Raccoons in a tree
The raccoon is a deep furred beast, not much unlike a badger, having a tail like a fox, as good meat as lamb; there is one of them in the Tower. These beasts in the daytime sleep in hollow trees, in the moonshine night they go out to feed on clams at low tide by the seaside, where the English hunt them with their dogs.
- 1634. William Wood. New Englands Prospect. Vaughan ed, p. 44.
According to the Old Farmers Almanack, on January 29th ‘raccoons mate now’.
And they taste like lamb.
It seems in the 17th century they were fighting the hogs for the clams, and I’m assuming that the English are hunting the raccoons and not the clams on the moonshine nights with their dogs. But I could be mistaken.
English Bloodhound from Edward Topsells The History of Four-footed Beasts 1607
clams
Tags: clams, dogs, lamb, moonshine, New Englands Prospect, Old Farmers Almanack, raccoon, William Wood
This would have been a good place to share the recipe called ‘eggs in moonshine’….next full moon.