Aronia is a genus of deciduous shrubs, the chokeberries, in the family Rosaceae native to eastern North America and most commonly found in wet woods and swamps.

[5][6] The most common and widely used is Aronia melanocarpa (black chokeberry) which emerged from Eastern North America.

[5] In the eighteenth century, the first shrubs of the best-known species Aronia melanocarpa reached Europe where they were first cultivated in Scandinavia and Russia.

They can be used to make wine, jam, syrup, juice, soft spreads, tea, salsa, extracts, beer, ice cream, gummies, and tinctures.

Aronia berries and chokecherries both contain polyphenolic compounds, such as anthocyanins, yet the two plants are somewhat distantly related within the Amygdaloideae subfamily.

[11] What has been regarded as a fourth species, Aronia mitschurinii, that apparently originated in cultivation, is now treated as × Sorbaronia fallax.

Chokeberries are usually planted in early spring after thaw but autumn is also possible if the plantation is mulched or snow covered during frost.

[19] The chokeberry has a shallow and compact root system and thrives in humus and nutrient rich soils that are frost free, unflooded and with a rather low groundwater level.

Planting chokeberries in an existing grass plot is not recommended, due to the strong competition of weeds in the understock area.

At the beginning the plant needs to put its energy into vegetative growth, therefore it helps to remove flower buds.

In order to achieve a balanced fruit quality in the long term, the plant, which grows as a shrub, should be trimmed regularly.

Breeding of the red chokeberry is difficult, because the available accessions are tetraploid plants and thus, are likely to produce apomictic seeds.

[22] The breeding success of the black chokeberry for food production in Europe and Russia has been restricted because the genetic pool of the domesticated Russian plants is homogeneous.

A recommended harvest time is when the upper berries begin to shrivel slightly, but do not yet show any weight loss.

After the plants are fully matured a well growing plantation can yield between 3 and 12 tonnes of chokeberry fruits per hectare.

The high content of flavonoids in the fruits and their acidic taste are likely to protect the chokeberry against pathogens and pests.

Often mechanical measures can be taken such as ensuring sufficient sunlight and aeration between the plants or spanning nets as a protection against picking birds.

A number of cultivars, including A. arbutifolia 'Brilliant' and A. melanocarpa 'Autumn magic', have been selected for their striking autumn leaf color.

In Poland, aronia berries are added to jams and juices or dried to make an herbal tea sometimes blended with other ingredients, such as blackcurrant.

[33] The plant produces these pigments mainly in the leaves and skin of the berries to protect the pulp and seeds from constant exposure to ultraviolet radiation and production of free radicals.

[34][35][36] By absorbing UV rays in the blue-purple spectrum, leaf and skin pigments filter intense sunlight, serve antioxidant functions and thereby have a role assuring regeneration of the species.

Brightly colorful pigmentation also attracts birds and other animals to consume the fruit and disperse the seeds in their droppings.

[34][37] Analysis of polyphenols in chokeberries has identified the following individual chemicals (among hundreds known to exist in the plant kingdom): cyanidin-3-galactoside, cyanidin-3-arabinoside, quercetin-3-glycoside, epicatechin, caffeic acid, delphinidin, petunidin, pelargonidin, peonidin, and malvidin.