Is it too late to harvest aronia berries

Question

I have these aronia shrubs and I wanted to ask if it is too late harvest them. Most of the fruits look like they were harvested a long time ago even though I just did it. Are they still safe to eat or should I just get rid of them This is what a few of them look but almost all of the rest are wrinkly

Answer 1

I am not much familiar with Aronia but if you examine the pictures offered by various online sales sites what you have look like regular dried berries. University of Maryland offers an interesting page summarizing what can go wrong with Aronia, but of course most of these will apply to much earlier in the season. Check for Fusicladium scab lesions which would be relevant at the ripening stage.

Keep in mind that most of North America has had an unusually warm summer which has hastened ripening of many things. In my location for example in some years zucchini has a hard time producing viable seed for sowing next year, but this year the seeds seem fat and healthy, perhaps due to extended sunshine.