Interesting facts

The scientific name Humulus is probably the Latinised form of the Germanic names for hop, humilo, hymele or humili, all of which are derived from a word from the Ural region: qumlix. The epithet lupulus is thought to derive from the Latin for wolf, lupus, and could refer to the hop’s habit of entwining itself around other plants, like a wolf gripping its prey. However, lupus is also an old name for tuberculosis of the skin. Since the ripe fruits of the hop resemble this skin disease, the name lupulus could also stem from this meaning of the word lupus.
Hops are best known as ingredients of beer. They are not only responsible for its pungent taste, but also improve the consistency of its head and prevent deterioration. Only female flowers which have not been fertilised are used for beer production. If seed gets into the beer, the head is much weaker. For this reason, hop growers only cultivate the female plants. Their care is among the most demanding in Europe. The climbing plant requires huge trellises, with wooden poles seven metres long between which wires are stretched. These are a feature of the landscape in all hop-growing regions. Hops are classed as a specialised crop and are certified, quality-guarantee seals documenting the rights of cultivation. Germany, incidentally, is the biggest producer of hops in the world.
Beer brewing has a long history – beer in this context referring to an alcoholic beverage brewed from fermented grain. The Sumerians practised brewing as early as around 4000 to 2000 years BC. The oldest recipe for beer ever found was discovered in present-day Iraq, inscribed on a clay tablet. For the Egyptians, beer, together with bread, was a staple food. In Central Europe, too, a beverage similar to beer is thought to have been brewed as early as the 16th century BC. However, sources give contradictory information as to the ingredients of the brew. What is clear is that honey for sweetness and various plants were added to make the drink more stable or add flavour. Among the ingredients added were oak bark and herbs such as myrtle or St. John’swort, as well as intoxicating herbs such as henbane and thornapple. It is not clear when hops became involved. Findings from early settlements confirm that the hop was used all over Europe in the New Stone Age as people started to become settled. The small amounts found indicate that it was used exclusively as a medicinal plant or flavouring. Documentary evidence does exist for hop gardens established for beer brewing in the Middle Ages. These go back to Pippin the Younger (714 – 768), father of Charlemagne, who presented them to the Abbey of St Denis near Paris in 768. Beer seasoned with hops became an important part of their fasts for the monks, being not only nourishing, but also suppressing sexual arousal, due to components of hops with estrogen-like properties.
In the Slavic regions, in contrast, the hop was regarded as a symbol of fertility: Slavic peoples showered their brides with hops and crowned them with the plant. This symbolism would seem to contradict the use of the plant as an anaphrodisiac. However, phytoestrogen-containing plants inhibit the male sexual drive, but are thought to stimulate it in women.
The medical importance of the hop, which was designated medicinal plant of the year in 2007, was documented only relatively late in Europe. Its sleep and digestion stimulating properties were probably first described by the Arab physician and botanist Abdullah Ibn al-Baytar (1197–1248), who lived in Spain. In their writings the abbess Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) and the Bishop of Regensburg and Doctor Universalis Albertus Magnus (c. 1200–1280) emphasised the preservative qualities of the hop. Knowledge of the calming effects of hops was lost again to a great extent in later times, and only experienced a renaissance in the 18th century. Then, hop pillows helped alleviate the insomnia of the British king George III (1738–1820). The prominent physician Christof Wilhelm Hufeland (1762–1836) discovered hops as bitters to aid digestion and as a sedative to soothe the nerves. In his Handbuch der speziellen Arzneimittel (Manual of Special Medicines), Johann Christian August Clarus (1774–1854) recommended hops as a treatment for poor appetite associated with gastric catarrh, for the mucous membranes of the stomach and for insomnia. Unconnected to European reports, North American Indian tribes and Ayurvedic medicine are known to use hops.
But the hop is not only a medicinal plant and the basis of beer. The Roman scholar Pliny the Elder (c. 23–79 AD) described its young sprouts as being very tasty when prepared in the same way as asparagus. The hop is also a source of natural fibres, but these are so brittle that they furnish only coarse cloth and rope.