Aronia Old Fashioned

For the second summer in a row, Erica L of B & H Organic Produce in Morgantown, PA (a stand at the Growing Roots Farmers Market in Malvern, PA) has introduced me to new summer berries. Last year I learned of the wonders of elderberries before elderberry gummies and syrups became popular for fending off winter illnesses. I created an Elderberry Cocktail made with vodka and a homemade elderberry syrup.

This summer I learned about aronia berries. In doing a bit of research I learned that aronia is a type of shrub native to North America. Aronia typically refers to the berries found on this shrub – they are about the size of a blueberry. You may also know them as chokeberries, so called for their sharp, mouth-drying effect. Erica warned me not to eat them raw, so I didn’t even try one.

Aronia berries are said to have many health benefits including having the highest level of antioxidants (good for protecting against cancer and heart disease) of any berry. Check out Shoreline Fruit’s Aronia Berries: One of the Most Powerful Superfoods to learn more about what makes them so good for you (both inside and out).

Always on the lookout for a new cocktail ingredient, I made a syrup out of these berries. Just three ingredients – berries, raw (or turbinado) sugar and water. If you were making it for true health reasons (rather than justifying having a cocktail!), I would recommend using half the amount of sugar and the same amount of water. The taste is similar to a blackberry syrup.

I had 7 cups of berries once I had removed them from the stems and soon realized that I had to use my very large 13-quart  Le Creuset pot to make this syrup. Once it had cooked down and was strained, it yielded about 10 cups of syrup. I’ve written the recipe for a smaller quantity.

While this syrup freezes well, I thought it would be more fun to share it with friends. I brought some to Kara R and suggested she make a cocktail with it or mix it with seltzer for her kids. She shared the most adorable picture of her young daughter who saw my Riegl Palate card with the crown logo and decided that this special drink called for her to wear her princess crown!

I also brought some to Erica L and Lisa O (founder and mastermind behind the Growing Roots Farmers Markets) on my Saturday trip to the farmers market. Erica was so surprised – she said is this really for me? Ed and I discussed cocktail options and landed on bourbon thanks to Erica. This recipe is a variation of one of our favorites – Papi’s Old Fashioned. In place of simple syrup, we used the aronia syrup. I also shared some with my Gourmet Dinner Club (GDC) friends when we had an appropriately socially distanced happy hour. It was their ‘mixer to go’ for a future cocktail.

While this cocktail is made with bourbon, this syrup also mixes well with vodka or gin topped off with some seltzer water and perhaps a lime. Oh, you can also add it to some sparkling wine.

You may not need to look for these at your local farmers market as you may have them growing in your yard. I mentioned them to my friend, Susan W-S, and once she realized they were also referred to as chokeberries, she said she had her own supply in her yard in Wisconsin.