Knott's Boysenberry Festival 2022: Tasting Preview
Knott’s Berry Farm, Buena Park, CA
We’re back today with another food-oriented update, because that’s what this time of the year brings to our local theme parks. Tuesday night featured a tasting preview event for Knott’s Berry Farm in advance of this year’s Boysenberry Festival, which starts Friday, March 18th, and runs through Sunday, April 24th. The evening was an opportunity to see the gourmet culinary creations to be featured in this year’s event and the new souvenirs and merchandise guests can purchase.
The Boysenberry Festival has become one of Knott’s most popular events, beloved like Knott’s Scary Farm and Merry Farm, so lets check out what’s to look forward to this year!
Merchandise
As they do every year, Knott’s has produced new items for guests to purchase and take home and bring some of the Boysenberry Festival with them. Knott’s Merchandise Manager, Karl Busche explained the new flavors of traditional favorites, new wardrobe items, and an online-only “Boysenberry Festival in a Box” set that fans who can’t visit the Berry Farm can purchase and bring to their homes.
There are 15 new merchandise items featured at this year’s Boysenberry Festival, from clothing to sweets to sauces and jams and dressings and more.
Many of the food products may not seem new at first glance, but its their flavors that are unique for this year. The Knott’s Beef Brisket Jerky has two new flavors—Boysenberry Habanero and Boysenberry Bar-B-Q—while the Boysenberry Coffee is featured in a new Creme Brûlée option. There are new items in general like Boysenberry Curd, a Boysenberry Ice Tea mix, a Boysenberry Bacon Seasoned Spread, Boysenberry Ketchup, and Boysenberry Balsamic Glaze. The Boysenberry Cherry Jelly looks delightful, there are Boysenberry Brownie and Boysenberry White Chocolate Cookies too.
Of course, those looking to wear their Boysenberry pride can look at this year’s tank top, spirit jersey, T-shirt, and cap.
A Taste of the Boysenberry Festival
The main attraction of the evening, however was to sample some of the food items to be featured at this year’s Boysenberry Festival. We were able to try 9 savory items, 3 desserts, and several beverages, and honestly, Knott’s keeps getting better and better each year, improving its overall quality and providing interesting new, innovated dishes along with some traditional favorites.
The Chicken Dumplings with Boysenberry Wonton and the Boysenberry Meatballs were among the items sampled on Tuesday night.
We’d be remiss to say that our favorite item of the night was the Boysenberry Meatballs, which was a very popular opinion among all the media members invited. They’re simple, but they're oh so delicious, and they were served on a bed of creamy mashed potatoes. The Boysenberry-Filled Donut Open Face Fried Chicken Sandwich with Boysenberry Bacon Jam and Arugula (very long name) was also a surprise hit. While this would be perfectly at home at a fairground, the mix of sweet donut with boysenberry jam and a nicely fried chicken breast made for a great combo. The Boysenberry Cowboy Chili with Mac and Cheese and Fritos was also pretty tasty, and when we combined this with the Chicken Sandwich in a food hack, the resulting combo was pretty fantastic.
The Crab Sushi and the Boysenberry Filled Donut Open Faced Fried Chicken Sandwich were two other new entries to this year’s Boysenberry Festival.
Boysenberry Cowboy Chili with Mac & Cheese was tasty.
What’s nice about the aforementioned dishes is that they have vegetarian equivalents too. We tried a Vegetarian Boysenberry Chili that was surprisingly flavorful, although the boysenberry croutons that it came with didn’t quite have a crouton crisp. The Chicken Sandwich also had a meatless option that was actually very good, with a great, crispy breading and a taste that was actually somewhat chicken-like! Unfortunately, the Vegetarian Boysenberry Meatballs were not quite as tasty. Not only were they dry and not smothered in enough Boysenberry BBQ sauce, they also had a bit of a bitter lentil flavor that was stronger than our liking.
There were a few somewhat healthier options too. The Mini Crab Sushi Roll with Boysenberry Aioli was perfectly nice—basically a California roll and a safe option. There was a Spring Fling Salad with Shrimp and Boysenberry Vinaigrette that offered some greens and included good, grilled flavor on the shrimp. The Chicken Dumplings with a Boysenberry Wonton with Rice Pilaf was less of a hit, though. The chicken was dry and somewhat bland, requiring a teriyaki sauce that didn’t taste too home-made, and the rice pilaf was unspectacular.
Plenty of great sweets to offer, including the Boysenberry Mousse Chocolate Cake and Boyensenberry Pie Bar.
The desserts we tried were all positive. The Boysenberry Mousse Chocolate Cake was light, moist, and not overly sweet despite how it looked. The Boysenberry Pie Bar was fantastic, with just enough sweetness to linger and having a great crispness thanks to the crumble topping. The Boysenberry Rocky Road Brownie was also delicious, though some may find it too sweet—it was certainly the sweetest of the trio.
The Boysenberry Rocky Road Brownie was pretty sweet but also scrumptious.
We didn’t quite get photos, but there was also a Boysenberry Horchatta was was very enjoyable, eschewing the saccharine flavor that some horchatas have. We also really liked the Deconstructed Lemonade with Blackberries, Loganberries, and Red Raspberries. While the deconstruction might have flown over our heads, the tart beverage was very refreshing. On the alcoholic end, the Boysenberry Beer, Wine, and Sangria were fantastic as usual. We found the Prosecco with Hibiscus and Boysenberry to be nice but more of a brunch-y beverage. The Boysenberry Sweet Tea with Vodka fell a bit flat, though, tasting watered down in every way.
Most of the above items will be part of the Boysenberry Festival Tasting Card that will give guests the ability to sample several items off one card, similar to the Sip and Savor Pass at Disney California Adventure.
And while we didn’t get to try them, this year will also feature three Boysenberry Colossal Creations that are meant to feed anywhere from four to eight guests!
Grande Nacho with Jalapeños, Chili, Cheese, Avocado, Sour Cream, and a Boysenberry Salsa (for 4-5)
Boy O Boy, Now That’s a Cookie! Jumbo Chocolate Cookie Deep Fried with Boysenberry Jam and Ice Cream (for 6-8)
Monster Boysenberry Pulled Pork and Slaw Sandwich Topped with Onion Rings and Served with French Fries (for 6-8)
If you’ve got a group and a stomach, these are also options to consider!
We met a few characters while we were at Tuesday night’s event. Snoopy and Whittles seemed all too happy to start the Boysenberry Festival, with Whittles in particular apparently already starting to partake and gorge himself in boysenberry sweetness. We also met two student chefs from the Cordelia Knott Baking School, Vic and Art, who look like they’ll be roaming around during the event.
All of this starts in just a couple of Fridays, so bring your appetite! We’re definitely looking forward to the return of Knott’s Boysenberry Festival!
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.
