What it is
Aronia (Aronia melanocarpa) is a deeply pigmented berry: darker than blueberry, more astringent, and completely uncompromising in flavour. This powder is aronia and nothing else, air-dried and ground. The colour is deep purple-black. The pigment is anthocyanin, the same family that turns bilberries purple, and it stains. If you are using it as a colour, the stain is the point.
One thing sets it apart from the rest of our range: aronia is not a wild berry. It is grown on selected Finnish farms. The ingredients list is still one word: aronia. No added sugar, no preservatives, no fillers, no anti-caking agents. Contains naturally occurring sugars. 100 g in a resealable doypack.
How it is made
Aronia ripens in September, at the same time as sea buckthorn and in the middle of the lingonberry season. The berries are harvested, air-dried at low temperature, and ground. Packing happens in Nurmijärvi, Finland. The berry itself, and why so few people know it, is the subject of our guide aronia, the berry nobody talks about.
What it tastes like
It is not sweet. The flavour is an intense, dry tartness with an astringency that pulls at your mouth the way strong black tea does. It will stain everything. We consider both of these features. There is no equivalent in mainstream berry powders, which is why we sell it.
How to use it
Mix one to two teaspoons into a smoothie with banana and oat milk to balance the astringency. Stir it into dark chocolate desserts or berry compotes. Use it as a natural food colour wherever you want deep purple tones without artificial dye: frosting, batter, yogurt, skyr. Start small; it colours faster than you expect, and it is easier to add a second teaspoon than to take one out. For what else ripens in September, see the autumn berry season guide.
Storage and clumping
Keep the bag sealed, in a cool, dry place, out of direct light. There are no anti-caking agents in this powder, no silicon dioxide, so in humid air it can clump. Break the clump with a spoon; the flavour and the colour are unchanged.
Origin, food safety and shipping
The aronia is grown on Finnish farms, not foraged. It is not organic-certified. Kylmä Co. is under Finnish food-safety supervision; the Oiva inspection report is published on this site.
Web-shop parcels go to Finland, the EU, Switzerland and the UK; trade orders ship worldwide, including Japan, China, Korea, Singapore and all Asian markets. Aronia is our newest product, in 100 g pouches.
