25th Purity Miss Martha's Ice Cream Crankin' -- A re-cap

Yesterday, Mr. Eats, Baby Eats and I braved the heat and humidity to try out the 25th Purity Miss Martha's Ice Cream Crankin' event. It's an ice cream tasting event, so it wasn't hard to convince Mr. Eats to go.

Wow. It was my first time at this event and there was more ice cream than I ever imagined. Even having mostly just two-bite portions, my body gave up long before my brain really wanted to. There was an entire tent of ladies with some spectacular-sounding ice creams (Shoo-Fly Pie!) that I didn't even get to try. I'm getting teary just thinking of it. But by that time, Baby Eats looked like she'd had enough. These kind ladies did give us a bottle of water for her. She doesn't drink water, but I thought it would cool her down. She proceeded to caress and lick the bottle. Parent of the year right here, people.

Before having to leave, we spotted local food friends Beth, Sallaboutme, Lindsay and Taylor, and Nicki P. Wood. I asked everyone about their favorites, but most couldn't name just one. The standouts for me were:

• Triple Ginger--Penzeys ginger powder, candied ginger, and fresh ginger--fantastic
• Wildflower Honey Cream--very delicate and refreshing
• Chocolate Cherry Chunk--my first of the day
• Dulce de Leche Crunch
• Tequila Mexican Vanilla--Mr. Eats convinced me to try it noting that it tasted a bit like flan
• Cheesecake--looked like mint chocolate chip, but was very cheesecakey and good
• Snickerdoodle
• Lemon Lime (Slush?)--far more tasty than its name implies
• Ninth Plague of Egypt--a super dark chocolate memorable not just for its name and intense taste, but for the fact that I spilled some on my white shirt (which is now soaking in Borax) and it also ties with...
• D's Nuts for best name!
• Lemon Pie--one of at least 10 lemon-based flavors I saw (and I tried most of them; I love lemon)
• Strawberry Swirl--neck and neck with lemon as a favorite fruit flavor
• Twix!
• Chocolate Almond Hazelnut--at least, I think there were two nuts in there. The hazelnut was more a flavor and I think there were slivers of almond. Loved it.
• Toasted Peach
• Ginger Pear
• Chocolate Banana (on a "Stiiiiick")--okay it wasn't named that. Nor were any of the other three chocolate banana ice creams I had but they were all good.
• Maple (something or other--I was in a sugar-induced delirium by that point)
• Apple Pie
• Grape!
• Pomegranate Sorbet with chocolate covered pomegranate seeds--my last taste of the day, a much-needed, refreshing palate cleanser (with no cream)

And there were more. Many more. And many more that I didn't taste. I didn't taste any of the vast number of Oreo, Butterfinger, Snickers, or peanut butter ice creams. I don't do peanut butter and I didn't want to waste valuable real estate in my gut on Oreos. I'll eat Oreos and Oreo ice creams, but they're not my first choice. I skipped a lot of vanillas, pistachios, and coconuts too. Though it turns out that the winning flavor was Coconut Waltz. Oops!


Despite the large crowd of over-sugared and over-heated ice cream lovers, I only noted a couple of flavors that ran out. I have to say, what would be fantastic for next year is a map of the flavors. Or just their general vicinity. It would be a big help in prioritizing so you don't run out of steam before you find Shoo Fly Pie. One could argue that takes the fun out of it, but I'm just sayin'. I'd gladly volunteer to create this map next year. Ahem.