Our aronia berries and Meader persimmons are starting to ripen now!
Aronia (aronia spp.) are also known as chokeberries, and at our orchard they are abundant on bushes and trees. Although the berries turn purple to black and sometimes red in the late summer, they are not ripe until the colder weather begins to set in (typically around the first frost). An unripe berry is astringent, hence the name “choke” berry. When they begin to shrivel a little, the astringency begins to disappear. In addition to our wild aronia melanocarpa, we also have red chokeberry bushes (arbutifolia “brilliantissima”), which become strikingly bright red on the leaves and berries in the fall. Watch for our aronia liqueur coming out at the end of the year!
This is our first year for Meader permissions. These fruits are also astringent when unripe. The ripened fruit becomes yellow and very soft. While we don’t have enough to produce a product, these are delicious fruits for a fall treat.
