Luna Mercato BBQ Sauce --- FREE!!!

Still need a few more people!!!!!


On a side note, I will be at the Kentucky Craft Show this weekend (Thur-Sun), and I will have samples of the Luna Mercato products along with a few other products of samples. Feel free to stop by, there will be plunty of Kentucky Proud food vendors!

More information can be found here:
http://www.kycraft.ky.gov/

Love to try - our current favorite is a raspberry, & I'd be interested to see how yours stack up!

1. Blueberry
2. Blackberry
3. Strawberry

I'll be happy to try some.

1. Blackberry
2. Blueberry
3. Strawberry

I'd love to join in if there's still a chance:

1. Blackberry
2. Blueberry
3. Strawberry

I have reached the limit of this promotion. I will need the following Forum names listed below to please pm me with your USPS address. It would help a lot if I can just copy and paste it. Add your email address also please.

When you receive your products, you can either post your review in here, or make your own topic. Once again, the review is completely subjective to you, you can review the sauce any way you feel obligated (taste/thickness/smell/packaging etc). All I ask is a complete and honest review. Thanks for your time and I look forward to this. Along with this, every person will receive an additional product of some sort, which you are not obligated to review by any means, but you can also review. Thanks!

1. Kurt R.
2. TrishaW
3. Michelle R.
4. Deb Hall
5. Steve P
6. Jeffrey D.
7. Dan Thomas
8. Laura T
9. Andrew mellman
10. JustinHammond
11. Jackie R.
12. Pete O
13. Mary Anne

I know I said 12 people, but I also said the post count had to be over 200. To get this review started, I went ahead and let you Pete O, and Mary Anne be added to the list, and even made the # of recipients to 13.

Thanks so much,

Brad

[Robin Garr]

To get this review started, I went ahead and let you Pete O, and Mary Anne be added to the list, and even made the # of recipients to 13.

I'm glad you did that, Brad. Even if Pete and Mary Anne aren't as talky as some of us, they are both valued contributors. If your concern was ensuring that nobody joined the forum just to get your BBQ sauce, you're on safe ground here.

Thanks for offering the gang this opportunity. I look forward to reading their reviews!

To get this review started, I went ahead and let you Pete O, and Mary Anne be added to the list, and even made the # of recipients to 13.

I'm glad you did that, Brad. Even if Pete and Mary Anne aren't as talky as some of us, they are both valued contributors. If your concern was ensuring that nobody joined the forum just to get your BBQ sauce, you're on safe ground here.

Thanks for offering the gang this opportunity. I look forward to reading their reviews!

Thanks Robin, I appreciate the "blessing" and I hope I can get some Honest feedback, which I feel with this group will be truthful.

I had no hesitation with Pete or Mary Anne and I'm sure they are fine with contributing, I know a lot of people are more readers then contributors but obviously they have been part of the forum community
I have no problem giving to the KY community, after all, they support me as I am willing to support them in so many ways.

I hope this really works out well as I would love to continue this effort from time to time with multiple products.

I will get all products shipped out monday and should be received by Tuesday for most of you in the Kentucky Area. I hope to have everyones shipping information by then. I still am waiting on a few. I will see if tomorrow night I can update with who I haven't recieved, but we have a long day tomorrow at the Kentucky Craft show. I hope to see someone stop by, and please introduce yourself.

As always,
Thanks.

Everyone who sent me a PM, has received a tracking number through forum message. I am still waiting on 1 person to send me there information. Everyone should receive there products tomorrow.

As stated earlier, everyone received more then just A Barbecue sauce. You are only obligated to review the sauce, although the additional goodie review would be awesome . I tried to get everyone the #1 choice they had, but everyone did get at least there 2nd choice if not, no one received a third choice.

Ways to review:
You can review this sauce in many ways. You should always sample the sauce alone (cold & warm) on a spoon as even something like a pretzel with salt will alter the taste and not give you a good understand of the product and flavors. Then you can try the sauce on Ribs, Pork, Chicken, Hamburger, Meatballs, even a base for BBQ Chicken Pizza. Think of your own ideal to use the sauce on and report back here. Report how you tested the product, and anything else you wish to add (color, taste, thickness, product appeal, etc.)

All of these products are easily accessible across Louisville area and I will be posting later the locations you can buy these products locally, which I would always prefer


Thank you so much, and as always, I look forward to your honest reviews.

Alrighty then...I tried the Strawberry BBQ Sauce today and as you requested here is my honest review.

StevieP

Packaging and Shelf Appeal: Appealing in some respects. Nicely shaped bottle, labeling is proportionate with a nice use of a variety of fonts. Definitely does not have a “mom and pop I cooked this up and bottled it in a Mason jar” look to it. My primary concern with the packaging is the logo depicting the Crescent Moon. I looked at it and thought Hmmmmmm, why is this not working for me. Then I recalled a news story that I read recently concerning a logo depicting the Crescent Moon. In a nuts shell (pardon the attempted pun) the Crescent Moon, is the symbol of the Nation of Islam as well the symbol that appears on the national flag of many Muslim countries. Apparently this gives some people (consciously or not) a negative connotation. While I don’t personally have issues with any Muslims, if I were serious about moving product I wouldn’t take the chance and I’d lose the logo.

Aroma: The aroma is both smoky and a fruity. The “fruity” side of the aroma is quite noticeable and pleasant although it is not necessarily discernible as Strawberry. The “smoky” side of it is comparable to other products I’ve tried and while I personally don’t appreciate or enjoy the forced aroma of liquid smoke I think the average consumer has come to associate and expect this type of profile from BBQ sauce.

Texture, Appearance and Taste: In terms of product consistency this one leans toward the “Kansas City” style of sauce. In other words it is moderately thick, almost of a spoon able consistency. The first ingredient listed on the label is Strawberry Jelly and this is quite apparent when you pour the product onto a plate. Little “clumps” (for lack of a better word) of fruit and jelly are very evident in the product, something not uncommon when using jelly to “fruit” a BBQ sauce (I’ve done this, so I know). Looking at the product on a plate it has the appearance of Strawberry Jam, mixed with a little BBQ sauce. I did not find this altogether visually unappealing but the average consumer may find the thick and clumpy consistency a bit unexpected and outside the norm. In tasting the product, one of the first things I noticed was the large number of teeny-tiny strawberry seeds in the product. They were numerous, they were hard, they stuck in my teeth and they detracted from the product in a big way. I literally found myself crunching strawberry seeds between my teeth 10 minutes after I sampled the product. Seeds aside, I found the initial “burst” of flavor to be quite pleasant, although to be honest it was a pleasant “I’d like to try this on toast” kind of taste. The first thing to hit you is the fruitiness of the sauce followed very closely by a nice smoky flavor which is followed shortly by just an itty-bitty bit of spiciness. For the first 30 seconds after tasting I found myself liking (but not loving) the overall flavor profile. Unfortunately this enjoyment was short lived as my palette was overtaken by a very lingering bitter, almost astringent, taste. This bitterness lingers on the tongue for a very long time (we’re talking minutes not seconds) and was not pleasant. After “cleansing” my palette with a couple of glasses of water and some soda crackers I went back for more with the same result…a nice fruity/smokey/spicy “pop” followed by an unpleasant and lingering bitterness.

Overall Impression: One of the problems with using jelly to “fruit” BBQ sauce is that they are very-very easy to burn. The fact that you have these big “lumps” of what is in essence almost pure sugar suspended in a slurry of more traditional ingredients almost guarantees the average back yard weekend chef is going to burn the crap out of their BBQ chicken. My suggestion would be to find a fruit extract and substitute that for the strawberry jelly. This will result in the burn factor being reduced and the texture/consistency being more in line with what the average consumer prefers. Skills on the grill aside, as it stands, the person buying this product will probably do so for the “novelty” factor and (to be frank) they’re probably going to take it home, use it once or twice that will be it. The seeds and lingering bitterness are definitely a problem and I would certainly reformulate to remove the seeds (see above comment) as well as locate and eliminate the ingredient that is causing the bitterness (to put my comments on the bitterness in perspective, I tasted the product over 20 minutes ago and I still have a lingering unpleasant taste on my tongue). Anyway, in conclusion I think Strawberry BBQ Sauce is a novel idea and you’ve done some things right but this particular product has too many negatives for me to give it a “thumbs up”

It's good to see an honest and truthful review first off.

Secondly, it’s good to hear some of your things but also disappointing to hear some of the things.
I am sorry you experienced some things as the strawberry seeds, this may have been either an unlucky bottle or just 1 bad spoon, oddly enough, we've never heard someone comment once in the seeds in any tasting we've done and we even sold out of the strawberry at the Craft show this past weekend. I have thought of the idea of a fruit extract, but I wanted to keep the recipe "consumer friendly” to where they can expect and understand all ingredients and not ponder. Not all extracts are really easy and safe.

Its funny to hear about the moon crescent, I was not the original owner of the Luna Mercato, when it first came out with around I think 30+ cheese spreads among other things. This was his label design around 10 years ago and helps depict the "Luna" name and also works well with the slogan, "a total eclipse of your taste buds". I've tried to keep his recipes the same as far as spreads go along with the product, it was a good thing brand and product that many people enjoyed and are thankful for little to no changes over the years that sadly many companies do, but few get it right.

There is definitely some liquid smoke to the product, but as most consumers have said it was a perfect touch, and you hit it on as I would describe the 3 flavor profiles, there is at the start some fruit/sweet flavor, but not by any means over powering to make your cheeks pucker, then you get some smoky flavor following by a small spiciness. I am unaware nor never noticed this lasting effect you’re experiencing in your taste testing. It could possibly be the smokiness considering from your review your found it not so “whelming” (sorry if I’m putting words in your mouth).


I have been torn between the fruit pieces as you noticed, there are so people who love it because it shows it was made with real fruit, and other people who found it displeasent. We have decided to puree finely the jams to make sure there are no more pieces in there, this also helps solve the seeds problem you experienced. I guess you received an old batch (I was searching for bottles due to craft show whipping out inventory).

I hope you try the product out in a cooking/warming process as I have always felt the flavors really come better to life and achieve a more happier ending then applied cold. As always and sadly, this is not going to be a hit product for everyone, which is always a promise when you go outside the realm of what everyone is used to.

Thanks as always.

First taste of the Strawberry Barbeque Sauce...

The label is fine to me, I don't quite get why the cresent moon is inside the blue moon, I think the blue moon would be fine by itself...blue moon of Kentucky and all that...I do like the shining star icon, one small note, the word manufactured is misspelled on the label as "manufacturerd". Probably only I would notice something like that. I was a little worried the sauce wouldn't pour easily from the narrow necked bottle, but it came out fine. Nice consistency, clung to my spoon well. Good typical BBQ sauce smell. I think I wouldn't have guessed there was fruit in it by the smell alone. Could see the fruit and seeds in the decanted sauce. On first taste the fruit was evident but not overwhelmingly so. Definite smoke flavor that sticks with you long after tasting. I got some seeds in my teeth, but not anything I wouldn't expect from a sauce with strawberries in it. The crunchiness of the seeds is sort of interesting to me. The spice level in this I would deem moderate. I like it, my elderly mom would think it was hot, a pepper head would call it not hot enough. I think it is probably good for the public at large. I noticed there was nothing on the label about the smokiness/heat level, when I buy a BBQ sauce I always look to see how this is described. I am looking forward to playing around with this in the kitchen. As it stands now, I would buy it. Fruit and meat has always been one of my favorite combos. I have a feeling it will be great on pulled pork, and I also am eager to try the jar of banana pepper mustard that was included in the package. More when I get cooking...thanks Brad for letting us try these out!

Thanks Mary Anne!
Very good points.

I feel so foolish for not seeing the label misspelled, you would be surprised, with how there was at least 10 people involved in inspecting the label and still once in a blue moon, 1 misprint gets by. I even looked at the label after you said it and I was looking at my company name and not the "Manufacturerd by" part. <silly me

It looks to be occuring a general theme for the seeds from the Strawberry BBQ, obviously it's an old batch everyone got as we have now have new machinery that puree's the sauce more which ultimately, less seeds, but obviously not 100% less. I think some of the seeds is a pleasurable thing, like when you have a strawberry jam, reassures real food and not artificial.

I am like you, when it comes to spice, I don't typically like to make any product other then a hot sauce spicy, yes a little spice is nice, and as always, you can always go up in spice, but you can never really go down.


Do you think the smokiness was something to strong? I tend to find the smokiness is stronger when it's cold or by itself but used on something like you said, pork, it really hits the spot.
I really like to listen to reviews and the smokiness is now intriguing me, as I want to make sure I get this right, even if it means I need to half or fourth the smoke flavor.

You will love the banana pepper mustard, great on pretzels, eggrolls, sushi, roast beef sandwich, and even use it as a salad dressing.

I got my box today. I was sooo excited. I will review it shortly AFTER I've cooked some meat with it!

Brad - rather than a strawberry extract (liquid extracts are often harsh and artificial tasting), you might consider a fruit puree, these are sold frozen at Creation Gardens under the name "Perfect Puree" and come in every flavor imaginable. A bold shot of straight fruit that is smooth and easy to work with. I often use them to flavors cakes and custards. Just a thought.

Edited to say: you'd still have to add some sugar (I'd suggest white, not brown - brown has molasses in it, so that would compound the "burnable" problem), because these fruit purees are almost pure fruit and don't have any sugar in them.

Brad - rather than a strawberry extract (liquid extracts are often harsh and artificial tasting), you might consider a fruit puree, these are sold frozen at Creation Gardens under the name "Perfect Puree" and come in every flavor imaginable. A bold shot of straight fruit that is smooth and easy to work with. I often use them to flavors cakes and custards. Just a thought.

Edited to say: you'd still have to add some sugar (I'd suggest white, not brown - brown has molasses in it, so that would compound the "burnable" problem), because these fruit purees are almost pure fruit and don't have any sugar in them.

I've actually looked into that before, even contacted the actually manufacturer, I want to say they are out of Oregon? I've considered it a lot. There were lots of things to consider. One reason I really love the jam we use is because it's ky proud, comes from an amish farm in Holland, KY. We have worked on puree'ing the jams a lot more, especially with the new equipment we have. I am working now on getting a good strainer to use also, if the other reviews insist on getting them removed also. As said before, I do listen and want to make only the best for your Taste Buds

None the less it's always great to hear a suggestion.