Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Chokeberry aka Black Aronia and Kephir Smoothie Recipe



It's official. Black aronia berries aka black chokeberries are the newest superfood. These beautiful black berries apparently have the highest concentration of useful flavonoids and antioxidants of any known natural food product. They're also rich in vitamins B2, B6, E, C and folic acid. I see articles praising Aronia melanocarpa e v e r y w h e r e!!

The berries have been grown in hedgerows in Estonia for decades. The most common use for the berries is in cordial, but I've made apple and black aronia jam couple of times as well. While most people find raw aronia berries a wee bit too astringent and tart, then I like nibbling on them. Luckily, there are lots of black aronia hedgerows bordering the streets in the suburb where I live. I get a healthy dose of these on my daily walks with the baby, as I pick a berry from here, and another one from there :)

We've just planted couple of chokeberry bushes into our new garden, and the berries I used for this super-healthy smoothie were from these bushes.

Chokeberry and Kephir Smoothie
(Aroonia-keefirikokteil)
Serves 1

1 ripe banana, peeled
handful of chokeberries/black aronia berries
250 g (1 cup) kephir
honey or agave nectar, to taste
a squeeze or two of lemon juice

Place banana chunks, berries and kephir into a blender and blend until smooth and frothy. Sweeten with honey or agave nectar, and season with lemon juice.
Serve at once.

Other recipes using chokeberries/black aronia berries:
Black aronia muffins

6 comments:

Krentu said...

arooniad on alati minu lemmikud olnud. no mulle meeldivad toominga marjad ka :)
sellel aastal äratasin ellu ühe "retsepti", mille ma leiutasin põhikooli ajal.
purustan saumikseriga arooniad ära (põhikooli ajal meil muidugi sellist riistapuud polnud, siis lasin marjad läbi küüslaugurpessi :)) purustama peab aga väga lühiajaliselt, nii et mahl tuleb välja, aga osad marjad jäävad peaaegu terveks. siis lisan suhkrut ja saida farmi kohupiima. segan ära ja panen veel mõned terved marjad ka sisse. marju peab olema ikka nii palju, et kohupiim tuleb tumepunane. poole saida farmi 500g kohupiima paki peale panen umbes 300 ml kausitäie marju.
sellest söögist võin ma end lõhki süüa. Ja oluline askpekt on see, et kohupiim peab olema rasvane. Lahjaga ei jää üldse hea.

Mari-Liis said...

Mulle ka väga arooniad maitsevad. Eriti arooniamahl.Istutasin eelmisel aastal aeda kaks aroonipõõsa tüvivormi-ilusad on, eriti sügisel ja kannavad ka marju väga hästi. Mõtlen juba arooniaheki peale...

Dianne said...

Pille,

Will have to plant some aronia trees in my garden as well as have not seen them growing in Scotland!

Dianne

Rowi said...

Hej Pille,

I'm probably one of the very few fans of aronia in Sweden and thanks to you I've done your aronia muffins which was extremely good! Better than blueberry muffins! This year the aronia berries have grown nice and plump due to the lovely summer and warm September. I shall collect them this weekend and will freeze the lot (lessens the tartiness). The bushes grow in a parking area in our golf club. I hope that this does not affect the good nutrient value of this superfood.

Tack för en härlig blogg!

Alanna Kellogg said...

Ha -- new berries to me!

PS I think that your kephir is usually spelled kefir in US English.

Cuisine Lover said...

=p~ look so delicious!