Editing Hops (section)

{{Short description|Flower used to flavour beer and other beverages}}
{{Other uses|Hop (disambiguation){{!}}Hop}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
[[File:Humulus Lupulus Hopfendolde-mit-hopfengarten.jpg|thumb|Hop flower in a hop yard in the [[Hallertau]], Germany]]
[[File:Cross-section of hop cone.svg|thumb|Cross-section drawing of a hop]]
[[File:Hops on the Yakima Reservation.jpg|alt=Full grown hops {{not a typo|bines}}.|thumb|upright=1.3|Fully grown [[Vine#Twining vines|hops bines]] ready for harvest on the [[Yakama Indian Reservation]]]]<!--Note to editors: 'bines' here is an actual word, not a typo-->
[[File:Decorative Hops.jpg|thumb|Humulus on a house]]

'''Hops''' are the [[flower]]s (also called seed cones or [[strobile]]s) of the hop plant ''[[Humulus lupulus]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 May 2008 |title=University of Minnesota Libraries: The Transfer of Knowledge. Hops-''Humulus lupulus'' |url=http://www.lib.umn.edu/botanical/plant.php |access-date=20 May 2012 |publisher=Lib.umn.edu |archive-date=5 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305173530/http://www.lib.umn.edu/botanical/plant.php |url-status=dead }}</ref> a member of the [[Cannabaceae]] family of flowering plants.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Cannabaceae {{!}} Description, Genera, & Species |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/plant/Cannabaceae |access-date=16 September 2020 |language=en}}</ref> They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in [[beer]], to which, in addition to bitterness, they impart floral, fruity, or citrus flavours and aromas.<ref name="schon">{{Cite journal |last=Schönberger C, Kostelecky T |date=16 May 2012 |title=125th Anniversary Review: The Role of Hops in Brewing |journal=Journal of the Institute of Brewing |volume=117 |issue=3 |pages=259–267 |doi=10.1002/j.2050-0416.2011.tb00471.x |doi-access=free}}</ref> Hops are also used for various purposes in other beverages and [[herbal medicine]]. The hops plants have separate female and male plants, and only female plants are used for commercial production.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.eolss.net/ebooklib/bookinfo/soils-plant-growth-crop-production.aspx |title=Soils, Plant Growth and Crop Production Volume II |date=2010 |publisher=[[EOLSS]] Publishers |isbn=978-1-84826-368-0 |editor-last=Willy H. Verheye |page=194 |chapter=Hops and Hop Growing}}</ref> The hop plant is a vigorous climbing herbaceous [[perennial]], usually trained to grow up strings in a field called a hopfield, hop garden (in the South of England), or hop yard (in the [[West Country]] and United States) when grown commercially. Many different varieties of hops are grown by farmers around the world, with different types used for particular styles of beer.

The first documented use of hops in beer is from the 9th century, though [[Hildegard of Bingen]], 300 years later, is often cited as the earliest documented source.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hornsey |first=Ian S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QqnvNsgas20C&pg=PA305 |title=A History of Beer and Brewing |publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry |year=2003 |isbn=9780854046300 |page=305}}</ref> Before this period, brewers used a "[[gruit]]", composed of a wide variety of bitter herbs and flowers, including [[dandelion]], [[burdock root]], [[Calendula|marigold]], [[Common horehound|horehound]] (the old German name for horehound, {{lang|de|Berghopfen}}, means "mountain hops"), [[ground ivy]], and [[Calluna|heather]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Understanding Beer – A Broad Overview of Brewing, Tasting and Analyzing Beer – October 12th, 2006, Beer & Brewing, The Brewing Process |url=http://jongriffin.com/articles/understanding-beer/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315195032/http://jongriffin.com/articles/understanding-beer/ |archive-date=15 March 2012 |access-date=20 May 2012 |website=www.jongriffin.com |publisher=Jongriffin.com}}</ref> Early documents include mention of a hop garden in the will of [[Charlemagne]]'s father, [[Pepin the Short]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Michael Jackson |url=https://archive.org/details/newworldguidetob00mich/page/18 |title=The New World World Guide to Beer |publisher=Running Press |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-89471-884-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/newworldguidetob00mich/page/18 18] |author-link=Michael Jackson (writer) |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Hops are also used in brewing for their [[Antibiotics|antibacterial]] effect over less desirable [[microorganisms]] and for purported benefits including balancing the sweetness of the [[malt]] with [[Bitterness (taste)|bitterness]] and a variety of flavours and aromas.<ref name=schon/> It is believed that traditional herb combinations for beers were abandoned after it was noticed that beers made with hops were less prone to spoilage.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=F. G. Priest |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jafz6LhdUbEC&pg=PA5 |title=Brewing microbiology |last2=Iain Campbell |publisher=Springer |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-306-47288-6 |page=5}}</ref>