I scream, You scream

RRR & I spent a rainy Saturday down the shore and one of the highlights of our trip was a stop at the 4th Annual New Jersey State Ice Cream Festival .

The concept is simple: pay 5 bucks, get a plastic spoon, pink tasting tickets to hand to the vendors and green voting ballots to pick your favorite national and local ice cream flavor.

Contestants included the following national brands: America's Birthday Cake (Baskin-Robbins), Forbidden Chocolate Explosion (Friendly's), Raspberry Chip Royale (Edy's) and Cookies and Cream (Super Foodtown) which was a last minute substitution for the listed flavor, chocolate chip mint.

On the local level were the following: Peanut Butter Caramel Craze (Sundaes), Cake Mix (Mrs. Walker's), Pupmkin Pie (Sweet Kate's), Dough Yo! (Ummm Ice Cream), Mint Chip Mania (Napoli Bros) and Extreme Chocolate (Applegate Farms).

We found the Edy's entry to be a bit disappointing since there are so many great flavors of that brand and Applegate Farms seemed like to be a weak entry as well. We were not sure if the samples they brought weren't frozen properly, but the chocolate was a bit chalky. Having visited their Montclair location so many times when I lived in the area, I know they could have had a better choice. All of the others vendors did have their standout traits - rich, creamy, sweet, spicy (the nutmeg in the pumpkin pie was quite interesting) but there were a few that stood out above the rest.

Impressive flavors included the Peanut Butter Craze which included a delightful caramel ribbon infused with the chunks of peanut butter and Chocolate Mint Mania included chocolate chips and Thin Mints, a mint lover's paradise! RRR, who is normally not a fan, finished her sample with delight, much to my disappointment. And Friendly's Forbidden Chocolate Explosion made up for what Applegate Farms was lacking -- rich deep creamy chocolate flavor, sure to please even the most discriminating chocoholic.

We made our picks... Peanut Butter Craze (local) & Chocolate Explosion (national) were my top picks (with Chocolate Mint Mania a very close runner-up) and RRR was on the same page except in her voting Napoli Bros' edged out the Peanut Butter Craze as her favorite local flavor. Has she been converted to embrace all things chocolate & minty?

So how'd did our choices compare? We didn't stick around for the annoucements since Dad was waiting, but we did receive a quick response to our email requesting the winners:

Peoples Choice
Name Brand
1 Forbidden Chocolate Explosion Friendly's
2 Cookies & Cream Foodtown
3 America's Birthday Cake Baskin Robbins

Local
1 Peanut Butter Caramel Craze Sundae's
2 Pumpkin Pie Sweet Kate's
3 Extreme Chocolate Applegate Farm

Special Judges
Name Brand
1 America's Birthday Cake Baskin Robbins
2 Forbidden Chocolate Explosion Friendly's
3 Cookies & Cream Foodtown

Local
1 Pumpkin Pie Sweet Kate's
2 Peanut Butter Caramel Craze Sundaes
3 Cake Mix Mrs. Walkers