Every spring, a sweet adventure awaits you at Knott’s Berry Farm. A food festival all their own, based on the berry that made them famous: the Boysenberry!

A Sweet Celebration at the Knott’s Berry Farm Boysenberry Festival – Photo Credit – Kelly Short

For the Love of a Boysenberry

My name is Kelly and I love boysenberries. There I said it. Growing up near Knott’s Berry Farm, I was introduced to this delicious fruit at a young age. A boysenberry is a mix between a raspberry, blackberry and loganberry. A fun fact that I learned on their site is that every boysenberry in the whole world can be traced back to Knott’s! How cool is that? Every year, Knott’s holds a Boysenberry Festival and this was the first year it worked out for us to go. Local bloggers tweeted at a pre-opening event, so I checked them all out in “preparation.” I was already dreaming about what I would try (Boysenberry Buffalo Wings, Meatballs and the Nutella Crepe)! I planned to have my favorite drink, the Boysenberry Icee.

Boysenberry Icee – Photo Credit – Kelly Short

A Boysenberry Dream

When we got into the park, we were greeted by Easter Snoopy! Even his Easter outfit was a purplish shade which seemed to go with all the boysenberries.

Hanging with Easter Snoopy during the Boysenberry Festival – Photo Credit – Kelly Short

I loved all the Boysenberry Festival signage, it looked so elegant and festive.

Welcome to the Boysenberry Festival! – Photo Credit – Kelly Short

I was vaguely familiar with the story of the boysenberry. I knew that Walter Knott had a berry farm (hence the name), and that he got the boysenberry from someone else named Boysen. But Walter made the berry famous. Guests can learn a lot more about the history of the boysenberry from a short film that plays at the Ghost Town Hall. My son, Oliver, enjoyed it so much, we watched it twice! It was awesome to learn about Walter Knott and all the hard work he did to make his dreams come true.

Knott’s Berry Farm Front Entrance – Photo Credit – Kelly Short

Boysenberry Everything!

Let’s get down to Boysenberry Festival business: food! The first thing I got was my standard Boysenberry Icee – amazing as usual. We then saw boysenberry cotton candy and found that it was Dandy brand which means peanut free – double win! This is a great theme park treat for peanut allergy guests. Oliver was so excited to have cotton candy!

Boysenberry Cotton Candy – Photo Credit – Kelly Short

Guests had so many dining options! I had trouble deciding what to get: shoestring fries with boysenberry ketchup? Or fried alligator bites with boysenberry aioli? We then saw the buffalo wings and they smelled AMAZING so we got those! I was shocked at the serving size, we got like 8 wings! They were so good; even better than they smelled!

Boysenberry Buffalo Wings – Photo Credit – Kelly Short

We passed on some of the other dishes, the meatballs, the pizza and more, until we stumbled upon the wine tasting. I’m pregnant so no wine for me, but the set-up was absolutely beautiful and there were many options.

Wine Tasting at the Boysenberry Festival – Photo Credit – Kelly Short

Right outside the wine area was boysenberry beer! So my husband decided he needed to try it. He thought it was good and there was a hint of the sweet boysenberry.

Boysenberry Beer – Photo Credit – Kelly Short

Bring the Boysenberry Festival Home!

At this point, we were both full even though we wanted to keep going. We decided that we needed to have some Boysenberry Festival souvenirs of the edible kind. I love rock candy so when I saw boysenberry rock candy, I knew I had to have it. My husband loves honey so he got the boysenberry honey.

For Oliver, it was harder because we had to ensure that any food for him was not made in the same facility as peanuts. The person(s) who maintains the Twitter feed for Knott’s is AMAZING – not only super responsive, but found out what was safe for him. We were delighted to find out that the BBQ sauce was made in a peanut-free facility. I was so excited! Believe it or not, it’s almost impossible to find BBQ sauce safe for him. Therefore, we had to buy it. Not local to Knott’s? You can buy it from their online store! Knott’s Twitter handler also gave me the recipe for the boysenberry meatballs from the OC Mom Blog! Check out the recipe for yourself here. We can’t wait to make them. So far, we have made boysenberry BBQ chicken and it was so delicious! The BBQ chicken is really a very simple recipe that you can even do at home on a weeknight! Only 2 ingredients: Boysenberry BBQ sauce and  chicken breasts. To prepare the meal, just follow the steps below:

1. Lightly brown chicken
2. Pour thin layer of boysenberry BBQ sauce over the chicken
3. Add water until it is about 1/4 inch deep in pan
4. Turn chicken often adding BBQ sauce every so often
5. If the sauce gets too thick while chicken is still cooking, add water to thin

6. Once chicken is cooked through, remove from heat

7. Enjoy!

Boysenberry BBQ Chicken – Photo Credit – Kelly Short

In addition to food, there were many craft vendors where one could buy something fun to take home!

The Boysenberry Festival may be over for this year, but it’ll be back next year. I can’t wait!