The aronia berry, or black chokeberry, is the small, intensely dark berry of Aronia melanocarpa, a hardy North American shrub of the rose family. It is famous chiefly for two things: a mouth-drying astringency so sharp it earned the name "chokeberry," and one of the highest antioxidant and anthocyanin loads of any commonly grown fruit, which has driven its recent rise as a juice, supplement and superfood crop.