Tassleberry Farm Strawberry BBQ Sauce (1/5)

Queue up track number 8 on the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour album (or just refresh your memory  here)…

Let me take you down, ’cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry Fields forever.

This is a really bad review I know, and it’s tough doing it, but here’s my logic.

Let’s say you grew up on a strawberry farm, and your dad grew up on a strawberry farm.   So you know more about strawberries than most people know about TV.  Not only do you successfully market and sell your fruits “as is” – you also combine them with other things in order to make something better.   Now, I am not the owner of a successful farm, but I would think the most logical extensions would be jellies/jams and assorted strawberry flavored spreads for toppings of sweet kinds of foods. Things to go on a kids sandwich, or on pancakes, or with your ice-cream, for starters.   But no, no – not Tassleberry.  Lured by the sweet smells of local farming success, they decided to go a little ‘fruity’ when they branched into the world of online food sales including Strawberry Balsamic Vinegar, Strawberry Dressing and Veggie Dip, and … Strawberry BBQ Sauce – a “different” idea that didn’t have to taste this bad.

And on to the review.

Smell/Aroma

It smells like a combination of BBQ sauce and fresh strawberries.  You’ve never smelled anything like this in your life.  Pretty much horrible.   Made me snortle.

Before Cooking Flavor

It’s been awhile (I think since Jackaroo or Borderline) that a sauce has almost made me gag.  Dipping my finger into it was like touching the contents of a dirty diaper, just touching it made my stomach turn.  When I tasted it, it reminded me of something my daughter might make if I were to leave her in the kitchen alone.  All the other stuff they added to this just kept spinning the spiral of badness even further.  If you take a Coors Light and add some nutmeg and some fine hops, you’re still drinking a crappy beer.

Consistency

It doesn’t move at all in the bottle.  After a complete upside-down flip, it remains absolutely motionless – sitting there for about 15 seconds – before it plops down with another gut wrenching movement.

After Cooking Flavor

Cooking doesn’t improve this one – see above.

Ingredients

Pickled strawberries, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, brown sugar, onions, butter, garlic, liquid smoke, sweet smoked paprika, ginger, cinnamon, mustard.

Nutrition

All natural.

Marketing and Packaging

If someone were to want to do a strawberry sauce, I would urge restraint in the strength of strawberry flavor used. I would start with a KC style sauce, add a dab of strawberry flavor and then try it.  Maybe add a little more, or a little less – try it again.  I feel as if the big guy just told someone to make a strawberry BBQ sauce and left someone without taste buds to do it.  In this one, they add some odd choices including  ginger, cinnamon, and butter which makes for an uncomfortable palate combination.

Website: Tassleberry Farms

Brian Henderson

Site Editor, BBQ Sauce Lover, Family Guy, Hi Tech Marketer by Day. He recently wrote the Ebook “How to Market Your BBQ Sauce” which can be purchased on this site.