This past Sunday at the Chattanooga Market there was the annual Ice Cream Sunday. Some of the biggest names in ice cream in the Chattanooga area compete for a prize. This year the theme was fruit-flavored ice cream. The contest was judged by anyone who came to the market and purchased a $5 ticket to taste each of the ice creams. Once you purchased the ticket you wait in a line in which you go through the booths - the line was pretty long when I went so it took almost an hour but it was worth it for me.

It was so successful this year that the tickets were sold out by 2:15. Glad we got ours!

Once I finally got to the booths I started at Cold Stone and tasted each of the flavors. Cold Stone offered three different flavors of fruit ice cream: raspberry, peach and orange. I liked the raspberry the best but all of the flavors had a nice and smooth sorbet consistency. I had a few friends working at the Cold Stone booth which made me a little partial, but the ice cream was still pretty good.

Next was Bruster's. Bruster's has always been one of, if not my favorite, ice cream place in Chattanooga. They gave each of the testers a small sample of chocolate and key lime pie. The key lime was good but the chocolate was fantastic- as always. It is smooth, rich and not too thick.

The third booth was Nana's frozen custard. They served orange frozen custard. It had a good flavor but it doesn't really taste like real ice cream, and if I am going to get ice cream I want real ice cream.

Next was Ben and Jerry's - a classic. From them I received their famous Cherry Garcia. Now I am not sure if you can really count this as a "fruit" ice cream. I love the mixture of cherries and chocolate but it after the others it tastes a little prepackaged.

Marble Slab was next, where we were treated to blueberry and their famous sweet cream. But their ice cream misses the mark without the mix-ins.

After Ben and Jerry's was Mayfield - my family's chosen ice cream at home. They served their Lemon Meringue along with a choice of Peanut Butter Cup, Birthday Cake or Graham Slam. These are their new flavors. Although I love sitting down at home with a big bowl of Mayfield Ice Cream, it is not exactly gourmet ice cream.

Last was Clumpies - the winner for the past two years. Clumpies served each person two flavors and I tried Berry and French Silk. Clumpies' ice cream is always good and the Berry and French Silk did not disappoint me.

In the end I voted for Bruster's because of the fantastic consistency of the ice cream, the wonderful flavors and based on my previous experiences. All of the ice creams served were great, but the majority of the people must have agreed with me because Bruster's is the Chattanooga Market's 2005 Ice Cream Sunday Winner.

Congratulations Bruster's!