The Forgotten Canned BBQ From The 1960s You Can't Buy Anymore

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While some discontinued canned foods you'll never eat again may be worth mourning, this is not the case for every gone-but-not-forgotten vintage offering. Some old-school canned products attempted to be convenient at the cost of quality, which might have been the case with Armour Star's Ribs in a Can. When it comes to the best way to cook ribs, slow and steady wins the race. Sure, canned ribs are quicker, but is it worth the tradeoff when it comes to merit?

In the early 1960s, Armour Star went a long way in terms of making its product at least sound appetizing. One print ad claimed Armour Star's ribs were made from "specially selected, specially cut" meat. These canned ribs came hickory-smoked and slathered in a barbecue sauce made from, according to the ad, "nine special ingredients," which included "six worldly spices," but none of these ingredients are explicitly named. To serve Armour Star's Ribs in a Can, all you needed to do was heat it up.

Armour Star's ad did, however, include a caveat that might have turned potential buyers off: "If you are looking for the cheapest ribs, forget ours." Yes, that's right; while canned foods are often thought of as the cheaper, simpler option, this was apparently not the case with Armour Star's bygone, mid-century novelty.

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The history of Armour Star's Ribs in a Can is murky. The product was around until at least 1964, as Armour and Co. filed a patent for the process of canning barbecued ribs at that time. The patent specified a method for "Packaging slices or specially-shaped pieces of meat, cheese, or other plastic or tacky products of meat combined with its conservation." However, at some point in time, Ribs in a Can disappeared from store shelves.

So, what happened? One possibility is that the ribs weren't that great. When the ad was posted on Reddit's r/OldSchoolRidiculous, some speculated the sheer amount of preservatives would sour any flavor. However, u/99titan claimed to have tried the product and said, "These were pretty good. Much better than I expected the first time. The sauce was a little bland."

Another possibility is that the price was simply not worth it for many shoppers. At least one YouTube video conjectured as much, additionally pointing out that the cost of 2½ pounds of canned ribs today would likely be astronomical, considering that frozen ribs now often cost more than $10 a pound. Given Americans' growing concern over the various groceries likely to increase in price, there isn't much of a market for gimmicky products of questionable taste. If Armour Star Ribs in a Can were too pricey to survive back then, the same would likely be true if they existed now.