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| I just tried my first Honeyberry.It was okay,nothing spectacular.I'm just starting to grow Aronia.
I'd like to know which one has the better overall flavor when eaten fresh,in terms of sweetness?I'll have to wait at least another year for my Aronia to fruit. I've had Honeyberry as a preserve and it was quite tasty. Thanks,Brady |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by northwoodswis4 4a (My Page) on Thu, Jul 5, 12 at 17:03
| Like you, I have had just a taste of my honeyberries, but am still waiting for my aronia to bear. However, my cousin tells me there is a reason another name for aronia is chokeberry! Northwoodswis |
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| From my limited experience they can both be pretty good and quite bad. My first exposure to Aronia was juice cocktail bought from Costco in the late 80's. It was delicious, similar to Ocean Spray cranberry juice cocktail but better. (I've also had aronia juice that was awful like the one from Trader Joe's). My first taste of honeyberry was some juice from One Green World and I thought it was sour and uninteresting. I now grow both and have had good and bad experiences in different seasons from the same plants. For Aronia they seem best when grown with sun and heat and lots of water. The berries need to be juicy and fully black and ripe. When picking they should leak staining juice. At this stage the astringency should be nearly or completely gone and they should be sweet. I find very palatable (caveat: results may depend on cultivar/genes). If these conditions aren't met the berries can be extremely astringent, very bitter, the texture is unpleasant and the good qualities (other than healthfulness) are overwhelmed. For honeyberries I've found that leaving them on the bush for a good amount of time after they've fully colored improves the flavor and sweetness considerably ranging from not worth eating to mediocre blueberry in appeal. I'd say aronia has the most upside and the most downside while honeyberry is less likely to thrill or offend. |
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- Posted by konrad___far_north 3..just outside of E (My Page) on Fri, Jul 6, 12 at 1:36
| Chokecherries do choke your throat, more seed then flesh, most people cant eat it straight, good for jellies. Honeyberries you can eat the whole fruit fresh, [on the sour side] I cover them with fleece when turning blue for another 2 weeks or so to get sweeter, also helps against birds and shaking from wind, otherwise too many fall off. |
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| Chokeberries, not chokecherries. The are totally different and unrelated fruits; aronia melanocarpa vs prunus virginiana. |
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- Posted by mudflapper (My Page) on Fri, Jul 6, 12 at 3:11
| As far as honey berries go...I would wait until the new varieties from Canada show up around here...the ones sold here now are very tart and not worth much,IMHO! Arona as has been said, vary from very bitter to just OK...and they do produce a lot of fruit that is easy to harvest. |
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- Posted by alexander3 6 (My Page) on Fri, Jul 6, 12 at 13:25
| I have a 'Nero' Aronia. It makes lots of berries, and I have tried them from when they first turn black and every few days after until several weeks have passed, and they never taste sweet. They aren't ever bitter, but they can be astringent. They make a nice jelly that has a winey or tannic quality, very distinctive. Alex |
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| We had a few Borealis Haskap this year and it was my familys first taste of honeyberry.My kids absolutely loved them!I found the flavour extremely good,can't really explain the flavour but it doesn't taste like any other berry to my taste.....I think I like them more than blueberries!Hopefully these varieties get across the border to you soon! Glenn |
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- Posted by larry_gene USDA8b-OregonPDX (My Page) on Fri, Jul 6, 12 at 23:45
| I can confirm the awfulness of the Trader Joe's juice. |
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| Thanks very much for the varied comments.This gives some things to look forward to and experiment with. Brady |
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- Posted by konrad___far_north 3..just outside of E (My Page) on Sat, Jul 7, 12 at 1:57
| Murky,..thanks for the correction! Do Chokeberries have large seeds like Chokecherries? I don't' think we have them here. Yesterday we picked some of the honey berries, mostly Blue Belle. Glenn, I have put a Borealis in also this year, they should be best tasting of all of them,..as they say?
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| Konrad nice looking berries!, what other varieties are you growing?I have a pollinator I can't remember the name of it I think it was either berry blue or blue belle.....berries were small but they were still good. We liked the Haskap so much that I bought 8 more plants, 4 Indigo treat and 4 Indigo gem on sale for $9.49 each:) also going to get Tundra when the price goes down a little in a few weeks, still priced @$25.00 YIKES! |
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- Posted by konrad___far_north 3..just outside of E (My Page) on Sat, Jul 7, 12 at 12:19
| I think it is Berry Blue, find it a bit more sour. One plant I got this year, Opal. |
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