Herbal Spotlight: Chokeberries with my Simple Syrup and Candied Berry Recipes.

Delicious & just as immune-supportive as the Elderberry, Chokeberries are in season now & are fabulous!   Join me as we discuss their growing habits, traditional uses, & I make a simple syrup & craft some delicious drinks with their bright, tart flavor---

Chokeberry, or Aronia, are part of the Rose [Rosaceae] family & are native to North America, although they are grown all over the world now. These shrubs are deciduous & are likely to be found growing wild in slightly-wet-to-swampy, wooded areas. There are wild growing red & black chokeberries; I am lucky to have nicely established patches of the black [aronia melanocarpa] growing around me. Aronia are easy to grow & fully mature in 5 years. Due to their amazing health benefits, these shrubs are also making the scene at many nurseries around the country, their popularity growing & now only slightly behind elderberry shrubs. Indeed, our local Food Co-Op, Rising Tide, just announced they are carrying frozen aronia from a local farm now!

 I would like to remind my beloved readers that Nature is powerful & is to be respected. One must be very clear of WHAT they are harvesting, HOW it was grown [near heavily trafficked roads? sprayed with pesticides?] & how they plan to USE it. It is crucial you are 100% sure of the ID of any plant before harvesting & using it. Also, it is important to only take what you will use & not to overpick from any one plant or stand of plants in order to ensure their continued growth. Cheers!

The berries are very high in tannins, giving them an astringency similar to dry, white wine. In fact, this is what causes the sharp, mouth-drying effect the berries can have that gives them the common name “chokeberry.”  These little beauties are amazingly nutrient dense superfoods. They are loaded with folate & other B vitamins, magnesium, potassium, iron, & a slew of other Vitamins. They have been shown to offer as much immune system support as elderberries. There have been many medical studies of aronia in the last 10 years, confirming them to possess solid anti-cancer properties. They have also been shown to have a protective effect on the liver, in aiding in blood vessel relaxation & lowering blood pressure, as well as in helping the body’s use of insulin, making them especially helpful to those with diabetes. 

All excellent reasons to consider adding them to your diet, either by foraging, grabbing them at market, or growing them yourself. And, they are delicious too!

​Chokeberries' tart flavor plays well with others & makes them useful for jellies, muffins, pies, juices & teas. A fabulous, easy way to use them is to pop them in the freezer & add a handful to your morning smoothie. With my recent harvest, I decided to make Aronia syrup for drinks, saving the candied berries in the process to use on top of sweet crepes. [if you made it into Cupacity for the Chokeberry Brunch, you may have sampled them!] I will share my easy syrup recipe here. I​t is delicious on its own added to sparkling water for a tart, bright blast. Additionally, it is lovely added to lemon or limeades & other fruit juices. 

My Chokeberry Drinks at Cupacity's Chokeberry Brunch. Photo: K. Menard

Never overly sweet or cloying, aronia’s flavor is a natural for cocktail crafting as well. She plays well with all the major liquor families [vodka, gin, bourbon, rum, & tequila] & adds a lovely immune-supportive flair to everything from Margaritas to Martinis. ​The syrup is a vivid, blood red on its own & adding a natural, cheery pop of bright pink-red to mixed drinks. It is a win-win for sure!  
Your syrup can be made with a variety of natural sweeteners. A sweetner is needed to help capture the best of the berries [& tame the tart!] Refined sugar is easy, but not always a good fit for everyone. Other options include agave, monkfruit, honey, & xylitol*. 

If you prefer to make a more medicinally slanted syrup, opt for the raw honey. Follow my recipe but boil & steep the berries in PLAIN WATER, stirring in the honey to the steeping, slightly cooled pot after in order to preserve the honey’s benefits. A raw honey aronia syrup can be used the same way elderberry syrup is used to support immune systems response & aid recovery from colds.

Chokeberry Simple Syrup & Candied Berries

2 cups Aronia whole berries, black or red 
1 cup Distilled Water 
1 cup Sugar or other sweetener*

Clean your berries, removing any twigs or leaves. It is not necessary to remove every small stem with Aronia berries like it is with Elderberries-- a nice time saver!  I leave the berries whole & intact for this process. Add equal parts of water & sweetener to a heavy pot. [unless you are doing the raw honey! See note above] Set pot over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sweetener. Add your berries. Bring the mixture to a full-rolling boil, stirring occasionally.

 Reduce heat & boil your syrup for about 5 minutes, continuing to stir.  Set the pot aside & allow to steep for 15 minutes. [this is where you’d add raw honey]  Strain your berries out with a medium strainer & set them aside. Don’t waste these candied berries! They are fabulous in blintzes & crepes, on ice cream, or add them to your next batch of berry jam!

A bottle of Chokeberry syrup and mixed drinks. Photo: A. Morrison.

Strain your syrup again with a fine strainer & decant into a clean, sterile bottle to store in the fridge. It will be vividly colored, closely resembling a bottle of blood [which makes it a favorite for Halloween drinks in this house!]  This basic syrup, when made with sugar, will keep in the fridge for about 3-4 weeks. You can add an ounce of vodka to it if you wish to keep it a bit longer. 
Use your syrup in a myriad of ways-- It is lovely on ice cream, or a bit stirred into yogurt. Try it with mineral or seltzer water & lemonade for a bright, tart hit. Or really get creative & use it to make some truly beautiful cocktails! It works equally well with lemon & lime, & plays well with most liquors as I mentioned earlier.

I will be using mine to craft Blooming Fresh drinks at Cupacity, as well as at Rocky Horror [Magenta Cocktail anyone?] & our Halloween Cocktail Evening!  Do let me know what you make with yours! I love to hear from you! Take care & take time to #StopAndEatTheFlowers