Fruits of chokeberry. The benefits and harms of chokeberry and contraindications to its use. Chokeberry rubbed with sugar video

Hello!
Today I want to draw your attention to a very interesting plant. This is chokeberry, the benefits and contraindications of which, or rather information about them, will be extremely important for lovers of a healthy lifestyle.

This berry is a wonderful natural healer.
Until recently, I knew absolutely nothing about these properties.

I heard from my friends who talked about mountain ash from the point of view of gourmets, about a very tasty jam, and I was even lucky to try the fine wine from this berry.
But, unfortunately, I did not know that the plant can heal.

But in our time, the problem of lack of information is solved easily and quickly. If you are also interested in this wonderful plant, then this article will help satisfy your curiosity.
So, let's get acquainted.

Chokeberry: a brief historical background

Chokeberry or chokeberry, and popularly called chokeberry or simply black ashberry, is a small-sized shrub from the Rosaceae family.

Canada is the birthplace of the chokeberry. Its wild representatives occupy impressive territories in this country.

The indigenous inhabitants of these lands - the Indians were well aware of the medicinal properties of chokeberry and actively used its juice to treat burns, as well as in the preparation of various dishes from it.

In the 19th century, chokeberry first came to Europe and Russia. The wild game, of course, was not popular, because it could not boast of either an attractive appearance or the taste of fruits.

And the Russian biologist and breeder Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin gave us a cultural chokeberry.

Thanks to the new set of chromosomes, the black mountain ash has acquired such qualities as unpretentiousness and frost resistance.
Berries can be eaten already at the end of September-October, when they fully ripen.

Aronia is one of those plants that can help overcome the ailments and diseases that overtake us in the winter.
You can harvest fruits both before the first autumn frosts, and during them.

Ripe black-purple berries have an intense ruby-colored flesh.
When you bite into the fruit, you will feel a sweet and sour taste, a little tart and slightly astringent.

At first glance, unattractive berries are certainly very useful and are successfully used in traditional medicine. The name Aros itself in Greek means "benefit".

Chokeberry: composition

There are a lot of vitamins in the fruits of chokeberry:

P, K, C, E. The amount of vitamin P (flavonoid), which is very important for the fight against aging, is 2 times more than in currants.
Just three tablespoons of berries will provide you with a daily intake of this useful element for the body.
group B;
beta carotene.

As well as trace elements:

manganese;
fluorine;
iron;
molybdenum;
coumarin and amygdalin compounds;
In terms of iodine content, chokeberry ranks first among plants that grow in our area.
This element contains four times more than in raspberries, strawberries and gooseberries.

Let's take a closer look at what benefits these wonderful berries can give us?

normalization of the intestines, acceleration and facilitation of the process of digestion of food - this is a consequence of the effect of pectins on pathogenic microflora;
cholecystitis proceeds without the formation of stones - pectins act as a mild choleretic agent;
increased acidity of the stomach, getting rid of belching, putrid breath, constipation, and heaviness in the stomach.

Chokeberry will be an assistant for people with such problems, just a few berries before eating, and the result is a significant relief of unpleasant symptoms.

Fresh rowan berries or their juice is best used for diseases of the digestive system and the treatment of the gastrointestinal tract.

People with high acidity of the stomach should exclude the fruits of this plant from their diet.

Chokeberry is a wonderful remedy for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

The unique ability of fruits to normalize blood cholesterol, reducing its harmful effects on the body, helps reduce the risk of thrombosis and varicose veins.

The walls of blood vessels become more resilient and elastic, increased arterial and intracranial pressure returns to normal, apathy and weakness disappear. In addition, blood circulation improves, hemoglobin and blood clotting increase.

Antacin is the main element that actively fights colds, strengthening the body's immunity as a whole. Thanks to him, the fruits of the plant acquire antioxidant properties, helping us to cope with various allergic reactions, with the development of cancer.

In the fruits of chokeberry, the content of glucose and fructose is almost minimal. The composition of the berries contains sorbitol - a natural sweetener that contributes to the natural production of insulin by the body. This property will certainly help diabetic patients.

It is also useful to use berries for diseases of the thyroid gland, radiation sickness, Graves' disease, thyrotoxicosis.

For people struggling with excess weight, berries will also come to the rescue. Symptoms of false hunger will recede. You will not overeat thanks to a small handful of the fruits of the plant, eaten between main meals. Only 55 kcal per 100 g will please those who are on a diet.

Aronia will also help with various emotional problems, nervous breakdowns, overwork and sleep disorders.

Symptoms of skin diseases such as eczema, dermatitis, itching and flaking of the skin can be significantly reduced by applying a compress from the fresh juice of the plant fruit.

Chokeberry: how to prepare and how to save?

Many are repelled by the astringent taste of chokeberry berries. Even if the tree grows in their yard, people don't know what to do with the fruit.

So it turns out that the main consumers of these invaluable natural healers are birds.

Refusing to eat berries is a big delusion, especially for those who have high blood pressure. After all, black mountain ash really helps hypertensive patients.

At the end of October, when the first frosts appear, the plant accumulates the maximum amount of useful substances in its fruits.

That's when you can start collecting and harvesting ripened fruits.

But it is important not only to choose the right time to harvest, but also to store the berries correctly in order to save all the useful substances of little healers as much as possible.

The first and easiest way is to freeze and store in the freezer. To do this, the fruits should be thoroughly cleaned of branches and leaves, washed, dried.

Then put in plastic bags in one layer and freeze.

The second method is also not difficult in its execution. You can either dry them in the oven at 60 degrees, or dry them in the sun, if it is still quite active in your area at this time of the year.

Chokeberry: pressure will return to normal

The easiest and most effective way to reduce blood pressure is to eat fresh berries.

If you eat only 100 grams of fruit three times a day, you will soon notice a clear improvement in well-being and normalization of blood pressure.

What else can be prepared to reduce pressure?

It is very useful, including for hypertensive patients, to use freshly squeezed juice from black mountain ash. How to cook it?

The recipe is simple and unpretentious:

Peel the berries and wash well.
Squeeze out the juice, about ¾ cup. This is for a day.
Add 1 tsp. honey.
Divide the received medicine into three doses.
Take 30 minutes before meals.

If you do not have fresh, but dried berries, then you can prepare an infusion in a thermos according to the following recipe.

Pour three tablespoons of fruits with two cups of boiling water, close and leave to infuse for a day. Take half an hour before meals before each meal.

The following recipe involves the addition of sugar - this is syrup. We will need:

1 kg of chokeberry berries;
50 pieces of cherry leaves;
800 ml of water;
0.6 kg of sugar;
15 gr. citric acid.

We clean and wash the berries. We boil water and put the fruits and leaves of the cherry into the pan.

After boiling for a few minutes, the leaves should be removed and citric acid added.

The mixture is left for a day. Then add sugar, and cook over low heat until it boils. Hold on for two more minutes. Everything, the syrup is ready, you can roll it into jars.

To normalize the pressure, take 1-2 tablespoons a day.

Also, to reduce pressure with warm tea (not hot!) You can use a spoonful of chokeberry jam several times a day.

The recipe will not cause you any difficulties. For 1.3 kg of sugar, 1 kg of berries and 1 glass of water are required. The sequence is as follows: first boil water, add sugar and make syrup.

After the syrup boils, add the fruits washed and blanched for 7 minutes. Boil over low heat for 10-15 minutes, set aside the mixture for 3-4 hours.

Then again put on fire until boiling for 15 minutes. All the jam is ready, put it in sterilized hot jars, tighten the lids.

Store either in the refrigerator or at room temperature.

You can also mix a tablespoon of honey with 50 grams of berries. To obtain the result, take for a minimum of 10 days, but no more than 30.

Chokeberry: contraindications

The presence of many useful and medicinal properties of the berry, however, does not exclude cases when its use is highly undesirable, in a word, any medicine has its own contraindications.

Friends! Today we got acquainted with a wonderful plant - chokeberry, learned about its benefits, did not forget to indicate contraindications.

Today's heroine is a bright representative of natural healers who help us cope with diseases by minimizing the use of chemicals.

But we remember that before taking any medicine, even from Nature itself, a doctor's consultation is required, especially if you have any serious illnesses.

And that's all for today. If you have any interesting blackberry recipes of your own, please share! Everyone will be interested!

Health and happiness to you, dear readers! See you again.

Sincerely. Elena Shanina.

Chokeberry (genus name - aronia chokeberry) owes its name to the black color of its fruits. The fruits are beautiful, shiny, with a sour-sweet pleasant tart taste, rich in vitamin P, C, PP, E, B vitamins, carotene, as well as microelements such as boron, iron, iodine compounds, manganese, copper and molybdenum. Thanks to this composition, chokeberry, the beneficial properties of which are quite well known, is often used as a therapeutic and prophylactic agent.

The plant is native to North America. Initially, in our country, chokeberry was grown under the guise of an ornamental crop in botanical gardens. And for the first time this shrub, as a large-fruited fruit crop, began to be grown by the famous Russian biologist and breeder Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin. It was he who grew it up to 2 meters, made it unpretentious and resistant to frost. The berries usually ripen at the end of September and stay on the branches for a long time, almost two months, if they are not pecked by birds.

Chokeberry: benefit and harm

Having figured out what chokeberry is, let's take a closer look at its beneficial properties.

Since the berries of this plant contain sugar in an amount of up to 10% (fructose and glucose, mainly), it is useful and easily absorbed by diabetics.

Berries also stimulate brain activity, normalize blood pressure, having a positive effect on the immune system; useful in overwork, sleep disorders, measles, scarlet fever, typhus, as well as in the treatment of radiation sickness and to relieve allergic reactions.

Aronia phytoncides are able to delay the development of dysentery bacillus, Staphylococcus aureus.

The largest part of the nutrients is found in the skin of the fruit, but their juice also strengthens blood vessels, and the leaves contain substances that improve the functioning of the liver.

That's how good chokeberry is, the benefits of which are undeniable! And the harm of this medicinal plant is insignificant: there are only certain small contraindications for use. So, you should not use mountain ash for people with hypotension, gastritis with high acidity, stomach ulcers, increased blood clotting, duodenal ulcer, thrombophlebitis and frequent constipation.

Chokeberry: benefits and harms during pregnancy

Since there are chokeberries in the composition that reduce the fragility and permeability of capillaries, it is very useful during pregnancy.

Rowan prevents the development of anemia in the mother and in the unborn child. Its regular use improves appetite, has a beneficial effect on digestion, and normalizes blood pressure.

Vitamin-rich berries strengthen the immune system in a weakened body during pregnancy, and also have a diuretic and anti-inflammatory effect.

With asthenia, hypovitaminosis, anemia:

- 250 g of fresh berries with the addition or accompanied by rosehip broth or.

For prevention:

- 20 g of dry chokeberry + 200 ml of boiling water, heat over low heat for about 5 - 10 minutes. After cooling, we filter and drink a healing decoction of half a glass.

Chokeberry: preparations for the winter

Not only fresh fruits are used in chokeberry, they are also frozen and dried. For this, the berries are harvested, sorted, and the stalks are torn off.

When freezing fresh berries, remember that when thawing and re-freezing, vitamins are destroyed in the fruits, and each time their number decreases.

You can dry rowan in the sun, scattering the berries in a thin layer, or use a drying chamber with a temperature of about 40 - 50 °. Also, dried fruits can be found in pharmacies.

For long-term storage, harvest chokeberry berries after frost by cutting them with scissors along with a shield. You string the fruits on a wire and hang them in some dark and cool place.

In addition, jam, jelly, compote, jam, syrups are prepared from rowan berries.

Aronia jam - recipe

To prepare it, we need the following ingredients: 1 kg of chokeberry, 1.3 kg of sugar, 1 glass of juice (of your choice), 2 glasses of water and 2-3 grams of citric acid.

Peel the berry, separating it from the brush. Rinse, place in the oven with a medium temperature, keep covered for 2 - 5 hours.

Then we cook syrup from water, juice, sugar. We lower the berries into it and then cook until the berries become transparent. At the end of the cooking process, add citric acid.

Then hot jam is poured into jars and rolled up.

Aronia syrup - recipe

We will need: 1 kg of chokeberry, 600 g of sugar, 0.8 l of water, 30 - 50 g of cherry leaves, 15 g of citric acid.

We clean the berries, wash them.

Pour water into a saucepan, put it on the stove, bring it to a boil. We lower the mountain ash into boiling water, as well as the leaves. After a few minutes, remove the leaves and discard. Add citric acid.

The resulting mixture is infused for a day, then filtered. We remove the berries and sediment, and add sugar to the remaining liquid and bring it to a boil. Having kept it in this way on fire for a couple of minutes, we remove it. We lay out the banks and roll up.

The syrup can be added to a dessert, made into a drink, diluted with water to taste, or taken with an increase in pressure (norm: 1 - 2 tablespoons per day).

Aronia chokeberry is a small densely branched deciduous shrub of the Rosaceae family. The fruits of chokeberry ripen in August - September. As a rule, they are dark brown or black-purple in color, with a slight wax coating and dark ruby flesh.

Since chokeberry is a medicinal plant, its fruits can be used for medicinal purposes both fresh and dried.

For drying chokeberry for short-term storage (six months), cut rowan umbrellas are strung on a dense thread, fishing line or wire and hung in a dry room with good ventilation. So the berries can hang all winter. At the same time, microbes will not start in them, and they will not undergo fermentation.

For drying berries for long-term storage (a year or more), rowan after harvest is separated from the stalks, sorted, washed and dried on a towel. After that, the berries are laid out on trays or on a fine grid with a layer of 2 - 3 cm and dried in the sun in the fresh air. True, for long-term storage, you can dry rowan berries in the oven. First, they are dried for 20 - 30 minutes at a temperature of 40 - 45 degrees, then the temperature is increased to 60 degrees and drying is continued until the berries, when squeezed with fingers, no longer secrete juice.

It is important to remember that dried berries should not change color to reddish or brown. A change in the color of the berries indicates that the temperature regime was violated and the berries have almost completely lost their vitamins.

Benefit

1. The fruits of dried chokeberry are used to treat sclerosis, hypertension, low blood clotting, hemorrhagic diathesis, capillary toxicosis, atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus, allergies, glomerulonephritis, thyrotoxicosis (part of the medical fees).

2. In addition to all of the above, dried chokeberry fruits are used for severe bleeding, vitamin deficiency and radiation damage to certain areas of the skin.

3. Dried berries of chokeberry are a valuable medicinal raw material. It was revealed that in 3 tbsp. spoons (50 g of dried fruit) of chokeberry contains a daily dose of vitamin P.

Harm

Chokeberry should not be used for hypotension, peptic ulcer of the stomach and duodenum, hyperacid gastritis (with increased acidity of gastric juice), chronic constipation, hemorrhoids with a tendency to thrombosis, with increased blood clotting, with thrombophlebitis. Before using drugs or products from the fruits of chokeberry, you should definitely consult your doctor.

Rowan can often be seen on city streets and in rural areas. Its chokeberry variety, or chokeberry, is less common. Many people know about the benefits of this tree and specially plant it in summer cottages. Others find places of its natural growth in order to collect and prepare useful fruits, leaves and roots.

Chemical composition

Chokeberry is a treasure trove of vitamins. They are presented in a very wide range. These are beta-carotene and vitamins of almost all known groups. Particular attention deserves Its amount in the berry reaches almost five percent and half as much as in the currant. It also contains flavonoid groups, namely rutin, quercetin and hesperidin.

Organic acids and biologically active components are contained in chokeberry in large quantities. It contains tannins, glycosides, pectin.

The benefits of black ashberry for the human body

The health benefits of chokeberry are difficult to assess. (P-vitamins) strengthen the body at the cellular level, increase its resistance to adverse environmental factors and slow down aging. They make blood vessels elastic and strong, strengthen the immune system, and stabilize blood pressure.

Blood diseases - this is just a small list of diseases, in the treatment and prevention of which this healing berry will help. The pectins contained in the chokeberry have a beneficial effect and normalize the gastrointestinal tract. In combination with other drugs, it is used to treat rheumatism, measles, and typhus. The use of chokeberry every day greatly increases the body's resistance to infectious diseases.

Did you know?Botanists consider rowan berries to be apples. .

Application

You can make mousse, decoction, jam, vinegar, wine, juice from a miracle berry. Of course, it can be frozen or withered. Rowan berries, as well as leaves and root, are good as a means of getting rid of ailments, are used in cooking and home cosmetology.

In cooking

Chokeberry is perfect for making drinks, jams, preserves, seasonings, baking. For example, compote, jelly, tea, fruit drink will be tasty and healthy. They can be made from only one chokeberry, or they can be used in combination with other berries and fruits.

Chokeberry jams or jams are very popular with housewives. They have a pleasant, slightly tart taste. They successfully replace the usual sea buckthorn to counteract infections in winter and spring. Chokeberry jam is added to pies and other baked goods. With its unique taste, it will give them a zest.

Raw and dried berries are used for baking. It is put either whole or crushed a little. Pies, charlotte are prepared from it, they are added instead of raisins to cheesecakes.

An excellent sauce is prepared from chokeberry, which can be served with meat, fish or used in the process of their preparation. Connoisseurs say that it is in no way inferior to the famous tkemali. For cooking, garlic, spices, spices are added to the crushed berries, and this whole mixture is boiled.

If chokeberry is poured with vodka or other alcohol-containing liquid, then an excellent tincture will come out. It also makes a wonderful liquor.

I especially want to highlight the sweets that can be made using chokeberry. Marmalade, candied fruit and marshmallow from this berry can successfully notice the usual sweet and improve health.

In folk medicine

Traditional healers know about the benefits of chokeberry and have been using it since time immemorial. Moreover, medicinal drugs are prepared both from berries and from the leaves and roots of the chokeberry. The latter are mainly used in decoctions and infusions. Fruits will benefit in any form. The miracle berry perfectly strengthens health, will help from many diseases and will keep the body in good shape.

In home cosmetology

If you prefer homemade cosmetic products, then they can be successfully made from our miracle berry. It can be body and face masks, bath infusions, all kinds of lotions.

How to use for medicinal purposes: recipes

Only chokeberry wood is not used to strengthen the immune system and treat various ailments. All other parts of the tree are quite suitable for this. Berries contain minimal sugar and fructose, but contain sorbitol, which is a sugar substitute for diabetics. Therefore, the fruits of chokeberry- almost a panacea for such patients.

There are a great many recipes for using chokeberry. We present only the most popular of them.

Important! Aronia is a medicinal product. Beforehershould be consulted with a doctor.

General strengthening decoction

In order to increase resistance to infections and normalize the functioning of the body as a whole, It is recommended to drink tea from chokeberry leaves. About four tablespoons are poured into half a liter of water and boiled for up to ten minutes. The prepared broth should be infused for about one to two hours. It is recommended to drink three times a day on an empty stomach or two hours after eating.

Dried or fresh chokeberry fruits are suitable for making an infusion. They take half a glass of berries, put them in a thermos, pour half a liter of boiling water and leave to infuse for about 12 hours. It is better to drink this tea no more than three times a day, two hours before meals.

Such decoctions have a beneficial effect on the liver and gallbladder. They work as a diuretic, diaphoretic and laxative.

With hypertension

Traditional healers say that it is better for patients with hypertension to eat fresh or dried berries of black mountain ash. They can be eaten up to a glass a day.

Also, with hypertension, juice from chokeberry berries will benefit. The daily dose should not exceed a glass. The juice itself is very concentrated, so it is better to dilute it with water and drink it in several doses.

Important!The effect of chokeberry treatment will not be immediate. You will notice the first improvement in well-being only a few weeks after the start of the intake.

For diseases of the gastrointestinal tract

Pectins, which are present in large quantities in chokeberry berries, contribute to the normalization of the stomach and intestines, remove spasms and remove bile. For problems with the gastrointestinal tract, it is recommended to use juice or fresh chokeberry berries. These products, in addition to the therapeutic effect, help to remove toxins, heavy metals, and slags from the body. It is recommended to eat up to a glass of fresh berries a day or half a glass of juice.

With gastritis, three tablespoons of berries are poured into 0.5 liters of boiling water and insisted in a thermos for up to 12 hours. Infusion drink before meals half a cup three times a day.

People who suffer from low stomach acid it is worth starting to take a couple of chokeberry berries before meals. This will help normalize the amount of acid in the gastric juice, and also contribute to proper digestion.

For skin diseases

To solve problems such as dermatitis, eczema, itching, peeling of the skin, you can use compresses from the juice of aronia berries. Taking half a glass of freshly squeezed juice a day will help the body cope with allergies. This dose should be diluted with water and taken in parts.

Alcohol tinctures

From chokeberry, you can prepare fragrant tinctures for alcohol. They can be made using any strong alcohol, such as pure alcohol or vodka, cognac. As a rule, you need to take a liter of strong liquid per kilogram of berries. She needs to pour the berries and insist 15-30 days in the dark. You can add sugar or honey if you like. Take no more than a tablespoon three times a day.

Such a tincture will act as a general tonic, help with hypertension, gastrointestinal diseases, allergies, anemia.

How can be used in home cosmetology: recipes

Aronia is successfully used to prepare various masks and other face and body skin care products. It tones the skin, helps to get rid of wrinkles. Black chokeberry masks remove allergic skin reactions and dermatitis. It is very easy to prepare them at home.

Mask for normal skin

To prepare a mask for normal skin, you will need approximately two tablespoons of fresh chokeberries and the same amount of milk. All this is mixed in a blender and then applied to the face. The mixture can be put directly on the skin or on a gauze form for the face. If desired, honey can be added to the mask or milk can be replaced with egg yolk.

Mask for dry skin

If the skin is dry, then to prepare a face mask, in addition to mountain ash, a moisturizing component is needed. This may be, for example, butter or. There should be as many of them in the mask as mountain ash. As a rule, two tablespoons of berries and the same amount of sour cream or melted butter are taken. They need to be crushed in a blender, add honey if desired, and can be applied to the face for 15-20 minutes.

Mask for oily skin

To prepare a face mask for oily skin together with chokeberry, you can use or. Any of these ingredients is taken in equal proportions with chokeberry and ground to a pulp. The mixture is applied to the face for 15-20 minutes, after which it is washed off with warm water.

Scrub

Chokeberry helps to care for the skin of the face and body. You can make a wonderful scrub from it. For this, you can use both fresh and dried fruits. All you need is to twist the berries in a meat grinder or chop in a blender. If desired, you can add sour cream or sour milk to the mixture. You can apply the scrub on the body and then wash it off, or you can use it instead of soap. Berries work great as an exfoliator and at the same time tone the skin.

When is the best time to collect for the winter

Chokeberry begins to ripen at the end of September. From this moment, you can start harvesting berries for the winter. At this time, it contains a lot of juice and has a tart taste. With the onset of cold weather, the latter gradually disappears. Therefore, you can choose the time of collection, depending on what you will use the chokeberry for. For the preparation of medicinal tinctures, cooking jam, you can collect it at any time. But for the manufacture of juice, you need to take the berry immediately after ripening. It is desirable to harvest berries in dry sunny weather.

When harvesting, it is better to cut the chokeberry clusters, as this contributes to better restoration and growth of the tree. After that, you can separate the berries from the brush. If you are going to make some kind of tinctures, for example, alcohol, then it is not necessary to separate the fruits.

Did you know? The rowan tree can withstand frosts up to fifty degrees and grow in permafrost.

How to store at home

There are many ways to store aronia at home. The easiest option is to string the bunches on a rope so that they do not touch each other and hang them in a convenient place. Over time, the berry will wither and it can be used for any purpose.

You can also spread the berries on paper or cloth in a cool, dry place. In this form, it will remain fresh for up to a month. If the temperature is around zero, then the fruits will be fresh throughout the winter.

To save space, chokeberry can be dried. In the sun, this, most likely, will not work, but in the oven - completely. Berries should be laid out on a baking sheet in a thin layer and dried, stirring, at a temperature of up to 60 degrees. Periodically, the oven must be opened. The berries are dried when they stop sticking to the hand and fall off. After the end of the process, dried fruits should be stored in glass tightly closed jars, in paper or cloth bags. The storage location must be dry.

If you freeze chokeberry, it will not lose its beneficial properties. Before freezing, the berries should be washed well and allowed to dry. Then put them in plastic containers and bags and place in the freezer.

A good way to store chokeberry is to grind it with sugar. To do this, fruits and sugar are taken in equal proportions and ground in a meat grinder. The mixture is placed in glass jars under polyethylene lids and stored in the refrigerator throughout the winter.

Contraindications and harm

Despite all the benefits of chokeberry, its use in some cases can be harmful and even contraindicated. It is strictly forbidden to use chokeberry for people with poor blood clotting. Chokeberry is contraindicated if you have gastritis with high acidity.

The berry should not be used by people who have frequent constipation, thrombophlebitis and hypotension. And, of course, you should always remember one simple rule - observe the measure in everything. Even such a useful berry as chokeberry can be harmful if consumed in excess of the recommended doses.

Now it is becoming more and more popular to strengthen and maintain your health with the help of natural products available. Chokeberry can be found both in the city and in the countryside and is successfully used for the prevention and treatment of many ailments. It will also be useful as a general tonic during the period of colds. And after masks based on it, the skin of the face and body will be healthy and in good shape.

The garden or wild chokeberry or aronia chokeberry is a tall, sprawling shrub that is valued for its rich black fruits used in medicine, cosmetology and cooking. Aronia chokeberry came to us in Russia from North America, for the first time the famous scientist-breeder Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin was engaged in the selection of this plant in our homeland, who recommended chokeberry for cultivation in the northern regions of our mainland.

Over time, aronia chokeberry became a well-known horticultural crop, which perfectly took root in the harsh Russian climate, and the breeding varieties of this plant are collectively called "Michurin's Aronia". Today, chokeberry is grown on an industrial scale, harvesting plant berries for the pharmaceutical and food industries.

Aronia is a frost-resistant plant that can withstand sub-zero temperatures up to 40 degrees. The places of its growth were Altai, Siberia, the Central part of Russia, the Urals, Yakutia.

In the southern latitudes, chokeberry has taken root in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Asia, and the Caucasus. The habitat of the plant is forest edges, clearings, undergrowth in the forest-steppe zone. Aronia feels best in temperate climate zones, it is undemanding to the composition of the soil.

Rowan chokeberry was very fond of Russian gardeners for its high yield, unpretentiousness, frost resistance and magnificent decorative appearance. Today, crop nurseries offer many varieties of chokeberry, the most common of which are considered varieties: Hakkiya, Aron, Egerta, Belder, Rubina, Chernookaya. Often gardeners make hedges from chokeberry bushes. Growing, the bushes form a continuous array, intertwining with each other with crowns.

What is this berry?

Aronia chokeberry has the Latin name Arónia melanocárpa, and its other name, chokeberry, appeared due to the fact that the fruits of this plant are black when ripe, and also because the shape of the flowers and fruits of the plant is very similar to ordinary mountain ash.

Today, breeders know 15 varieties of chokeberry, one of which is the Viking chokeberry variety. It is called so because the berries of this variety are quite large in size, reaching up to one and a half centimeters in diameter, and the yield is very high.

The botanical characteristic of the chokeberry species indicates that this shrub comes from the genus Aronia, the Rosaceae family, the Rosaceae order. Externally, the plant looks like a well-branched shrub that reaches a height of up to three meters. The young plant has a slight crown branching, but by adulthood it reaches more than two meters in diameter. It is noteworthy that young shoots have a red color, which is replaced by brown or gray bark the next year.

The root system of chokeberry is very well developed, but the roots are located close to the soil surface and are sensitive to moisture. The plant is photophilous, does not like soil, which contains a large amount of mineral salts and an excess of stagnant water. The leaves of the chokeberry are rich green in color, shiny and hard, have a rounded shape with serrated edges. The leaf size reaches from 3.5 to 7 centimeters. The shrub looks very decorative in autumn, when its foliage acquires red hues under the influence of night frosts.

Black mountain ash blooms at the very end of May or at the beginning of June, depending on the region of its growth. Small bisexual flowers of five petals are collected in inflorescences, reaching a diameter of up to 6 centimeters. Flowering lasts 14-16 days, the flowers are pollinated by insects, after the end of the flowering period, multiple fruit ovaries are formed.

Fruiting in a young plant begins from the 3rd (less often from the 2nd) year of life, fruits with long stalks look like round berries with 4-8 seeds and are collected in clusters. When ripe, the skin of the berries has a black-blue color and is covered with a slight waxy coating. Ripe chokeberry is a juicy berry that has a sweet, slightly astringent, tart taste.

The juice of the berries has a dark purple color. Rowan ripens in late August or early September, the exact time depends on weather conditions and the habitat of the plant. An adult chokeberry is capable of producing a yield of 5-8 kilograms of berries per season. The fruits are harvested before the first frost, as frost increases the amount of saccharides and starchy components in the berries, reducing the amount of vitamins.

Aronia chokeberry is used as a medicine in folk and traditional medicine. The State Pharmacopoeia contains a detailed description of the requirements for the fruits of this plant, the appointment of which is advisable in the treatment of the heart, blood vessels, and gastrointestinal tract. Chokeberry successfully treats metabolic disorders in the body, stimulates the immune system, helps with beriberi and allergic reactions.

The calorie content of chokeberry per 100 grams of fresh berries is 55.3 kilocalories. At the same time, this volume contains 1.5 grams of protein, only 0.2 grams of fat, and up to 11 grams of carbohydrates.

Beneficial features

Chokeberry is a real storehouse of unique natural ingredients containing vitamins and microelements. If you take 100 grams of the berries of this plant and determine its chemical composition, you get the following picture:

vitamin B1 (thiamine) - 0.01 mg;
vitamin B2 (riboflavin) - 0.02 mg;
vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) - 0.06 mg;
vitamin PP (niacin) - 0.3 mg;
vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) - 0.5 mg;
vitamin A (beta-carotene) - 1.2 mg;
vitamin E (tocopherol) - 1.5 mg;
vitamin B9 (folic acid) - 1.7 mg;
manganese - 0.5 mg;
iron - 1.1 mg;

sodium - 4.0 mg;
iodine - 8.0 mg;
magnesium - 14.1 mg;
calcium - 28.3 mg;
phosphorus - 55.2 mg;
potassium - 158.2 mg;
organic acids - 2.3 g;
vegetable fiber - 4.2 gr;
saccharides - 8.6 gr;
starchy substances - 81.2 gr.

In addition to the listed components, chokeberry berries contain pectin, fiber, tannins and dyes, essential oils, bioflavonoids, dextrins. The chokeberry has one amazing feature - the roots of the plant actively absorb iodine, and the more iodine is contained in the soil, the greater its content will be in the fruits. Such benefits of berries are simply irreplaceable in case of a lack of iodine in the human body.

The medicinal properties of chokeberry have a fairly extensive list of applications:

Increased blood pressure. Aronia has the ability to thicken the blood, removing excess fluid from the body, resulting in a decrease in the volume of circulating blood and the level of pressure on the walls of blood vessels and arteries. This helps to stop an attack of hypertension.
Atherosclerotic changes in blood vessels. The high content of rutin, ascorbic acid, and flavonoids in the fruits of chokeberry helps to reduce the fragility and permeability of the walls of blood vessels and capillaries, and also dilutes cholesterol, preventing it from accumulating and fixing in the form of plaques in the bloodstream.
Anti-inflammatory property. Aronia natural phytoncides have the ability to reduce inflammatory processes and enhance natural immunological processes in the body.
Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Black berries affect the production of gastric juice, increasing its acidity and excreted volume, which helps to improve digestion. Fruits significantly improve the outflow of bile, normalize the work of the pancreas, liver and intestines.
Treatment of dyspeptic disorders of the intestine. Aronia fruits contain a large amount of tannins and dyes, which explains their astringent tart taste. With diarrhea, when it weakens, the stomach hurts, general well-being worsens, and the use of preparations from this plant strengthens and normalizes loose stools, and also improves the functioning of the entire gastrointestinal tract.

Removal of free radicals. Quite often, people living in ecologically unfavorable areas develop blood problems, the causes of which are poisoning with heavy metal salts and exposure to radioactive isotopes. Aronia aronia helps to purify the blood and remove toxic substances from the body, against which there is a significant improvement in overall health.
Age-related changes in vision. The high content of vitamin A in the berries is a good help in the treatment of senile cataracts and glaucoma. Also, the vitamin inhibits age-related changes in the retina, improving visual acuity.

Modern medicine uses preparations made on the basis of chokeberry, combining them and other medical actions in the treatment of various diseases. Comprehensive treatment with the use of chokeberry can be prescribed not only for adults, but even for children.

For adults, chokeberry is prescribed in courses of 3-4 weeks with interruptions. In total, 3-4 such treatment courses can be carried out in a year. Quite often you can hear positive feedback about the treatment of chokeberry from pregnant women who suffer from toxicosis.

Aronia chokeberry improves liver function and helps to cope with bouts of nausea. Aronia chokeberry can be prescribed to children from the age of 3 years. Its usefulness is obvious, but the dosage is needed at the same time sparing, so as not to disrupt the functioning of the intestines. You need to introduce it into the child’s diet literally from several berries, using their juice, and for viral or catarrhal diseases of the throat, you can irrigate from juice diluted with boiled water, or a decoction of leaves (30 pieces per liter of water).

Application and contraindications

Chokeberry can rightfully be considered a real green clinic. However, official medicine began to use this plant only in 1961, adding it to the lists of the State Pharmacopoeia. Preparations from chokeberry are available in any pharmacy chain, treatment with their help is not expensive. If you wish, you can prepare berries and prepare healing remedies from them at home.

Indications for use and medicinal properties of chokeberry are as follows:

In violation of blood clotting, it has the property to increase its viscosity.
In case of violations of the liver or after toxic effects or antibiotic therapy, it improves its work, being a natural hepatoprotector.
In case of heart diseases, it intensively supplies the heart muscle with potassium, preventing the development of a heart attack, stroke, and also increases endurance and myocardial contractility.

With hypothyroidism, it improves the functioning of the thyroid gland, adequately supplying it with iodine components.
For prevention and treatment in the early stages of tumor processes, chokeberry inhibits the development of atypical cells and is a fairly strong antioxidant.
With atherosclerosis, the plant reduces the accumulation of cholesterol in the body, and also dilutes the cholesterol already present in the body, preventing the formation of plaques in the blood vessels and arteries. It is noticed that the further progress of the disease against the background of taking chokeberry is significantly slowed down.
In case of liver diseases, it promotes the discharge of bile from the gallbladder, expanding the excretory ducts, and also prevents the formation of stones.
With trophic vascular disorders, it reduces the proliferative ability of the walls of blood vessels and their fragility, increases the elasticity of muscle fibers.
With fluid retention in the body and severe edema, it removes excess water from the body naturally, having a mild diuretic effect.
With gastritis with reduced secretory function and insufficient concentration of gastric juice, it increases the production and concentration of hydrochloric acid, thereby improving digestion and the functioning of the digestive tract.
It has the ability to lower high blood pressure by changing the viscosity of the blood and reducing its circulating volume in the bloodstream.

With a reduced concentration of vitamins and minerals, as well as after serious illnesses with a long recovery period, it helps the body replenish the vitamin and mineral balance, strengthen the immune system and increase the body's adaptive forces.
In case of malfunction of the endocrine glands and hormonal balance, chokeberry contributes to the normalization of the hormonal background and improves the metabolic processes of the body.
With arthritis, rheumatism, gout, inflammatory diseases of the genitourinary system, the digestive tract, chokeberry helps to eliminate foci of inflammation and improves the general condition of the body, reducing pain and discomfort.
With glaucoma and cataracts, mountain ash improves the function of vision, normalizing intraocular pressure and improving the regenerative properties of the retina. In addition, it prevents age-related changes in the organs of vision, for a long time postponing their onset.
Improves the emotional background, reduces age-related irritability, children's hyperexcitability, reduces the effect of chronic fatigue, improves the process of falling asleep.
It has the property of removing toxic substances and cleanses the body at the cellular level from the effects of adverse environmental factors, including radiation sickness.

It is a natural filter, cleansing the intestines from slagging in a natural way.
It relieves muscle spasm in case of insufficient content of potassium ions in the body.
With diarrhea, it helps to normalize the frequency and consistency of stools, normalizes intestinal motility and improves digestive processes.
Preparations from chokeberry are not recommended for everyone. In some cases, they are contraindicated, and if used incorrectly, they can harm the body. Aronia is not recommended for use in children under the age of three;
Peptic ulcer of the stomach, intestines is an absolute contraindication to the use of chokeberry.
Inflammatory processes in the small or large intestine, called colitis, can be aggravated while taking chokeberry.
Gastritis with high acidity cannot be treated with preparations from chokeberry, as this plant enhances the concentration and volume of gastric juice produced.

With low blood pressure, preparations with chokeberry will contribute to an even greater decrease in blood pressure, which can lead to fainting, dizziness, nausea and vomiting.
Thrombosis and increased blood clotting is an absolute contraindication to the use of aronia berries because of the threat of blood clots and the occurrence of vascular thromboembolism.
If allergic reactions or individual intolerance occur, preparations from chokeberry are contraindicated.

Before using herbal remedies based on chokeberry, you should consult with your doctor and be tested for an allergic reaction to this plant.

During pregnancy and breastfeeding

Quite often, chokeberry is prescribed to pregnant women, especially in the first half of pregnancy, when the likelihood of developing toxicosis is especially high. By improving the functioning of the liver, chokeberry is able to eliminate toxicosis with its manifestations such as nausea, increased salivation, and vomiting. Against the background of taking chokeberry, toxicosis is less pronounced or disappears completely.

Important is the ability of this plant to improve the condition of blood vessels and normalize blood circulation. Under the influence of the components of chokeberry, the risk of placental abruption, sudden uterine bleeding and spontaneous miscarriages is significantly reduced. In the second half of pregnancy, when the load on the female body becomes large enough, the kidneys and urinary system often fail, as a result of which the woman suffers from high blood pressure and swelling of the lower extremities.

Preparations from chokeberry help to remove excess fluid from the body without harming the mother and her unborn child, and also bring blood pressure indicators to physiological norms. However, for the treatment of edema, accompanied by low blood pressure, the use of chokeberry is not recommended.

Pregnant women with diabetes, doctors recommend eating chokeberry in order to improve metabolic processes and stabilize blood glucose levels. Aronia normalizes digestion and helps control appetite.

During breastfeeding, chokeberry improves lactation processes, and also helps mother and baby improve immune protection and normalize vitamin and mineral balance. The recovery of the maternal body after a long pregnancy and the stage of childbirth against the background of taking preparations from chokeberry occurs much faster.

The duration of the reverse involution of the uterus is reduced, bleeding stops, postoperative sutures heal better and faster, mood improves, and a general surge of strength is felt.

For various diseases

For type 2 diabetes. Against the background of taking chokeberry, the work of the internal secretion organs, including the pancreas, improves. Sufficient production of enzymes helps to control blood sugar levels, and also normalizes the functioning of all organs of the digestive system. Against the background of improving the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract and liver, the intestines are less slagged and the consequences of the disease are reduced, which are characterized by difficult-to-heal trophic ulcers, decreased visual function (diabetic retinopathy), exudative diathesis, high blood pressure, bleeding gums. For the treatment of this endocrine disease, preparations from chokeberry are prepared using sugar substitutes - xylitol, sorbitol, fructose, stevia.
In the postoperative period. When recovering from surgery, preparations from aronia chokeberry reduce the risk of breakthrough bleeding, and also improve the regenerative functions of the body. Wounds heal faster without the risk of postoperative complications and inflammation.

In addition, the body recovers faster after blood loss, and resistance to nosocomial infections increases.

breast cancer. Specialists in the field of oncology believe that against the background of taking preparations from chokeberry, the growth of tumor atypical cells is significantly inhibited, and the effect of chemotherapy is also enhanced. Aronia improves the overall tone of the body and enhances its resistance to adverse factors. Often, chokeberry is prescribed as a prophylactic for women suffering from fibrocystic mastopathy, which can degenerate into a cancerous tumor, or an ovarian cyst. Chokeberry preparations improve hemodynamics and are good antioxidants.
Intestinal diseases. Aronia chokeberry remarkably treats hemorrhoids, especially those of its forms that are accompanied by bleeding. The use of preparations from this plant in combination with other drugs contributes to the fact that the expanded hemorrhoids stop bleeding and significantly decrease in size. At the same time, pain sensations go away, and inflammatory processes, which, as a rule, always accompany this disease, are eliminated.

However, with constipation, ulcers and colitis, it is not recommended to take chokeberry, since such conditions are considered contraindications for the use of drugs from this plant. But with diarrhea - this is an effective remedy that helps to improve the functioning of the intestines and normalize the stool.

Phlebeurysm. Aronia chokeberry is often used for varicose veins, thanks to this plant, vascular hemodynamics improves, pain, heaviness in the legs and swelling go away, and the risk of bleeding and the appearance of long-term non-healing ulcers is also reduced.
Treatment of colds. With a cold, the juice of chokeberry or a decoction of the leaves of this plant is gargled, and solutions of low concentration are instilled into the nose with sinusitis and sinusitis. These funds have an antimicrobial effect, and also perfectly eliminate inflammatory processes, contributing to the cleansing and speedy healing of tissues affected by a bacterial infection.

For the treatment of various diseases, ready-made pharmaceutical preparations or medicinal preparations are used, which, in addition to chokeberry, contain a combination of other natural plant components. No less effective are home-made aronia chokeberry products.

Is it possible to lose weight?

Modern nutritionists recommend overweight women to eat aronia berries for weight loss. A properly formulated diet in combination with chokeberry berries gives excellent results in shedding extra pounds. It has been noticed that the plant is able to maintain a normal level of glucose in the blood, as a result of which there is no acute desire for an extraordinary meal.

In addition, the active ingredients that make up the berries improve metabolism and the removal of toxins from the body, thereby accelerating metabolic processes. An accelerated metabolism, in turn, contributes to better absorption of food and allows you to achieve rapid and long-term saturation of the body with small portions of food.

The use of chokeberry is also justified by the fact that the berry has a low calorie content, so it can be safely introduced into the daily daily diet.

Recipes

In the process of manufacturing a variety of medicinal products, freshly picked, frozen or dried fruits of chokeberry are used. In the pharmacy, you can find preparations prepared from aronia chokeberry in the following forms of release:

dried fruits of chokeberry;
chokeberry syrup;
balm on alcohol from chokeberry;
chokeberry oil;
powder in capsules from dried aronia berries;
cosmetic cream containing the juice of black chokeberry fruits.

On the shelves of the grocery departments of modern hypermarkets, you can easily find food products that contain the components of chokeberry fruits:

juice under the brand name "Gardens of Pridonya" - "Chokeberry with an apple";
jam from the fruits of chokeberry;
soluble chicory with an extract from chokeberry berries;
jelly in the form of a soluble concentrate with chokeberry, ginger and cinnamon.

If chokeberry grows in your summer cottage, you can make preparations for the winter from its berries yourself at home.

Traditional medicine knows a lot of a wide variety of recipes that help with certain diseases.

Decoction of aronia berries

You need to take 25 grams of dried chokeberry fruits and pour them with 250 milliliters of water. On low heat, the composition is cooked until boiling, then removed from heat and covered with a lid. The broth is allowed to brew for 2-3 hours, after which it is filtered. Aronia decoctions are taken 150 milliliters three times a day as a general tonic.

Vodka tincture

For 1 kilogram of fresh rowan fruits, take 1000 milliliters of vodka and 500 grams of granulated sugar. Aronia and sugar are mixed, and then the ingredients are poured with vodka. The container is tightly sealed and left in a dark place for 70 days. Periodically, the tincture must be taken out and shaken. At the end of the infusion period, the liquid is filtered and placed in a dark glass bottle for storage. The shelf life of this tincture is several years.

An alcoholic medicinal composition from chokeberry is used 5-10 milliliters with meals to improve appetite and digestion.

Black chokeberry syrup

One and a half kilograms of berries are taken, they are poured with 2000 milliliters of boiling water. Add 15 grams of citric acid to the hot composition and mix the ingredients until the citric acid is completely dissolved. The container with the composition is covered with a lid and left to brew for about one day.

Then the composition must be filtered and a syrup is prepared from the resulting juice. For this purpose, one kilogram of granulated sugar is added to one liter of juice and the composition is boiled over low heat, the cooking time should be no more than 10 minutes. The finished product is poured into sterile containers and sealed with lids. Syrup can be stored in a dark place at room temperature. Take black chokeberry fruit syrup 5 milliliters before meals three times a day, it helps a lot in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

rowan honey

It will take 300 grams of freshly picked black chokeberry fruits and 500 milliliters of honey. Washed berries are crushed to the state of berry puree and poured with melted honey. The composition is thoroughly mixed and poured into jars for subsequent storage in the refrigerator.

Take rowan honey one tablespoon three times a day for high blood pressure and diseases of the cardiovascular system. The course of treatment should not exceed 40 days

Blackberry juice

If you want to preserve as much of the valuable biologically active components of fresh chokeberry as possible, prepare fruit drink from them. For this purpose, 500 grams of freshly picked berries are taken and finely kneaded or crushed in a blender. To the resulting berry puree, add 300 grams of granulated sugar and stir well until it is completely dissolved. To the resulting mass add 500 milliliters of boiled water.

Before use, fruit juice must be passed through a fine-mesh sieve. It is recommended to take fruit drinks 250 milliliters three times a day. You can store the drink in the refrigerator, but its shelf life should be no more than a day. For this reason, you need to prepare a small portion that will be used throughout the day. The drink tones well, stimulates the immune system and reduces colds in acute respiratory diseases.

Pureed chokeberry with sugar

To use another method of harvesting fresh chokeberry berries for the winter, it is not at all necessary to subject them to heat treatment. You can make berry puree with sugar. For this purpose, freshly picked chokeberry fruits and granulated sugar are taken in proportions of 1: 1, that is, 1 kilogram of sugar is needed for 1 kilogram of berries.

The berries need to be crushed and mixed with granulated sugar, and then the finished mixture is decomposed into clean storage containers. From such a blank in winter, you can cook compote, make fruit drink or jelly. Often this option is also used as a filling in pies. It is best to store chokeberry with sugar in the refrigerator.

Blackberry jam

To make jam we need:

one kilogram of berries;
one and a half kilograms of granulated sugar;
250 milliliters of finished fruit juice;
500 milliliters of water;
juice of one lemon;
50 milliliters of rum.

First, the fruits are placed in a container with a lid and put in the oven at a temperature of 50-60 degrees for about 4-5 hours. The berries will burst and release juice, which must be poured into another container and water, fruit juice and granulated sugar should be added to the juice. The berries that have released juice should be set aside, they will be needed later.

The composition is put on a slow fire and boiled for 10 minutes from the moment of boiling. Then berries are added to the syrup and the composition is boiled again for about 10 minutes. Next, rum is added to the jam and boiled until the chokeberry fruits become transparent, and then lemon juice is added. After adding the lemon juice, the jam is removed from the heat and immediately poured into clean storage jars.

Frozen chokeberry

Fresh sorted fruits are laid out in small bags or plastic containers and placed in the cold for subsequent freezing. The optimum freezing temperature is minus 15 degrees. If the temperature is lower, then many nutritional components and fruit sugars are transformed into starchy compounds under the influence of low temperatures, and during thawing, chokeberry will lose its valuable medicinal properties.

For further use, it is advisable to defrost the fruits of chokeberry in a natural way at room temperature. Frozen berries can be stored for up to three years without losing their properties.

Dried chokeberry

The berries need to be sorted out, damaged and rotten fruits removed and the stalks removed. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the berries in a single layer. The baking sheet is placed in the oven, where the heating temperature does not exceed 50 degrees. The oven door should remain slightly ajar during the entire drying process so that the moisture from the berries can evaporate.

The drying process takes 8-10 hours, while the berries need to be mixed on a baking sheet from time to time for even drying. The finished raw material should be dense and wrinkled. You can not overdry the berries to such a state that when pressed they would crumble into dust - the skin of properly dried fruits should spring a little under the fingers when pressed. After the fruits have dried, they are collected in a cardboard container, which must be left open for another 2-3 days so that the remaining moisture evaporates. Then the box is closed and placed in a place protected from moisture and direct sunlight.

Chokeberry juice with honey

To reduce high blood pressure and relieve attacks of hypertension, it is useful to drink freshly squeezed juice from the fruits of chokeberry. For this purpose, 60 milliliters of freshly squeezed juice is mixed with 40 milliliters of honey.

The resulting composition is consumed 5 milliliters 3 times a day for one month. Portions are prepared fresh each time, as they are consumed. With hypoanacid gastritis, freshly squeezed black mountain ash juice is taken 50 milliliters on an empty stomach 30 minutes before a meal.

It is advisable to take preparations from black mountain ash in courses, taking breaks to rest the body. The duration of administration and dosage must be selected together with the doctor, taking into account the state of your health and the problem that you want to solve when taking chokeberry preparations.

Here are some useful tips that will come in handy when planting a plant:
A place for planting aronia chokeberry should be chosen sunny and spacious, since the crown of an adult bush tends to branch strongly.
For planting, a site with a close occurrence of groundwater to the soil surface is best suited.
Planting cuttings is best done in May or September, so that the plant has time to take root and adapt to new conditions before winter.
Aronia seedlings are buried in light loose soils by 6-7 centimeters, and in heavy loamy soils by 2-3 centimeters, while the root collar of the seedling should be at least 3 centimeters from the soil level.
Aronia chokeberry loves regular top dressing with organic fertilizers and timely watering. An adult plant when watering needs a volume of water of at least 30 liters.

The shrub propagates by seeds, cuttings and layering, and the simplest and most reliable method is considered to be reproduction by layering from an adult plant.
Every year, adult chokeberry needs to form a crown to increase productivity. Old, frostbitten and weak shoots are subject to removal.
When picking berries, you need to remember that you need to pick the brush without grabbing the leaves, since flower buds are laid in the axil of the leaf, which will provide you with a harvest of berries for the next year.
The berries of the aronia chokeberry do not crumble before the arrival of frost, remaining to hang with tassels on the branches.

Chokeberry begins to bear fruit at the age of 2-3 years, the yield is maintained for 20-25 years, after which the plant must be replaced. For the winter, young seedlings are covered with spruce branches, and adult plants hibernate without shelter. It is important to remember that when a large amount of nitrogenous components is introduced, the winter hardiness of mountain ash is significantly reduced.

When buying chokeberry in the market, ask where it was collected, and also pay attention to its appearance. Berries that grew in a clean place will not look dusty outwardly, their skin should be shiny with a slight waxy coating.

In the next video, the expert will talk about how to properly plant and care for chokeberry.