Hops Cones ready for harvesting.
Beer, as we know it today (actually since around the 14th century) has been made primarily with 4 ingredients, Water, Malted Barley, Hops and Yeast.
Hops, a very prolific vine, botanically related to the hemp or marijuana plant, grows very rapidly over the summer months. Because of it’s heartiness, it can be grown most anywhere, however, the US and Europe are it’s most common origins. The main growing area in South Africa is in the George area, Western Cape.
Hops have been used in brewing since the 1400′s, when they first appeared as an ingredient possible for gruit beer. They originated in western Europe, and over hundreds of years they have made their way into every country in the world. Because of their excellent preservative qualities, hops became standard in beers across the world.
Hops Vines
Hops have multiple uses in beer and they also have some interesting uses outside of beer. Here are a list of six uses for the humble hop plant.
Add Bitterness To Wort
Unfermented beer is made of barley malt sugars dissolved in water. It is sweet and fragrant stuff. While it is tasty in its own right, beer needs a balancing taste to the malt sweetness. Some bitterness is considered desirable in beer.
Add Flavour To Wort
Hop flavours are mostly destroyed during the 60min boil for bittering. As a result, more hops need to be added with less boiling time so that hop flavours remain in the wort. This is the part of brewing that hops do their magic. Different hops impart different kinds of flavours and their blend can create even more flavours. Some varieties, such as Cascade will deliver a citrus or flowery taste. Other varieties, such as a Hallertauer, have a distinctively spicier taste.
Hops meant for flavouring are typically not boiled for more than 30 – 40 minutes.
Hop flavour is a key component of beer tasting as some flavours linger in the mouth even after you swallow the beer. A nice balance is needed with the sweetenss of malt and the hop bitterness. Some hops are known to be part of a certain beer style. For example, Hallertau hops are popular with German wheat beers and lager.
Add Aroma To Wort
It is not well known to most beer drinkers but the “nose” of a beer is very important to its taste. Like its wine counterpart, beers have an aroma that reaches your nose before the first drop enters your mouth. A most part of the aroma is contributed by volatile oils from hops. As these oils are lost readily during boiling, they must be boiled for a very short amount of time (typically less than 10 min). During such a short boiling, there is little flavor and bitterness imparted.
For extra aroma, brewers are known to do a process called dry hopping. This means that hops are added to the beer after fermentation just for aroma’s sake. Since no boiling is done after fermentation, most aroma is retained.
Preserve Beer
One of the main reasons for the extensive use of hops in beer is the ability of hops to act as a natural preservative. Hops have naturally anti bacterial properties. Back in the days before refrigeration, the shelf life of beer, in particular in the warm months, was a major concern. Probably by accident, the preservative property of hops was discovered by brewers in western Europe. These beers kept better than the beers without hops and soon other brewers, unable to compete, were forced to use hops as well. As a result, the use of hops in beer quickly spread and now, it has become a standard in beer.
Cure insomia
This is one of the uses of hops outside of beer. Hops contain naturally occurring oils that calms the nerves and induce sleep. A pillow filled with 1/4 cup of fresh hops are known to be a natural cure for insomnia. Some reports went as far as to blend it with lavender in order to boost its potency. Fully natural and beats sleeping pills any time. This is one of the more indigenous uses of the humble plant.
Health Supplement
Hops has a soothing effect on the nervous system that is helpful in treating restlessness, anxiety, stress, nervous diarrhea, hyperactivity, fits, delirium tremens and, of course, insomnia.
Hops are considered to have anodyne qualities and have been used both internally and externally for centuries to alleviate aches, pains, cramps and spasms. As an an herbal pain reliever, hops are often used to relieve stomach cramps, earache, neuralgia and toothache
Hops are believed to have estrogenic activity, and laboratory studies have indicated that some chemicals in it bind to estrogen receptors, helping to treat symptoms of menopause and other problems related to lack of estrogen production in women.
According to the assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, a ten-year study found that the particularly strong antioxidant effects of the polyphenols, which may be found in Hops, act to reduce the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease.
As a tonic for the liver, hops are thought to increase the flow of bile, and the herb was used historically for liver afflictions, such as jaundice.