Woolly Fun

Woolly bear caterpillars, or woolly worms, are a common sight this time of year as they begin to seek out a safe place to ride out the upcoming winter.

But, could they also be trying to give us a heads-up about what the approaching winter holds for us?

According to a well-known legend, they just might. A woolly bear caterpillar’s body is made up of 13 segments, colored either black or brown. If there’s more brown, legend has it that the upcoming winter will be milder. More black coloring suggests a harsher winter ahead.

So, let’s take a look back at how the legend started. In the fall of 1948, Dr. C. H. Curran from the American Museum of Natural History in New York traveled to Bear Mountain, outside of New York City, to study the caterpillars there. By determining the average number of brown segments in the caterpillars over the next 8 years, each fall Curran found more than a third of the caterpillar’s bodies were colored brown. And yes, the following winters were milder than normal.

It doesn't matter if the little critter is accurate or not, it gives us a good excuse to cuddle with our honey! Grab a cozy woolly blanket and thank a caterpillar.

PS The caterpillars can freeze during the winter, but in the spring, they create a cocoon and emerge as an Isabella Tiger moth. 

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Take time to remember there are other people 

JUST LIKE YOU!

Moonshine in Michigan - the kind you drink

Measuring the moonshine for the "Cheers to Michigan" drink.

CREDIT LESTER GRAHAM / MICHIGAN

It’s fall and there’s a hint of it in the air.

“It’s definitely getting into the season where I like to think about fall flavors in my cocktails,” said Tammy Coxen of Tammy’s Tastings.

Among the bottles in front of her was one of moonshine.

"This is from Wise Men Distillery. They're just outside Grand Rapids and they make a variety of different products. What I'm using today is their Apple Pie Moonshine. It starts off with a base of their corn with a little bit of barley moonshine. That basically means it’s an unaged whiskey. Then they steep it with a whole bunch of spices and then some Michigan apple juice concentrate,” Tammy explained, adding, “To me it tastes like drinking an apple pie.”

Every year it seems as though there are more apple, cinnamon apple, and apple pie spirits on the grocer and liquor store shelves. It’s starting to be a lot like the trend of everything pumpkin spice in the fall. The question is whether those spirits are going to the same trouble of using real spices and apple juice.

Tammy says there’s a lot of variability in the market.  

“Some things, especially the apple whiskeys, are really just using flavoring and can to me have kind of an artificial taste. That’s not really something I want my glass. Then other people are taking more of an artisan approach. So, it's really kind of a buyer beware issue,” Tammy said.

She used the Apple Pie Moonshine in a drink based on the whiskey sour template.

“Our base spirit here is an ounce and a half of vodka. I also used the Wise Men distillery vodka. Then it's got three quarters of an ounce of their Apple Pie Moonshine and just half an ounce of lemon juice. Shake it up with ice. Strain it into a glass.

My experience with apple pie-like tasting is limited to a guy I knew who made it every Halloween. It was tasty, but a bit too sweet for my taste. It was popular and it was potent.

The Apple Pie of My Eye has more citrus notes than what I’d tasted in the past. It's not as cloyingly sweet as that drink was. To me, this mixture is more drinkable.

“I will say that that moonshine on its own is quite cloyingly sweet. It’s great for drizzling over ice cream or if you're a person who likes sweet drinks, sipping on it on its own over some ice would be great,” Tammy said, adding, “To me on its own it's a little too sweet, but that's why I really like it in this sour application called the flavor comes out without so much of the sweetness.”

Apple Pie of my Eye

The ingredients of Apple Pie of My Eye
CREDIT LESTER GRAHM / MICHIGAN RADIO

1 1/2 oz vodka (Wise Men)
3/4 oz Wise Men Distillery apple pie moonshine
1/2 oz lemon juice
Combine all ingredients in shaker with ice. Shake and strain into
cocktail glass.

This article is from a Michigan Public Radio Broadcast.

Cheers! It tastes like drinking an apple pie

By LESTER GRAHAM • SEP 27, 2019