The name hyssop was given to a number of different plants in olden times. The name itself tells us why this happened. It is derived from the Greek words 'hys', meaning pig, and `ops', meaning face. Many plants of the Lamiaceae (Labiatae) family have flowers that resemble a pig's snout.
We learn about the first hop-fields in Europe from a deed of donation issued by the Frankish king Pepin III 'the Short' in the year 768 A.D. when hops began to be cultivated by monks in the monasteries, where beer was brewed. From that time on the cultivation of hops spread not only in Europe but also in North America, Australia and New Zealand as the consumption of beer grew throughout the world.
The female flowers are used almost exclusively in the brewing of beer, to which they not only impart a pleasant bitter taste but, because of the resin present in the lupulin, also prevent the multiplication of bacteria that cause lactic fermentation which spoils the beer. Tender young hop shoots were at one time eaten as a salad or boiled like asparagus.
The ripe follicles burst on the ventral side to release the single seed contained in each. They are harvested when ripe and then dried. The seeds have a pungent, spicy flavour.'
They are perennial but only the roots overwinter, putting up new shoots again in spring. Hops are propagated by means of cuttings from these shoots. The female flowers or strobiles (1), covered with glossy greenish-yellow glands containing bitter and resinous lupulin, ripen in late summer.
The flowers appear in late summer and early autumn, which is also when the plant is harvested by cutting the flowering parts that are not yet woody. Because it contains essential oils hyssop should he dried at a temperature not exceeding 35C (95F).
We learn about the first hop-fields in Europe from a deed of donation issued by the Frankish king Pepin III 'the Short' in the year 768 A.D. when hops began to be cultivated by monks in the monasteries, where beer was brewed. From that time on the cultivation of hops spread not only in Europe but also in North America, Australia and New Zealand as the consumption of beer grew throughout the world.
The female flowers are used almost exclusively in the brewing of beer, to which they not only impart a pleasant bitter taste but, because of the resin present in the lupulin, also prevent the multiplication of bacteria that cause lactic fermentation which spoils the beer. Tender young hop shoots were at one time eaten as a salad or boiled like asparagus.
The ripe follicles burst on the ventral side to release the single seed contained in each. They are harvested when ripe and then dried. The seeds have a pungent, spicy flavour.'
They are perennial but only the roots overwinter, putting up new shoots again in spring. Hops are propagated by means of cuttings from these shoots. The female flowers or strobiles (1), covered with glossy greenish-yellow glands containing bitter and resinous lupulin, ripen in late summer.
The flowers appear in late summer and early autumn, which is also when the plant is harvested by cutting the flowering parts that are not yet woody. Because it contains essential oils hyssop should he dried at a temperature not exceeding 35C (95F).
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