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Thursday, September 19, 2013

Favorite plant of the week- Aronia September 19, 2013

I am joining in with other bloggers to participate in Loree of Danger Garden's plant favorite of the week posts.   Click on the link, then see the comment section for other links.

My pick is Aronia melanocarpa, a native fruit and the one with highest ORAC value of any North American fruit, an index of ability to quench reactive oxidation in the body, destructive forces that cause inflammation and disease problems, so a very healthy fruit to grow and eat.   The common name is chokecherry, so it is not the most delicious fruit to eat raw, though my son found that with ice cream or sweetened yogurt it could be palatable.  It is delicious cooked and strained though, and is used in some juice blends, such as Old Orchard Blueberry Pomegranate and Cranberry Blend.  I typically make it into a gelatin dessert, or thickened sauce, or  I freeze the strained cooked fruit in ice trays so I can just pop out a cube when needed.  

My 2 Viking Aronia bushes were insanely loaded this year.  I've had to realize I should have been cutting them back  because I think the growth is getting too far out on the branches, they are 7-8' tall, so being loaded this year, they have tended to collapse, though that is limited by the deer fence.   Deer love it, and also birds who are competing with me this year to strip the bushes.

What is so special about Aronia is that unlike Blueberries or currants which ripen a few at a time in clusters, with both green and ripe berries, so while picking the ripe fruits, the green ones can be broken off at the same time, Aronia grow in clusters hanging from a single stem, and ripen all at the same time.   To harvest, I just take a large grocery bag out and snap off the stems, throw them in the bag until it is full, then I can take it inside and sit around at night watching TV or whatever and pull the berries off the stems and directly into ziplock freezer bags, so harvesting is a dream.

There are also dwarf varieties available.   So if you only have room for one fruit tree or bush, my pick for health benefits would be Aronia.  They have nice glossy green leaves and gray-brown bark, white flowers in spring, and nice red fall color.

-Hannah

10 comments:

  1. Aronia is certainly an attractive bush - and the health benefits are nothing to sneeze at. Sadly, it's not adapted to my area.

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    1. I looked up Aronia and Missouri Botanical says zone 4-8, maybe it doesn't get enough chilling in 9-11? I guess you could grow citrus, I would love to be able to grow blood oranges again. I love citrus, they ripen in winter when nothing else does, and have acidic peels so nothing bothers them.

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  2. Wow! They really are loaded!
    Great to have the health benefits, too.
    Have a wonderful week-end!
    Lea
    Lea's Menagerie

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    1. Unfortunately the birds have found them so I need to get them picked before they are all gone. Having them flopped over probably makes it a little harder for the birds.

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  3. Loaded indeed! Thanks for the introduction, I had no idea about the health benefits.

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  4. Yes, there are sites with lists of ORAC values. A couple of the tropical anti-oxidant fruits beat Aronia but no natives.

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  5. Thanks for the education, Hannah, I was not aware of this plant.

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  6. You're welcome, thanks for visiting. I finished harvesting mine yesterday since the birds were intent on stripping it, now I guess they will have to go after my apples.

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  7. I didn't realize they were palatable (in sauces and cooked, anyway). Good to know! They are lovely shrubs/plants, and the berries are distinctive. Thanks for all the great info about chokecherries!

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  8. I am not familiar with the Aronia, we have blueberries here in Florida...great that you have such a good harvest-enough for you and the birds? Even though the bluberries ripen at different times, it makes them last over a longer time period. It is always a treat to pick and out some fin the bucket, some in your mouth...

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