Foraging Hop Shoots- Health Benefits and Recipes

Hops (Humulus lupulus) had reached British shores by the end of the 15th century when they first began to be cultivated in Kent's famous Hop Fields. This ancient plant, believed to have originated in Egypt, had a history and life long before cultivation for the flavouring of beer and was a valued edible and medicinal plant throughout much of the world. The 19th century was the 'golden age' of hop cultivation in England and hops became a hugely important commercial crop.

The wild hops we now see in our hedgerows are most likely escapees from commercial crops or from monasteries where monks used hops in brewing to preserve their ales.

Hops are a trendy restaurant ingredient often commanding suprisingly high prices, they have long been known as 'poor man's asparagus' as they resemble the form and texture of asparagus spears and emerge at about the same time.

In herbal medicine hop flowers or cones are usually used to make tinctures and other products as they have much higher concentrations of bitter resins and essential oils than other parts of the plant. Hop shoots however do contain many beneficial compounds including humulones and lupulones so can be used much like the cones but expect a gentler action.

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