As someone who grew up in Southern California (though I was actually born in NYC) and whom always preferred the Knott’s Berry Farm theme park over its nearby rival Disneyland, this move by J.M. Smucker’s hits hard. Apparently some of their products are still available on various websites because of the need to sell off remaining stock and will continue to be available at the theme park and the brand website, said products will no longer be available in grocery stores.
To me, Knott’s products were always a cut above most other mass produced jams/jellies/preserves snd fruit syrups, but as I have been living outside of the USA since 2009, I can’t say that with confidence I suspect that Smucker’s has likely lowered the quality of what they make/made under the Knott’s brand label.
As an aside, please let me say that besides social media like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X (← I no longer use any of those or any other such social media), I’ve NEVER posted a topic on any site like Hungry Onion and have only commented on sites like this, the late Chowhound or some sites relating to hobbies. I’ve certainly wanted to in the past but have been VERY hesitant to do so for fear of backlash (which is one reason why I stopped using those 3 social media sites.) So I hereby ask that Hungry Onion users take it a bit easy on me.
That being said, I hereby give permission for any moderators to add tags or even delete this post it they see the need to do so.
My wife keeps asking why the only boysenberry preserves I can find at our nearby OC markets doesn’t seem to have as much fruit pulp as the Knott’s brand we used to get. Seems like the brand started disappearing quite a while ago. Too bad!
J/k. @TokushimaCook I understand your hesitation and hopes to fend off attacks. We’re a mostly friendly if occasionally quarrelsome group. Just channel your inner Disney Princess and “let it go” rather than engage too much with any know-it-alls, is my advice.
But please refrain from any ALL-CAPS denouncements of Taco Bell as " Taco Hell". We haven’t recovered from the last one to go over that cliff about how awful the food is (while continuing to order it!).
I’m an expat from NYC in California too! I hope I’m using that correctly.
With regard to being cautious about posting, please continue to jump in! I’m told this is the new socializing, and I believe this is a new social skill. Hungry Onion has been great.
Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm were the first and among the few theme parks I went to as a kid (the other was Hershey Park before it became a full-blown amusement park). We had fun at both but we loved the low-key KBF. Very sad.
I started using Facebook in the late 2000s, but gave up on it in about 2016 because of how it affected my mood…and not in a good way. I love photography and used to use Instagram until about a year ago but gave up on it, too because I found it made me competitive…which I never was until I started using Instagram. I started using Twitter/X in about 2009/10 and it was a great site for me for up-to-date information on disasters…perfect for me living here in disaster prone Japan (it actually helped me track down a friend’s parents for him after the 2011 earthquake/tsunami in NE Japan!) I gave up on it too due to the inane antics of the current owner.
At this point, Hungry Onion is the only site I make comments on and this post was my first because up until now, I was afraid of being trolled/bullied. So far that hasn’t been an issue so I expect I’ll post a few more topics when I think the topic warrants it.
Thank you for your comments and replies, etc. here and on other’s posts/topics!
I’m sorry you felt so anxious about posting. I would say that this forum is overall one of the more welcoming, supportive & jovial places on the internet. I get your trepidations regarding Facebook, though I mostly use it for business purposes, keeping up with friends, and running a few groups where trolling and/or bullying result in an immediate ban of the offending party
I was a travel agent for about 20 years and until the Knott family sold the park to Cedar Fair of Ohio, they had a free admission day for travel agents. I went every year and spent a good amount of money on food and souvenirs there to show my thanks. Unfortunately I could only do take out from their chicken dinner restaurant do to the long wait times. But we’d take the food across the street to their Independence Hall picnic area and eat it there! Besides the yummy chicken at KBF, I loved their funnel cakes and exclusive boysenberry flavored Icees sold at a stand next to the log flume ride. Oh, how I wish I could eat those right now!
The only thing I miss about Facebook is the handful of friends I made on the site. Though they were people I’d never met in person, I had no doubt that we would have hit it off if we had met. Unfortunately that wasn’t enough for me to stay on the site as I am admittedly rather weak when it comes to being trolled/bullied because of the trauma of having been treated that way in my youth. So far I have been lucky to avoid that on Hungry Onion and I hope that doesn’t change.
I also thank you for the kindness you’ve shown me on this post and in your comments, etc. on other’s posts!
The bullying pretty much stopped for me when I began to hang out with the Asian kids at my high school (Glendale High School in Glendale, CA). The way they treated me was so much better than my non-Asian peers and that was a major reason why I developed a serious interest in Asian cultures (especially Japanese). Mind you, bullying is a tremendous problem here in Japan, but it wasn’t a problem for me in how my Asian peers related to me in the late 70s/very early 80s.
