We’ve been thinking about getting some perennial food
sources started, i.e. berry bushes.
Since I am an absurdly picky eater, we thought we’d better do a taste
test. (The shortbread is just because
Handsome can’t resist temptation…..)
The blue berries are frozen aronia berries and the red ones
are dried Goji berries.
Happily the shortbread came in handy to overcome the flavor
of the aronia berries. When Robert ate
one, he paused and asked, “How do we know this isn’t monkey poo?”
Aronia berries? I've never heard of them. Goji berries I've at least heard of (in a phone game) but never had. You're not trying something like blueberries? I don't really care that much for blueberries personally, but I know a lot of people do. Good luck with growing the berries!
ReplyDeleteWhat gives aronia its bitter/sour taste is the huge amount of tannin it contains. Those tannin are the physical evidence of the presence of antioxidants. So yeah you got it, it's one of the rarest food whose tannin you can bite into and feel straight in your month!
ReplyDeleteNow, not all aronia berries tastes the same. It depends on where you source them. Much like wine, the further south they grow, the sweeter they are. A generous amount of sunshine is therefore essential in giving the berries a fair level of natural sugars.
Last, privilege the frozen berries type as they tend to sweeten up naturally in the process. The dried berries should not be eaten like that: soak them up in water or even some nice alcohol (rum anyone?) to bring them back to part of their original shape. This way they will be easier to use in your recipes (cookies, smoothies).
Thanks for the extra info, Fred! These were frozen, but they were from Iowa, so perhaps they would have been better from someplace warmer.
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