Cynthia L. Herzog 
The Knott’s Boysenberry Festival is fast approaching, so Knott’s Berry Farm has invited local journalists to Wilderness Hall tonight for a taste of this year’s food and drink.
Knott’s Boysenberry Festival begins March 18 and runs daily until April 24. Dozens of boysenberry flavored, dressed or accented items will be for sale throughout the park and in the California market again this year, with about a dozen to sample tonight.
Of course, Knott’s is always trying to grab attention with an over-the-top Instagram-worthy post at the Boysenberry Festival, and this year it’s a Monster Boysenberry Pulled Pork and Slaw Sandwich, decked out with a huge prime rib and onion rings.
You can find this one at Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner during the festival. (No word yet on prices for anything.) We didn’t get to sample that one, but enjoyed another seemingly extravagant festival dish.
Knott’s signature dish is fried chicken, so anything that brings together fried chicken and boysenberry will catch my eye. And this open sandwich brings bacon jam and argula for the ride. Boysenberry? It’s the stuffed jelly inside the donut that this fried chicken breast sits on. And it’s a new boysenberry horchata on the side to wash it all down.
The sweet and savory flavors hit here, and you should probably take the time with a knife and fork to rebuild this unwieldy spectacle into a manageable fork that takes in every flavor in one bite. It’s worth it. But if you just wanna grab the thing, open wide and go for it, well, you’re on your own.
Just make sure someone pulls it for the gram.
Also new this year is a Crab Sushi Roll with Boysenberry Aioli and Spring Salad with Shrimp and Boysenberry Dressing.
It’s pretty cool, but a crab sushi roll surely ranks among the most common foods in Southern California. A boysenberry aioli brings it on theme, but otherwise doesn’t set it apart beyond the countless other delicious crab rolls in the community. I will always welcome a nice salad at a theme park, especially with shrimp on it. But Knott’s sells their boysenberry dressing now, and I have one in my fridge. So I’m probably more likely to recreate this one for lunch at home than pick it inside the park.
Knott’s also sells its boysenberry barbecue sauce, but the sauce-covered meatballs on mashed potatoes are a festival classic.
I also tried the Cowboy Boysenberry Chili with Mac and Cheese and Fritos.
There’s not a lot of heat in this chili, perhaps due to the sweetness of the boysenberry. The rich macaroni and cheese balance out the bit of spiciness the chili offers, but the Fritos bring a welcome crunch. All in all, it’s more warm comfort food than an exhibition of flavors.
For dessert, I sampled the boysenberry mousse chocolate cake.
Boysenberry is not an overly sweet fruit and complements a wide variety of flavors well. Count chocolate among them. Cake is at the heart of this dessert covered in photo-worthy purple icing.
Many festival items will be available a la carte, but Sushi, Salad, Chili, Chocolate Cake, and Donut Sandwich will be available on the six-item Festival Tasting Card, priced at $50 or $45. $ for season pass holders.
For discounted tickets to Knott’s Berry Farm, please visit our travel partner’s Knott’s Berry Farm ticket page.
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