Aronia - highest-antioxidant berry
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Aronia - highest-antioxidant berry
Aronia is the name for a very dark berry, native to the Americas, but far more popular in Eastern Europe, where its juice is known to help people with heart conditions. When I lived in Poland, it was a fairly popular juice drink, and people commonly told me it was good for the health. I also heard it was far more popular in Russia.
I tried it for the first time in Poland, and the taste is extremely tart. The natural juice is best sweetened, because the juice itself, like cranberry juice, is just too strong-tasting. Sweetened, it tastes a bit like a cross between blackberry and blueberry, although probably not as fragrant as the latter. The juice has a very dark purple color.
Aronia health benefits
Aronia berries have the highest levels of natural antioxidants of any fruit.
More than even blueberries and the vaunted pomegranate, aronia berries are the richest fruit source of anthocyanins and other antioxidants. Several studies have shown aronia to help with:
Antioxidant rich
Aronia has an ORAC (oxygen radical absorptive capacity - a measure of an antioxidant's power to neutralize free radicals) value higher than any other food. This is due to the high concentration of anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins, both of which contribute to aronia's dark, almost black, color.
Available at Trader Joe's
I recently saw a 1-quart bottle of organic aronia juice (surprisingly unsweetened, so don't feel bashful about chilling it and sweetening it if it's a bit too tart for your liking), for $3.99 at our local Trader Joe's.
Aronia berry "cocktail" (since it was sweetened and diluted) used to be available at CostCo under the brand name Wildland, but they discontinued their product after 2 years due to heavy price competition from Ocean Spray.
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Thanks, wajay! I do know that some avocational horticulturalists like to grow aronia, known in gardens by its English name, chokeberry.
Wonder if its available in India. Is it the one that turns our tongues blue? I ate a plateful of that after reading an article about taking in all colours of food.
I've actually heard tonight on the John Tesh radio show that eating/drinking 100% natural (not from concentrate) fruits which are richer in color provides more nutrients than other fruit consumption.
Sounds good. Is it available commercially in the U.S.?
very good information...Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, everyone. William, yes you can buy it at Trader Joe's if you have one in your area. (www.traderjoes.com) Kenny, it will turn your tongue purple, but not as badly as blueberries. (Although it might be worse if you eat the raw berry, which I've never tried). And yes gamergirl, fresh fruit is usually best but in the case of anthocyanin-rich foods (blue & purple fruits, like dark berries), there doesn't seem to be much of a difference (http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcg That's not the case when it comes to vitamin C, for example.
Thanks, livelonger, and now I'll have to find out whether it's blueberry or Aronia that I had a plateful of.
I usually take my fruits raw, and love having a blue tongue! Atleast, as kids we all did.
Where can I find aronia juice in Florida
Kay - if you're not near a Trader Joe's, then I'd try Whole Foods, Wild Oats, or your neighborhood health food store. They should at least be able to order it for you.
These are definately interesting facts. I will be consuming berries in significant quantities from now on.
As a subscriber, I read your hub when you first posted it and was pretty sure I had seen the berries growing where I've fished in Oregon. I contacted a friend and he confirmed my belief. I was pretty sure I was right, since I'd tried some once and they live up to their name. My friend has the property and we are contemplating a joint venture. We've worked together before. We never know where life will take us, most of the knowledge and adventure comes with hanging on and enjoying the ride. Thanks for the article.
Is chokeberry and chokecherry the same thing? Southern Idaho mountains have a lot of what I have known as chokecherry. I even got some chokecherry plants from the Home Economist office under the University of Idaho. The "cherries" make wonderful jelly and syrup and even wine.
Larry - good luck! That sounds exciting.
blubyrd - It looks like they're unrelated:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chokecherry
Trader Joe's has discontinued carrying aronia juice - this was confirmed in an email reply to me on 2/21/08. But the writer did say, "However, we have forwarded your comments and a request to the Category Leader for reconsideration."
So I urge others who want it available and at a very good price - contact Trader Joe's by email, phone or in person.
Thank you, Kitty - I had noticed that I stopped seeing aronia juice on the shelves for a while. I thought they had just run out. I'll contact TJ's and beg them to reconsider.
I read this hub awhile ago and when I saw aronia juice the other day in my local supermarket, picked some up--very tasty--a bit pricy but really good--thanks for the tip LL :-) BTW I bought it either at Super-Fresh or Giant--can't remember which.
I'm glad you can get it! We don't have SuperFreshes or Giants here, and it appears TJ's doesn't carry it anymore.
never heard of it, but it sounds fantastic. I like blackberries and blueberries fresh, so it couldn't be bad on a bet. Doubt I can find locally though. :( I shall look, however.
Definitely has a unique flavor - a bit pungent. Another alternative that is nice but very, very richly flavored is blackcurrant juice (cassis in French); probably a bit easier to find. It apparently was banned in the US until very recently so we Yanks never really developed a taste for it like Europeans have.
europe gets all the good stuff :( also... canada. :hmm:
I used to have a favorite cheese you could buy at Hickory Farms (back in the day) called Mont Saint-Benoît that came from Canada. It got banned in the U.S. though and I couldn't get it anymore.
Agreed - don't know about Canada, but the Europeans definitely have better chocolate (but that's slowly changing), beer (also slowly changing) and all those hazelnut things. But we have peanut butter. :)
I wish you hadn't said that. :(
*cries*
I think if I drive to the "big city" an hour away, I might could find one or the other of your juices. I shall make a point of looking being as I have to do some grocery shopping anyway soon. Or be stuck eating... ahem... peanut butter. :(
I wish to add, Irish chocolate is the bomb. I had a friend visit from Dublin a few years ago and he brought me some and you are right, american chocolate does not compare.
"Stuck" eating peanut butter? To me, it's like a drug. The Europeans (except the Dutch, who eat it too) don't know what they're missing. :) Don't remember Irish chocolate but I'd imagine it's great; the Brits make terrific (milk) chocolate too.
I sent the following update message to Trader Joe's via their website (only contact available) today:
This is a follow-up to previous complaint about Trader Joe's no longer carrying aronia juice. I received response from an Amy who wrote, "We have discontinued our Aronia Juice due to slow sales and we have sold through all existing inventory....However, we have forwarded your comments and a request to the Category Leader for reconsideration." There is much discussion on the Internet about aronia (by those who know or have recently become informed) and where it can or cannot (now) be obtained - Trader Joe's was once hailed as a good source. My post 5 weeks ago informed this site that it was no longer - http://hubpages.com/hub/aronia A woman in So. Calif is sponsoring aronia berry plant giveaways just so those who want aronia juice and are willing to make their own can do so. This link goes to post she made a few days ago at the newsgroup sci.life-extension, also carried through Google Groups: http://tinyurl.com/yva9vd Her website directly: http://www.eatpurple.org/ I do hope that Trader Joe's management will review their previous marketing practices for their 100% aronia juice (no sugar added) during their process of considering whether to return it as a stock item. Please note that the Tempe store manage told me and my husband that stock of aronia juice in that store always sold very well and that he was surprised to learn that it was being discontinued.
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If numerous other people will do likewise, it's possible that the Trader Joe's management can be persuaded to once again carry this extremely nutritious juice.
Also be aware that an aronia juice sold by Sophia Foods in Brooklyn contains added sugar which is not something one can currently tell by their website. We bought a case - only received 8 bottles out of 12 paid for due to poor packaging of shipment - and then found each 240 ml serving to contain 32 g of sugar vs 12 g for Trader Joe's. Citric acid is also added to this Sophia Foods aronia from Poland - it's really an aronia "drink", not a juice because of the added sugar.
Those able to obtain the aronia plants offered above may find the cultivation and juice production an enjoyable way to obtain the value of aronia.
working
wajay_47 says:
6 months ago
Very Informative hub, Livelonger. I wonder if the plants are easy to raise, since I don't have a green thumb. Nice hub, as usual.