For the Love of Hops: Worshipping, Tincturing and Packaging for Sale on HSCO

in #steempress5 years ago (edited)

Sometimes plants nudge up to you shyly and say, hey, you might wanna nuzzle up with me, coz I've got something to share with you. Some outright call you, coming at you from all directions - a friend might recommend it on the same day you come across a blog post or notice it in your garden, for example.

And sometimes, you just literally walk into it.

Our hops was totally out of control this year. We'd planted it in the far corner of the garden so it could grow up a pole and along a fence. It did so well that we planted it in three other sections of the garden so it could grow up poles. It's a sun worshipper, is hops, climbing high to meet the sky. But it also grows sideways, curling its sticky tendrils around anything it can. If you're not careful, one day you'll walk out and need a machete to get through the garden. Hops is a bine (not a vine) because it climbs with the help of stiff hairs along their stems, instead of tendrils like, say, a pea.

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Humulus lupulus is named for the wolf, because it strangles plants it grows up like a wolf strangles sheep. In England, it grew up willow trees, and was known as a wolf willow - in my garden, I'd call it wolf verbena or wolf apple, as they are the plants nearby it helps.


I have written a post about hops before here, where I reference this poem which to me is reminiscent of hops ability to make life lanquid and calm:

Beneath the willow wound round with ivy we take cover from the worst of the storm, with a greatcoat round our shoulders and my hands around your waist.
I've got it wrong. That isn't ivy entwined in the bushes round the wood, but hops. You intoxicate me! Let's spread the greatcoat on the ground.
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Taking cover from the worst of the storm is so appropriate for me at the moment. Life's storm has me a little paralysed, and in the worst of it last week I stumbled into the garden to collect hops, drinking in in a tea of chamomile and honey. Usually, this mixture does the trick for me, especially when I have a migraine - it calms me down enough so I can sleep. I was in such a state last week that it took two cups and a lot of yogic breathing to calm me down enough, but still, I do think hops was a gentle friend when I needed it the most.

It's well known in folklore and now by modern science to be good for stress, restlessness, sleeplessness, digestive upset and anxiety, containing pain relieving, antispasmodic, antimicrobial and diuretic properties as well as phytoestrogens which can influence the endocrine system (this suggests caution for some).

For anxiety, which is what I'm particularly interested in, hops works to enhance GABA levels in the brain - a chemical that is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that quiets the activity of the neurons of the central nervous system - exactly what wouldn't shut up for me last week and was making me wake early and struggle to get to sleep in the first place. I was wired as anything and all I wanted to do was sleep to give my brain a rest, but couldn't. Good GABA levels mean less anxiety and better sleep - plus, 5-HT (serotonin) activates melatonin, an endocrine agent which entrains circadian rhythms, as well as efects on adenosine receptors which are also involved in sleep.

Therefore, beer and its hop component are thought to enhance the CNS’s neuroendocrine response via GABA, adenosine, and the biogenic amines serotonin and melatonin with an effective sedative action that both modulates the sleep/wake rhythm and favours the induction of sleep. 1
There are also promising studies about hops and metabolic disorders, making them useful for treating obesity, diabetes and other related health issues due to a specific flavonoid, xanthohumol. There are also anti-carcinogenic effects with hops - it inhibits the activation of procarninogens, activates enzymes that fight the cancer and inhibits the early growth of tumours. Other anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects are also touted.

In summary, hops is celebrated for the following, and more:

  • it's effect on the nervous system and sleep, particularly of use with anxiety and depression.
  • it's ability to help digestion
  • to treat ulcers via a compound that elimates bacteria which cause them
  • helps create blood flow to the brain so is good for headaches, and potentially a preventative for alzheimers
  • being beneficial to oral health due to it's anti-inflammatory properties
  • it's potential in cancer recovery and prevention through antioxidants (though more research is needed)
  • skin health
I have included a couple of links for further reading, if you are interested. There's one study on phytoestrogens and the effects of hops on menstruation and menopause that's of interest to me but again, like many natural medicines, more work needs to be done. I've also read it's popular in Asia to help with breast enlargement (something I DON'T need, so doing more reading here!)

Effects of Hops on Depression, Anxiety and Stress Levels in Healthy Young Adults
The Sedative Effects of Hops
Hops & Metabolic Disorders
The Sedative Effect of Non Alcoholic Beer in Healthy Nurses
The pharmocology of hops with an emphasis on estrogenic capabilities
Hops Anatomy and Chemistry

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I'm eagerly awaiting my hops tincture to be ready in about two months time, and I'll be sure to post about it and let you know how it goes. I might even sell a few bottles on @homesteaderscoop, the green goddess willing. I'm also considering selling some of the plants there as well come spring. It certainly grows well in my garden - after the first year getting it's roots down, it took off and now gives one of the best harvests in the garden.

To tincture the hops is just to fill a jar three quarters full with hops, and add 40 proof plus vodka. After 6 - 8 weeks it should be ready, helping me out when the harvest is long gone.

I've also been drying the hops and vacuum sealing them in bags in 15 and 25 gram lots to put on @homesteaders coop, and you can find the link here if you'd like to purchase some. I'm still working out postage and prices so get in early, just when I don't know what I'm doing!

Do you brew with hops?


Have you ever taken it as a medicine or made a tincture from it?


Do you grow hops?



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My favourite herb!

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It's pretty amazing, isn't it! do you grow it? What variety do you grow? Do you brew your own beer?

We use it for its herbal effects. I make a fantastic remedy for chronic pain it hops as a main ingredient

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Oh please please please post about this. You can enter it as a wild card for contest and I'd love to know more!!!

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I may do so soon

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i love this! i'm learning so much more about hops from you. we got some cascade hops from a friend last year and we just spied their little green shoots coming up this week so i'll be reading your post with eager attention to educate myself on this new little plantita on our homestead. happy they carry such anxiety relieving/sedative properties as that is so needed in our times. yes, you'll be selling them on homesteader's coop!!!

Already for sale! Glad you have some planted.. we grew them for beer but I think they have more value as medicine! Fascinated. Watch they don't wolf strangle the plants around them!

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Do you know what variety they are?

Does J brew his own beer? There is nothing like fresh hops being used for a beer, so much better than the pellets.

It's that time of year.... the next phase is apple harvest and cider festival!!!

Indeed!! I've already harvested my apples. Do you go to a cider festival round here? Where? They are cascade hops.

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Mmmmm.... Cascade are a nice variety. I'm still a huge fan of Fuggles and East Kent Goldings personally.... not too high in Alpha Acids.

As for Cider Festival..... this is a serious hoot..... I go stupidly nuts for Morris Dancing, and I have no idea why.... must be the wild yeasts growing on the apples... you should come!!!

https://www.kellybrookwinery.com.au/festival/

Suddenly appreciating how and why an excelleng beer can be so calming & healing. 🍺

Congrats on getting it dried, packed & in the store. Would be nice to post about your drying set up sometime...

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Oh my goodness, those hops are gorgeous. I love vine-y bine-y things. My bine (thank you for that - new word of the day) is not nearly as impressive. I planted three but only one survived. It was for my husband for home brewing, but since learning all of its medicinal benefits, I've claimed it back.

I'm going to read up on the brain aspect some because I've got a family matter that is undiagnosed and yet quite concerning of late, and it would be something my dad might consider trying. Now I'm wishing I would have tinctured the hops rather than letting them hang there and freeze (so pretty to look at though).

Lovely post! Wish we could pass things to each other though our computer screens. xx

I wasted them for 2 years before realising what awesome medicine they are! Made me see them in a whole new light! As you did me with lavender! High five!

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Amen to that! So much goodness on all levels xx

Nice pics of humulus lupulus. it´s time to do some beer!!!

You’ve been visited by @porters on behalf of Natural Medicine!

Wonderful that your hops are so productive that you can offer some through Homesteaders Coop!
We had purchased some to have as climbers around our place and I do like the look of the hanging hops flower but never used them that much. After reading all the benefits perhaps it is time to start pouring ourselves some cups of hops tea!

We are also running our fortnightly competition for steem rewards, where you can explore a plant medicine. This fortnight's plants are mullein, ginseng and alder... Plus a wild card where you can choose your own! Find out more Here


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It's an amazing plant and I am so glad I look beyond the beer making aspect of hops! REally excited about the tincture. Thanks for stopping by, @porters!

You've been visited by @sagescrub from Homesteaders Co-op.

Wow!!! the hops look so beautiful. I have yet to try hops tea but I think I would enjoy it. I am really excited that you are bringing this quality product to the Co-op!! btw have you ever tried eating the young shoots/bines? I hear they are tasty but haven't tried it yet. Maybe this spring.


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Wonderful! I love hops! I had them growing over the entrance of my old house. They are so pretty and the smell in autumn is amazing, like a fresh smell of IPA 😉 Did you know that you can eat the shoots too? Like hobs asparagus? They are really really tasty!

Yes, I did! Except I've never tried... hubby made me and fresh ENDS which were bitter as anything... it's the shoots that I wanna try lol! They are so beautiful!!!

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Yes the shoots are not very bitter! (I also found the tea a bit too bitter, but maybe I made it too strong) It sounds weird but I think the shoots tastes slightly like eggs. in a good way, if you can imagine...!

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