Aronia berry oxymel is an easy-to-make herbal recipe with tons of benefits. Mellowing out aronia’s tart taste, this oxymel recipe is a perfect blend of raw honey and vinegar, making it a healthful remedy!

All About Aronia Berries

Also called chokeberries, aronia berries are a superfood with high antioxidant and antiviral properties. Aronia berries are very easy to grow and are a popular plant in a permaculture garden.

These plants are low maintenance and don’t have any pests, so they’re really easy to grow in your yard. If you don’t have any growing, wild aronia is simple to identify and forage for all over the US.

They grow prolifically, and we often have more berries than we know what to do with! Birds tend to leave them alone, unlike our elderberry plants, which we have to try to harvest before the birds eat them all.

The name chokeberries comes from their sour and astringent taste, especially when uncooked. Since the berries don’t taste great raw, they are best cooked into jam or syrup, similar to elderberry syrup or this oxymel recipe!

Aronia Berry Benefits

Just like elderberries, aronia berries are a great source of antioxidants and have tons of immune-boosting power. They are also anti-inflammatory and anti-viral and are considered a superfood.

Additionally, these little purple powerhouses are high in fiber, high in vitamin C and can help prevent reoccurring UTIs.

It’s so worth finding ways to use these berries in a palatable way so you can enjoy and benefit from them! This oxymel is a super easy way to access their goodness.

Oxymel Benefits

An oxymel is an old-fashioned health remedy made with apple cider vinegar and raw honey for common ailments like cold and flu viruses, and they can help boost the immune system, too.

Both honey and vinegar have medicinal qualities, oxymels are a tart and sweet potent mixture that can also be infused with beneficial herbs, which gives and extra health boost to the original remedy.

Historically made sweeter, today’s modern oxymels are made with about half ACV and half raw honey, although the ratio can be altered according to taste preferences.

I like to make a sage and ginger oxymel, self-heal oxymel, and elderflower oxymel for year-round immune support! Fire cider is a popular type of oxymel that you may recognize, too.

Aronia Berry Oxymel Recipe

With their superfood and immune-supporting properties, aronia berry is similar to elderberries, which makes them a perfect choice for making oxymel.

I like to make them into an oxymel rather than a syrup because the addition of vinegar increases the shelf life, and it will last a year or longer in the refrigerator. Raw apple cider vinegar and raw honey also add extra health benefits.

Ingredients

Aronia berries: Either homegrown, wild foraged, or found at a market.

Raw honey: It’s important to use raw honey for this recipe to get the full immune and other benefits.

Apple cider vinegar:  Raw apple cider vinegar with the Mother is best. Make sure to get good quality here for maximum health benefits.

How to Make Aronia Oxymel

First, put three cups of fresh aronia berries into a large pot with three cups of water. If you’ve got tons of berries this recipe is easy to double!

Bring the aronia and water to a boil over medium heat. Then, lower the heat and partially cover the pot with a lid. Let the aronia berries simmer for around an hour or until reduced by about half.

Then, remove the pot from the heat and set it aside to cool to warm room temperature. This will take at least 30 minutes or a bit more.

Strain out the aronia berries using a fine mesh sieve, pressing the berries to get any extra liquid out and not leave any goodness behind!

Note: If you line the sieve or a colander with cheesecloth, it helps to squeeze out all of the liquid from the berries.

Discard the berries. You should end up with about one cup of aronia berry and water mixture.

Add the raw honey while the aronia berry and water mixture is still semi-warm and stir until it dissolves.

Then add the apple cider vinegar and stir well.

Note: If you prefer, you can decrease the amount of vinegar and increase the amount of honey to make it a little sweeter and less vinegary – this might be better for kids.

Ladle or carefully pour the aronia oxymel into jars and cap the jars with lids.

How to Store and Use an Oxymel

Aronia berry oxymel can be used in much the same way as elderberry syrup – take it when you feel a sickness coming on or if you know you’ve been exposed.

We tend to take it often during the winter months to boost our immune systems and prevent viruses, and it works great for this as well.

Despite the tart raw flavor of aronia berries, this oxymel has a good flavor, and most people love it! Store this oxymel in the refrigerator for up to one year, and take it as needed.

Note: As with anything that has honey, aronia oxymel should not be given to babies under one year of age.

More Herbal Remedies

• Manuka Honey Vinegar Elixir
• Pine Needle Cough Syrup
• Elderberry Syrup
• Thyme Cough Syrup
• Rose Hip Syrup
• Homemade Elderberry Gummies