* Please Note: This information is based partly on Traditional Medicine which uses natural materials to support health. This information has not been evaluated or approved by the FDA. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These products are intended to support general well being and are not intended to treat, diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or cure any condition or disease. If conditions persist, please seek advice from your medical doctor.
Description
This famed flavoring agent for beer is a climbing vine with green, cone-shaped flowers; it's the dried cones of the female flowers that are used in brewing, and in medicine. Hops are related to hemp and marijuana, but don't produce a high when they're smoked.
Potential Health Benefits
Hops are recommended to curb restlessness and anxiety and to treat sleep disturbaIlces by Commission E, which also endorses hops for use as a sedative. Traditionally, pillows stuffed with hops have been used by people with insomnia.
Scientific Evidence
Hops contain bitter principles called humtllene and lupulene (which give the sharp taste to English beers called bitters) and 2-methyl-3-butne-2--O1, a chemical with sedative properties. The active principle of hops is located in a yellow powder, called lupulin, that surrounds the seed of the fruit.
A 1996 German double-blind study found hops as effective as the drug Rohypnol when it comes to inducing sleep, with fewer side effects. Hops also contain phytoestrogens, substances similar to estrogen, which may help prevent coronary disease and osteoporosis, although Commission E didn't address these larger possible effects of hops.
Hops
Humulus lupulus L.
English Common Names
Hop, common hop, English hop, European hop. "Hop" refers to a hop plant; "hops" refers to the hops of commerce, i.e., the female cones.
Morphology
Hop is a high-climbing, wind-pollinated, perennial vine, sometimes extending more than 10 m. The vines climb by twining, and are assisted in holding onto surfaces by two-hooked hairs that resemble miniature grappling hooks. The annual, above-ground stem is killed by frost each year, re-growth occurring each season from perennial underground rhizomes and from buds on the rootstock (crown). The rootstocks can live for half a century. The perennial crown becomes woody with age, with heavy, rough, dark brown bark. The hop plant is propagated primarily vegetatively rather than by seeds. More than one hundred cultivars have been named, each essentially a clone. Many of these are of hybrid origin, and have been reproduced asexually for centuries. Some plants have male flowers, others have female flowers; occasionally plants bear both kinds. In most natural populations of hop, female plants are about twice as numerous as males. Because the female plants produce the commercially valuable hops (the cones or fruit-clusters), and also are of greater ornamental value than the males. the iatter are generally discarded as soon as they can be recognized. However, a few males are usually pianted deliberately in England because they increase yield and it is not economical to grow most English cultivars seedless. Male flowers are not organized into "cones" but are in loose inflorescences (panicles). In most hop plantations, males are regarded as a nuisance, since their pollen fertilizes the females, and prevents the formation of waluabie "seedless hops" that are predominantly preferred in commerce. A resin with the valuable brewing constituents is produced in yellow glands on the bracteoles of the cone, as well as on the seeds.
Classification and Geography
Humulus has three species, indigenous in north-temperate areas. Only the perennial H. lupulus is native to North America. The Asian annual Hop H. japonicus Sieb. & Zucc. is a naturalized weed of eastern North America, including southern Ontario and southwestern Quebec.
There are five varieties of H. lupulus: var. lupulus of Eurasia; var. cordifolius (Miquel) Maximowicz of Japan; var. neomexicanus Nelson & Cockerell, the predominant wild hop in the western Cordillera of North America, found from Mexico to British Columbia; var. pubescens E. Small, of the midwestern US; and var. lupuloides E. Small, of eastern North America, which includes most wild hops from the Prairie Provinces to the maritime provinces. The distribution of the two indigenous Canadian varieties is shown on the map. In much of Canada and the US the European var. lupulus is found as an escaped plant from past use in brewing, or as a persisting ornamental around abandoned homesteads. Variety lupulus is the ancestor of most brewing cultivars used today. However, both in Japan and in North America, the local wild hops hybridized with the imported European hop to produce unique cultivars.
Ecology
Hop plants frequently occur in moist thickets, slopes, river banks, alluvial woods, or along fences and hedges, often in sandy soils. The plants grow best in rich, alluvial or deep sandy or gravelly barns. Well-drained soils are especially beneficial in areas subject to frost heaving of the roots. Hop is adapted to a wide range of temperate climates. Although it is quite tolerant of low temperatures, good snow cover can reduce winterkili in very cold regions. Hop is somewhat shade tolerant, but prefers full sun.
Medicinal Uses
The high oil and resin content of hops contributed to a reputation, greatly exaggerated, for valuable medicinal properties, and hops have a long history of use in folk medicine. Hop resin is bacteriostatic (against gram-positive organisms) and this factor may lend some credibility to use of hop in former times for treatment of certain types of epidermal sores and irritations, and bacterial infections such as tuberculosis. The hop plant is related to the hemp (marihuana) plant, tempting some to try to smoke the leaves. However, hops are devoid of the mood-altering chemicals found in marihuana. Today, hop extract is used as an aromatic bitter principle in phannaceutical preparations and in shampoos. Extracts are used in skin creams and lotions in Europe for their alleged skin-softening properties.
There is a long Eurasian tradition of using hops to induce sleep, including putting the cones in pillows, and planting hop beside bedrooms. Remarkably, American Indians independently adopted the soporific use of the plant. The tranquilJizing effect commonly alleged in foildore for hops may have a logical basis in a sedative volatile alcohol, dimethylvinyl carbinol, which comprises up to 0.15% of the dried leaves.
Chemistry
The commercial value of hops is due to resins which give beer its bitterness, and essential oils which contribute to flavor and aroma. Tannins are also present, which give astringency to preparations made with hops. Over 200 essential oil constituents have been identified, chiefly myrcene, humulene, and caryophyllene, with minor amounts of dipentene, linalool, farnesene and methyl nonyl ketone. The important brewing resins include alpha-acids (a-acids) and the beta-acids (J3-acids), also referred to as humulones and lupulones, respectively. Both contribute bitterness to beer, but the a-acids are much more intense than the 13-acids. The a-acids are a mixture of chemical analogues, including humulone, cohumulone, and adhumulone; similarly the f3-acids are a mixture of lupulone, colupulone, and adlupulone. Brewers have long recognized that North American cultivars have a higher content of alpha acids and produce beer of stronger aroma. Bitter hops are very important commercially, and nearly all owe a great deal to American germplasm. Content of a-acid varies from about 3.5% in traditional European types to as much as 15% in newer bitter varieties. The European forms of hop have a relatively low content of "soft resins" (Α- and Β-acids collectively), a ratio of ΑΒ approaching one, low cohumulone, moderately low essential oil content, and relatively low myrcene in the essential oil fraction. Native American hop plants are quite high in cohumulone and colupulone content, and have a pungent, unpleasant aroma.
Non-medicinal Uses
Hop has been used through recorded history for various culinary and household purposes, although it is chiefly known as a brewing ingredient. Hop extracts and oil have been used to flavor tobacco, yeast, beverages other than beers, frozen dairy desserts, candy, gelatins, puddings, baked goods, various confections, chewing gums, and condiments. In the past, yeast for bread-making was prepared by culturing wild yeast in a decoction of hops and water. The hops added flavor and apparently prevented the yeast from spoiling by virtue of their antiseptic properties.
Agricultural and Commercial Aspects
The cultivation of hop was not introduced into England until the close of the 15th century. The hop was brought to North America and grown in the early 17th century. The first commercial brewery in Canada was founded in Quebec about 1668 by the Intendant Jean Talon, to control the intemperate use of stronger drink. By the middle of the 19th century, New England and New York produced the bulk of the hops of the New World. However, by the early 20th century, the Pacific Coast became the leading hop-producing area in North America. In the 1920's hop growing in New York was practically wiped out by downy mildew and by Prohibition. Similarly, in eastern Canada commercial hop growing was phased out by the end of the Second World War, but became established in British Columbia.
About two dozen countries, including Canada, raise substantial commercial crops of hops. Germany is the largest producer, followed by the US. Other centers of hop production include Russia, China, England, the former Czechoslovakia, and the former Yugoslavia. About 114,000 tonnes are produced worldwide annually, on more than 90,000 ha.
Hop is a good example of a crop that has been substantially improved recently through incorporation of wild geimplasm. A wild hop from Manitoba contributed to the improvement of many standard brewing varieties. Indeed, the improved cultivars axount for an ever-increasing proportion of production. The contribution of wild hop germplasm was recently valued at almost $90,000,000 annually in North America.The use of hop shoots as a vegetable is an interesting possibility. Young shoots (6-10 cm long) are often consumed as a pot-herb, like asparagus. These spears can be boiled for 2-3 mm, and then boiled in a change of water until tender. When steamed for 5 mm and served with melted butter or cheese sauce, the shoots taste much like asparagus. In hop-producing areas of Europe, blanched hop spears are often served in fine restaurants. Hop farmers generally have surplus rhizomes from which the spears can be harvested, but because of their desire to maintain possession of unique hop strains, they may not be willing to sell them. In any event, there is a need to select strains that produce tasty shoots rather than good brews.
Given the substantial cultivation and availability of hop for food and flavoring purposes, growing the plant specifically as a pharmaceutical crop seems unwarranted.
Myths, Legends, Tales, Folklore, and Interesting Facts
St. Hildegard (1098-1 179, also known as Hildegard of Bingen and Hildegardis de Pinguia), was an abbess who established a convent and a Benedictine nunnery near the Rhine River. She was one of the most remarkable women the world has ever known, becoming an adviser to popes, kings, and various dignitaries. She wrote on nature and medicine, and was a mystical and spiritual visionary who interpreted Oriental, Judeo-Christian and Greek philosophy. St. Hildegard is often credited with being the first person to popularize the use of hops in brewing.
In England about 1500, after learning of how well hops preserved beer in continental Europe, British brewers started adding hops to ale (sweet beer made without hops), turning it into bitter beer. Henry Vifi (1491-1547), responding to a petition to ban hop, described as "a wicked weed that would endanger the people" outlawed the use of hop by brewers. His son, Edward VI (1537-1553), rescinded the ban in 1552.
Charles Darwin entertained himself while sick in bed in 1882 by studying a hop plant growing on his window-sill. He noted that the tip of the stem completed a revolution in 2 hours. The patent office of the US once granted a pat- ent to a man who claimed to have "invented" the hop's habit of winding from left to right (i.e., circling clockwise, viewed so that the twining stem is growing towards the observer).
A six-pack a day keeps . . . just kidding. Actually, sober-minded Commission E recommends the use of cut, powdered hops or extract in a single dose of 0.5 grams. If drops are used, 1 or 2 drops are the right amount. Hop tea can be made by pouring boiling water over a heaping teaspoonful of the ground herb and steeping for 10-15 minutes.
General Preparation and Dosage
A dose of 0.5 g, taken as an infusion, is recommended. Hops or extracts therof have become popular as an ingredient of sleep-promoting teas and especially of numerous sedative remedies.
User Group Forum
Share your questions and information with the ZooScape community!
Be the first to post!
Directions
Hot tea brewing method: Bring freshly drawn cold water to a rolling boil. Place 1 tea bag for each cup into the teapot. Pour the boiling water into the teapot. Cover and let steep for 3-7 minutes according to taste (the longer the steeping time the stronger the tea).
Iced tea brewing method (to make 1 liter/quart): Place 6 tea bags into a teapot or heat resistant pitcher. Pour 1 1/4 cups of freshly boiled water over the tea. Steep for 5 minutes. Quarter fill a serving pitcher with cold water. Pour the tea into your serving pitcher straining the bags. Add ice and top-up the pitcher with cold water. Garnish and sweeten to taste. [A rule of thumb when preparing fresh brewed iced tea is to double the strength of hot tea since it will be poured over ice and diluted with cold water].
Cautions
Hops is not recommended for those who suffer from depression.
The fresh plant can irritate the skin. Otherwise, hops get a clean bill of health. There are no known drug interactions, contraindications, or side effects.
Toxicity
Hop plants are not considered toxic, although they have caused dermatitis in as many as one in 30 hop workers.
Additional Information
TerraVita is an exclusive line of premium-quality, natural source products that use only the finest, purest and most potent ingredients found around the world. TerraVita is hallmarked by the highest possible standards of purity, potency, stability and freshness. All of our products are prepared with the highest elements of quality control, from raw materials through the entire manufacturing process, up to and including the moment that the bottles or bags are sealed for freshness and shipped out to you. Our highest possible standards are certified by independent laboratories and backed by our personal guarantee.
TerraVita exists to meet and ensure your family's health and wellness without the harmful effects or chemicals and prescription medications. We strive to make all of our products affordable and reliable and are constantly searching the market to maintain our affordability and to look for new ways to serve you and the ones you love. TerraVita has become a trusted household name for many families and can bring you and yours the very best herbal supplements, blends, teas and spices that are on the market today.
ZooScape is proud to be the exclusive distributor of TerraVita teas, herbs and supplements in the United States, Canada and around the world. Please direct all wholesale and bulk inquiries to Simona Heather at 905-494-1785.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Products are intended to support general well being and are not intended to treat, diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or cure any condition or disease. If conditions persist, please seek advice from your medical doctor. The essence of the current American rule on Traditional Uses is, as stated by FTC, "Claims based on historical or traditional use should be substantiated by confirming scientific evidence, or should be presented in such a way that consumers understand that the sole basis for the claim is a history of use of the product for a particular purpose."
