you’re in a rush you can cook them for a stronger and more colorful juice right away. It’ll be a little more astringent though.
Paul
Hi been growing these Aronia berry’s for a few years. Read up on how healthy they are. But haven’t found a way yet to use them. They are very bitter to have on their own. So got some good ideas here, also I have only one plant of black berry’s which I will try to blend together and maybe add juice to make a nice healthy Drink.
Alan Bergo
Thanks Paul.
Russ
Cooking the berries does NOT increase the astringency...it lessens it. Longer Cooking = less astringency.
I just ate an aronia muffin I made. The berry flavor is mildly tart and wonderfully fruity.
Cooking breaks down the polyphenols somewhat. This does reduce some of the antioxidant benefits but the result is is a much milder, richer flavor profile with little if any astringency. Add some sweetener and it is a completely delicious fruit juice cocktail...still chock full of antioxidant power.
Alan Bergo
Sam Thayer and I, along with most people who’ve actually tried cooking the fruit will disagree with that. Cooking makes them astringent. It does extract a beautiful color though, and depending on what you’re doing it can be useful sometimes.
Tina Nebergall
Thanks for all the awesome information Alan!
Alan Bergo
Thanks Tina.
Ieva
I've made aronia wine and vinegar using vinegar mother few times. It's very interesting, because every time i make it there are left some sweetness, bet not from sugar. Even 3 years old vinegar, left in room temperature, is sweet. The same with vine. I make a lot of vinegars from berries and herbs, but no one has this taste. So, I use aronia vinegar for desserts. Maybe you know, why this happens?
Alan Bergo
Hi Leva, that's so interesting, thanks for sharing. I don't know why it would taste sweet, unfortunately.
Aeriol Nicols
How are you getting the stones out before you put this through the juicer. I have a property with about 30 acres of these bushes. I make juice and syrup each fall. But I don't put them through juicer. i process them with water and heat which means they are pasteurized. I would prefer that they be raw but haven't found a method to get the stones out yet w/o heat
Erik
If the fruit has stones it is a ChokeCHERRY not a ChokeBERRY. Thr similar names confuse many folks but Chokeberry fruit has tiny seeds rather than a pit/stone.
laurie
Could I just run the berries through a Champion juicer using the screen rather than the homogenizer panel?
Alan Bergo
I haven't used one of those. I say any way you can extract the juice is worth trying, especially if you have access to a lot of fruit. I'd just keep in mind the 7lb/16 oz yield to make sure your expectations are realistic for how much juice to expect. My hunch is a different juicer may have a lower yield, but I haven't made it. The cold pressed juice is really good, but the cost is high enough to be a little prohibitive for general cooking, if you try it and it works well, lmk.
Jerilea
There is a hedge of aronia berries near one of the local farmers markets where I live. This fall my 8yo son picked them and asked me to make something with them. I also had a windfall of apples to work with. I ended up adding them to applesauce and turned it a hot mauve color. The aronia-applesauce is some of the best applesauce I've ever made. Next fall, I'll try this juice, it sounds great.
Alan Bergo
Oh yeah. I can confirm they make a fantastic applesauce.
gita ghei
Thank you i will try this! I make aroniaberry lollipops they are my favorite. Now i have to get fresh again but i have about 32oz of aronia - sugar syrup if you want some lollipop samples lmk!
Alan Bergo
Thanks for sharing Gita. It's such a fun plant.
Barbie
How do you make the lollipops?
Gilbert
North American nursery aronia cultivars were the result of plant breeding in Russia.
Dried Organic aronia berries cost under $25/lb from some sources. Why gild the lily?
Alan Bergo
I'm not sure I follow what you're getting at here. Can you expand a bit? I think you may be confusing some of my information on the cost of the juice with the cost of the fruit. All the information regarding price here is up to date.