ARONIA BERRIES

REGIONAL – A group of area residents got together late this summer to harvest the fruits of their labors, so to speak; in this case a few acres of Aronia berries that will be sent to market, bringing to a close one of the first harvests of the new “super fruit” in the Shelby County area.
    Mike and Marcy Cain, Kent and Pam Klinkefus, and Troy and Cammie Hansen are all Shelby County-area residents who have decided to plant a number of Aronia bushes in the past few years.
    Dubbed as the superfruit of superfruits, the Aronia, also known as the black chokeberry, is a deciduous shrub native to North America, similar in size to the blueberry.  The berries are harvested in late summer, and they’re juicy with an astringent dry flavor.
    They’re most commonly put in smoothies or pressed into juice, and can even be put on salads or eaten fresh off the bush.  They can be made into jams and jellies, yogurt, sorbet or juice blends.  They even make wine from the berries.