Can you eat Viking chokeberry?
The Viking variety is much more productive than the non cultivar Aronia Berry. The berries can be eaten fresh but are found to be tart and bitter. They are more often used in baking, jams, juices, and wine. Viking Aronia, also known as Viking black chokeberry, is a cold-hardy, deciduous fruiting shrub grown for heavy crops of dark, nutrient-dense berries and for its strong ornamental value. In Montana these berries hang on the shrubs well into the FallI (even if we get a super cold autumn), well into Nov.Aronia is a genus of deciduous shrubs, the chokeberries, in the family Rosaceae native to eastern North America and most commonly found in wet woods and swamps. The genus Aronia is considered to have 3 species.
Which chokeberry is best?
Both red (A. A. Black chokeberries are commercially cultivated for their high levels of antioxidants and myriad health benefits. Research has found that black chokeberry extracts (containing both polyphenols and non-polyphenols) can substantially reduce arterial blood pressure via the influence of cyanidins (subtype of anthocyanins) and chlorogenic acid.Additionally, black chokeberry has been shown to alleviate kidney damage by reducing the expression of pro-inflammatory factors, oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, and apoptosis, thereby improving renal function (8).An extract of black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) might act as a natural blood thinner in people with metabolic syndrome, according to a study in the European Journal of Nutrition. People with metabolic syndrome are at high risk of developing heart disease and diabetes.