Aronia Berries: What Do They Do for You?

Are You Eating the Powerful Superfruit?

The 2023 Aronia Berry Festival: Sunday, September 10, 2023, from 12-4 PM. FREE Admission.

Harvest Festival | nelsonaroniafarm

What is an Aronia Berry?

The simple answer is an aronia berry is a tart, dark purple superfruit loaded with antioxidants. It’s often called a black chokeberry in garden centers and confused with pitted chokecherries. It looks like a blend between a blueberry and a cherry.

Native to North America, these berries thrive in the Midwest.

Sawmill Hollow Family Farm near Missouri Valley, Iowa was the first aronia berry farm in North America.

The berries taste tart and rarely are eaten on their own. You can find the berries fresh, dried, frozen, pureed or in supplements.

Look for Aronia juice and concentrate in your local supermarket, usually in the health food section.

The berries are often added to blended drinks or water and used as ingredients in many foods including, salsa, stir-fry, vinaigrettes, baked goods, jams and more. Try topping off your salad, cereal and/or yogurt with some berries. [See recipe below.]

In some regions, you can also buy Aronia berry wine and beer.

However, you use them, know you are adding a health benefit to your diet. (Be sure to follow the recommended dose per day instructions.)

Health Benefits

Ongoing medical research studies in Eastern Europe (Bulgaria’s Medical University of Varna) and more recently in the USA claim the Aronia berry is the most powerful superfood on earth.

 Berries Are Believed To

    • Improve blood circulation
    • Balance blood pressure
    • Protect liver and gastric functions
    • Assist in decreasing inflammation in the body
    • Fight against urinary tract infections
  • Be rich in fiber

Berries Have

  • 3Xs the antioxidants of acai berries
  • 3xs the anthocyanins of tart berries
  • 4xs the resveratrol of red wine, and
  • 24xs the proanthocyanins of elderberries

Meet Berry Farmer-Chase Nelson

Chase Nelson is part of Nelson Farms located in the Red River Valley of eastern North Dakota. Chase’s family added aronia bushes to their farm in 2015 when his dad recognized the health benefits of drinking aronia berry juice after a mini stroke and a COPD diagnosis.

Today Nelson Farms has 18,000 aronia berry bushes (20 dedicated acres) in addition to their 6000 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat. They also care for and harvest an additional 28 acres of aronia berries for two neighboring farms.

Chase admits the most challenging aspect of growing aronia berries is the unknown. “Everything we’ve done has been trial and error. There isn’t much information available for best methods for bush spacing, weed control, etc. Right now, we weed everything by hand and we planted grass down each row to aid in weed control.”

Marketing is also challenging as Americans are just now becoming familiar with the aronia berries and their many health benefits.

Nelson Farms is a grower for the National Aronia Growers, LLC also known as NAG. All of their harvested berries go there to get destemmed and sterilized. Once NAG finds an outlet to sell the berries, Nelson Farms gets paid by NAG.
Click here to see a video of the 2017 harvest at Nelson’s Farm.

New Market Opportunities

Chase, a 2015 Concordia College (MN) graduate, is working on potential wholesale markets like breweries and cideries. “Those that have already purchased the berries have created some delicious beverages.”

“Aronia is great for everyone, but I think because it’s so high in antioxidants it makes it great for a post workout supplement,” reflected Chase.

Those who’d get maximum benefit include

  • Runners
  • Physically active people
  • Elderly
  • Those with inflammation issues
  • Those with allergies

Nelson Farms also partners with Ax Water which uses their berries for their aronia infused water.

AX Water 

Nelson Farms sells berries to Ax Water Company-an aronia infused water company founded in Fargo, ND in 2017.

Ax Water is an all-natural, American made, health and wellness beverage. Made from all-natural ingredients, and containing only 30 calories, ax water packs all the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits of the aronia berry into 16 ounces.

Educating Consumers 

Educating consumers about aronia berries is an ongoing effort. Chase sees it as helping the community take charge of their health.

Sawmill Hollow Family Farm near Missouri Valley, Iowa hosts an annual North American Aronia Berry Festival and Nelson Aronia Farm near Fargo, North Dakota will be hosting a similar event in the summer of 2019.

“We enjoy having interested people on the farm to learn more about the berry. What a better way to educate them and show them the berries, first-hand.”

Feel free to contact Nelson Aronia Farm for more details about the  Aronia Berry Festival events and/or more information on aronia berry bushes.

Courtney’s Aronia Berry Muffin Recipe 

Chase & wife, Courtney, an elementary education teacher.

INGREDIENTS

  •  2 cups flour
  •  2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt (omit if butter is salted)
  • ,1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  •  1/2 cup milk
  • 1 handful of Aronia berries
  • 2-3 tsp granulated sugar for sprinkling on top of the muffins

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners and set aside. In a bowl, place flour and baking powder. Mix together and set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat the butter & sugar until light and fluffy – about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in the vanilla. With a spoon, stir in half of the flour, then half of the milk. Repeat, stirring with each addition until just bended. Do not over mix! Gently fold in the berries.  Using a cookie scoop, place 2 scoops of batter into each muffin liner and sprinkle the tops with sugar. Bake for 25 minutes. Check for doneness using a toothpick. Store in an airtight container or wrap in plastic wrap and keep in the freezer.

More Information

  1. National Aronia Growers. Telephone # is 712-540-0127
  2. Midwest Aronia Association https://midwestaronia.org/ in Council Bluffs, Iowa
  3. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in your state and county https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_arme6.pdf

SHARE this post with health-minded friends and family. ENTER to win the case of Ax Water. MAKE Courtney’s delicious Aronia Berry Muffin recipe. LET me know how you liked them.

©Copyright. October 2018. Linda Leier Thomason
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Linda Leier Thomason is a former CEO who writes freelance business and travel stories, along with feature articles. Her work experiences include a Fortune 500 corporation, federal government, entrepreneurship and small business.
She specializes in undercover studies of communities wishing to attract visitors for economic impact. Read more about her background and qualifications by clicking on the “Meet Linda” tab above.
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