Hop cones. Medicinal beneficial properties

Hops, entwining supports with flexible shoots, grow up to 6 meters, its rough leaves consist of 3 or 5 lobes, they are attached to the stem oppositely. The flowers are small, female flowers in cone-shaped infructescences, and male flowers in small greenish-white panicles. IN medicinal purposes Only hop cones from female plants are used.

Composition, vitamins and microelements

This liana of temperate latitudes grows everywhere, preferring places with high humidity; it can be found in thickets of bushes or along the banks of rivers and reservoirs. In villages, hops climb on fences, and in Germany they are cultivated on large plantations. In addition to pharmacy, the plant is used in bakery production and brewing.

If you grind hop cones, you can see a yellowish substance - lupulin. It gives the plant a special smell; it contains nitrogen-containing components, wax, resins, fats, essential oils and ash. During brewing, lupulin breaks down into humulin and lupulon, giving beer its distinctive amber color and slight bitterness.

Hop cones contain:

bitterness;
flavonoids;
catechins;
anthocyanidins;
phenolcarboxylic acids;
vegetable oils;
phytoestrogens.

In addition, the plant contains two dozen aromatic compounds, trace elements, and vitamins.

Hop cones: medicinal and beneficial properties

People have known about the healing powers of hops for many centuries. Women in villages use hop cones for hair, preparing decoctions for rinsing with them. Empress Catherine II herself curled her hair while drinking beer. Grandmothers use a mixture of sweet clover and hops for arthritis, arthrosis, and back pain.

Aromatic loaves are baked with hops instead of yeast. To prepare, hop cones are kneaded, poured with water, filtered, and the dough is kneaded on this basis. It rises slowly, not like with yeast, but the bread turns out healthy and tasty.

Medicinal properties of hops:

stimulates appetite;
has a diuretic effect;
reduces cramps;
relieves pain;
removes inflammation;
strengthens capillaries;
heals ulcers;
regulates fluid exchange in the body.

You can buy a bottle of beer at a grocery store and even drink it with pleasure.

The reasons are clear. Among them, we will put in first place naturalness. When preparing foam for ourselves, we will not add chemicals, which are often abundant in bottles. And, of course, having tried something prepared with your own hands according to all the rules, you will no longer want to go back to the store.

Many people are stopped by the “complexity” of cooking foamy drink. However, let us remember that since time immemorial in Europe it has been cooked in almost every home. So let's try, and we'll tell you about classic recipe, having mastered which, you can “move on”, experimenting with components and proportions.

You will not need, as in ancient times, to collect hops, dry them, prepare malt yourself, etc. First, let's learn from store-bought ingredients - it will be more reliable this way. Moreover, you can buy them online.

Required:

Dried barley malt . To begin with, it is better to buy a light one, but if you like a richer color and taste of beer, you can also have a fried, caramelized one. Or a mixture of malts. Together – 2 kg.
Dry brewer's yeast– 1 sachet (11 g). Yes, you can use bakery ones, but the result may not please you.

Important. There are camp camps on sale ( bottom fermentation) and ale (top-fermented).

They require different fermentation temperatures. When using lager beer, the taste is softer and you can feel the malt. Ales give a sharper taste, with a predominance of hop notes.

granulated – 20 g.
Water clean and soft. Well - spring, but purified is also possible. 14 liters will be required.
8 g dextrose per liter of brewed beer. Replace with sugar or honey. But dextrose is better, it doesn't change the taste.

From the specified amount of ingredients you will get approximately 10 liters of beer. In the future, when you gain experience, you can double or even triple the doses.

Home brewing equipment

Ideally, to brew beer at home, you need to purchase the following:

Mini brewery or wort kettle. It has a double bottom, which prevents the wort from burning, and also has a drain tap finished product. It costs expensive. Mini-brewery from 70,000 rubles, boiler - from 7,000 rubles. Although not a complete one, a 20-40 liter saucepan will serve as an acceptable replacement. It is undesirable to take aluminum, since this material oxidizes, forming harmful compounds in the liquid. Better - food grade stainless steel or an unbroken enamel pan.
Mash tank– any container that can hold all the water and malt used.
Counterflow cooler, aka chiller. You can make it yourself from a 6-12 meter tube. This device is very similar to a coil moonshine still. Connection to tap with cold water- at one end of the tube and the heated outlet - at the other. More simpler option – use the bath with ice water .
Mill(crusher) for malt. Manual price – from 2,100 rubles. A meat grinder or blender is not suitable for this purpose, but a grain crusher for livestock is just the thing. It is important that the shell of each grain is broken and, if possible, it is ground, but not into agony.
Fermentation tank with a water seal. An option is a glass bottle with a glove on it, in which a hole has been pierced, although water seal lids are sold in every market.
Thermometer- a mandatory thing and there is nothing to replace it with. Better - bimetallic or electronic with a probe.

How to cook at home?

So, the equipment is ready, the ingredients are available, let's start brewing beer, which consists of several stages.

Preparation

It is necessary to carefully wash all the dishes in contact with malt and wort. You need clean hands and clothes.

Carefully. If sterility is not maintained, third-party fungi and bacteria can get into the wort, which will lead to sourness of the beer.

Grind the malt. It is not for nothing that it is sold in grain, since it can be stored in this form for a long time, and when ground, it quickly loses its properties. But you can’t not grind it, because then it won’t be able to give the necessary substances to the wort.

Prepare the water. If there is no soft, in fact as a last resort can be boiled over. If boiled water is strictly contraindicated for mash, then beer can be brewed with it. You just need to drain it carefully so that the scale does not get into the wort.

Mashing the wort

Important. The iodine test shows that all the starch contained in the malt has already been saccharified and during the fermentation process will give the beer the desired degree, and the density of the drink will increase.

Boiling the wort

When the starch has already been processed, we begin brewing beer, that is - boiling:

Separate the malt from the mash. This needs to be done for two reasons: so that during cooking (especially in a suitable saucepan) the wort does not burn and so that there is less sediment in the beer. Simply - strain through cheesecloth into the wort boiler (saucepan).
We return the malt particles back to the mash tank. and add 75°C water that was waiting in the wings. We rinse the mash (stir), leave again for 20 minutes to hot water absorbed the remaining sugars, and filtered to the existing wort.

Peculiarities. Some home brewers do the mash differently: they heat water to 80°C and drop ground malt into it in a gauze bag (wrapped in one layer of gauze tied at the top). Leave for an hour and a half on the stove, turning the heat on/off, maintaining the temperature at 62-74°C. Do an iodine test. They wash it in the bag. Thus avoiding the straining stage.

Put it on fire, bring to a boil, stirring and skimming off the foam.

Note! The beer “blank” is brewed for 1.5 – 3 hours. In order for the finished drink to feel more malt than hops, the latter is added in three stages.

An hour before the end of cooking, add a third of the hops.
In half an hour - another third.
The last third - 15 minutes before turning off.

Reference. Another algorithm is possible: add the first portion immediately after boiling, the second after 50 minutes, the third 10-15 minutes before turning off. The whole thing takes an hour and a half.

Cooling

This is no less important stage than the previous two. It is important not only to cool the wort, but quickly bring to 22-24°C. This is necessary so that during long-term cooling it does not “pick up” harmful fungi and bacteria from the air.

If you are using a chiller, you can place it in a container with freshly brewed beer and connect the cold water circulation. Or prepare an ice water bath in advance: cold water and add as much ice as you can to it. Place a saucepan with hot wort there and stir to cool it as quickly as possible.

This process must last no more than 30-40 minutes.

When the temperature has already dropped to 35 - 40 degrees, pour the brewed beer from one container to another three times in a high stream. In this case, you can use a sieve to simultaneously remove the hops, which are no longer needed when ripe.

Peculiarities. Transfusion helps saturate the wort with oxygen, which will help better fermentation, and will also contribute to faster cooling.

You can overfill by placing the dishes in a cold bath.

Fermentation

To start fermentation, need to add yeast. If it is brewer's yeast, then it is poured directly into the wort poured into the fermentation tank. When using bakery products, they are first fermented in small quantity the same wort or in a glucose solution.

Read the instructions carefully. If you use lager yeast, then the wort should ferment for quite a long time at a low temperature of +5-+15°C, in the basement. Ales ferment faster, and the best temperature for them is +18-+24°C, that is, room temperature.

Important. Any yeast is added when the wort temperature is 23-28°C.

Before you take the wort filled with lager yeast into the basement, you need to make sure that the yeast has begun to work (the water seal is gurgling, the glove is inflated and foam bubbles appear on the surface). This usually takes 4-5 hours.

The average maturation period for lager beer is 2 weeks, ale can be ready in 5 days. The readiness check is the usual, by eye: there are no signs of bubble noise on the surface, the glove is deflated, the water seal is silent and shows no signs of carbon dioxide release for several hours. The liquid has become clearer and sediment is visible at the bottom.

But this does not mean that beer can already be drunk. To get the full flavor, it needs to go through one more stage.

Capping and carbonation

The resulting product is necessary skim off sediment. It is good if your fermentation container has a tap located above the bottom so as not to trap settled yeast and small impurities. Another way is to drain using a silicone straw.

It is best to pour it into glass beer bottles and seal them with special stoppers, which you can buy where they sell everything for brewing. Champagne bottles will also work, but the corks should be tied with wire so as not to lose valuable product, if he wants to "shoot".

For those who are just starting their journey into big brewing, these are also suitable plastic bottles, they have enough strength to withstand a small “pressure” of carbonation.

The product is not poured to the very throat, - it is important. Add 1 teaspoon of dextrose or glucose for each liter of beer. Sugar is used only if neither one nor the other is available. This is necessary for carbonation - filling with bubbles of carbon dioxide, giving the necessary sharpness to the drink and forming a foamy cap.

Maturation

Beer matures in darkness and coolness. Average term – 2 weeks. When a week has passed, it is advisable to shake the bottles periodically.

In cool conditions, hermetically sealed beer can be stored for six months (up to 8 months). Open – 3-4 days.

Cost of homemade beer

Let's try to calculate the savings. Let's take into account only the most necessary and what we we use available equipment:

14 liters of water (take bottled) – 190 rubles;
2 kg of malt for 80 rubles – 160 rubles;
brewer's yeast 11.5 g – 180 rubles;
granulated hops 20 g – 50 rubles (a pack of 100 g costs 240-250 rubles).

Total: 580 rubles for 10 liters natural, self-brewed beer! Well, let's add another 100 rubles for the used gas and water for cooling the wort. It will turn out to be 680 rubles. Each liter is 68 rubles.

The minimum wholesale price (for purchases of 6 liters or more) is 121 rubles, and then only for Russian-made beer. So consider whether it is profitable to brew your own foam, drink it yourself and treat your friends.

Video - brewing at home

Homemade beer for beginners and more without special equipment:

How to make strong beer with your own hands - step-by-step instructions:

Hops is a well-known plant. Most people know it exclusively as an ornamental crop. This attractive vine grows stems anew every year, and their length in a season can reach six to seven meters. Others are familiar with hops as one of the main components of the popular intoxicating drink - beer. But in fact, such a culture can also provide health benefits. It seems like an ordinary hop, but it is also medicinal, so let’s discuss what healing recipes from hops at home can help people in different situations.

Hop cones are usually used as medicinal raw materials. They are harvested when they are still at an early stage of ripening, usually mid-August. The resulting material can be used both fresh and dry. It is actively used by healers - experts in traditional medicine recipes, and doctors - specialists in official medicine.

Most often, ordinary hops are used to achieve a sedative and even hypnotic effect. At home, for this purpose you can prepare tea from the cones of this plant. A couple of teaspoons of crushed cones should be poured into a glass of just boiled water and covered with a lid to infuse. After a quarter of an hour ready drink you need to strain and drink one cup twice a day as a sedative. For insomnia and other sleep disorders, it is best to drink it half an hour before going to bed at night. If you combine such a medicine with warm milk sweetened with honey, the effect will be much more pronounced.

To correct nervous conditions, it is best for readers of Popular About Health to combine medicinal hops with mint and chamomile. All components must be used in equal amount. A teaspoon of the crushed collection should be brewed with a glass of boiling water, left for a quarter of an hour under the lid, then strained and drunk one hundred milliliters in the afternoon.

For cooking decoction with the same properties, you need to prepare a tablespoon of crushed hop flowers. They need to be brewed with a glass of just boiled water and heated in a water bath for a quarter of an hour. The finished medicine must be cooled and strained using gauze. The infusion should be taken shortly before meals three times a day, a quarter glass.

This remedy is also used by traditional medicine specialists in the treatment of cancer of the stomach, liver or lungs.

Hop cones are also widely used externally. So, in the presence of joint diseases, traditional medicine specialists advise cooking from them ointment. To do this, a tablespoon of pine cones needs to be thoroughly crushed to a powder state and combined with the right amount any vegetable oil to get a fairly thick mixture. The resulting medicine can be used to treat bruises, rheumatism and inflammation.

More for the treatment of bruises, bumps, abrasions and radiculitis, you can prepare a tablespoon of hop cones. Brew it with a glass of water and simmer over low heat until the volume of the broth is reduced by half. The resulting broth must be filtered and mixed with four tablespoons of Vaseline. Store the finished medicine in the refrigerator.

Hop cones at home can come to the rescue for kidney or bladder diseases. In this case, you need to prepare a decoction from them by brewing a tablespoon of crushed raw materials with one glass of just boiled water. Boil the resulting mixture in a water bath for a quarter of an hour. The finished medicine must be cooled, strained and taken a quarter glass shortly before meals, washed down with a glass ordinary water. There is evidence that such a remedy will also help cope with allergic diseases; in such a situation, it can also be used externally.

For patients with irritation and spasms of the bladder It is worth preparing the following decoction: a tablespoon of crushed hop cones should be brewed with a glass of boiling water and simmered over low heat for a quarter of an hour. Infuse for half an hour, then strain and drink for a quarter of an hour three times a day shortly before meals.

For patients with Botkin's disease (hepatitis C) You can prepare the following infusion: ten grams of crushed hop cones should be brewed with a glass of just boiled water. Infuse this medicine for seven to eight hours, then strain using gauze and take a tablespoon three times a day.

For cholecystitis and other inflammatory lesions of the gallbladder and liver, as well as for kidney ailments, healers advise preparing a tincture from hop cones. Three tablespoons of plant material must be filled with one hundred milliliters of alcohol. Seal the container with the mixture tightly and send it to a warm and dark place to infuse. Do not forget to periodically shake the prepared medicine. Afterwards you need to strain it and take forty drops three times a day. The tincture should be diluted in fifty milliliters of water before use.

Hops will help cope with baldness problem. In this case, it is best to use it both internally and topically. For cooking medicine you need to brew a tablespoon of crushed hop cones with one glass of just boiled water. Infuse the medicine for a quarter of an hour to twenty minutes, then strain and take a tablespoon three times a day. Also use this decoction to rub into your hair.

Before using hops for therapeutic purposes, it is a good idea to consult your doctor. This plant has contraindications for use.

When talking about hops, many people first of all remember unbridled fun or alcoholic intoxication. Of course, there is a connection in this - high-quality beer is made from hops. But first of all, hops are a plant that fascinates with its climbing appearance. Hops are most often planted for decorative purposes - the plant softly envelops verandas, terraces and gazebos, creating incredibly beautiful images of landscape design. Hop cones are small fruits that are also used for decorative purposes - they complement images in ikebana, are stored for a long time and do not fall off even when dried. But few people know the true value of hop cones. Tinctures, decoctions, ointments and extracts are prepared from them, which are actively used in folk medicine. Today we’ll talk about hop cones - how they affect the body, and how to prepare medicine from them.

Medicinal properties of hop cones for the human body

The composition of hop fruits (cones) is very diverse. The cones contain a lot of zinc, aluminum, iodine, calcium, potassium, tannins, resin, wax, tannin, boron, copper, choline. They contain B vitamins, vitamin C and PP. The specific intoxicating smell of the cones is obtained due to large quantity bitter essential oils. The cones also contain flavonoids, phytoncides, manganese and valeric acid. Such a rich composition allows the use of hop cones in many branches of medicine. Moreover, fresh extract of cones is used in many medications, and of various pharmacological groups. So, how do hop cones affect the body?

Nervous system. Hop cones are added to the composition of such famous medicines, like Novo-Passit and Valocordin. The thing is that the cones contain B vitamins, which have an excellent effect on nervous system– strengthen it, restore the integrity of the sheath of nerve fibers. Using hop cones will help you relieve causeless anxiety, relieve panic attacks, and improve sleep. You can get rid of insomnia, depression, and stress. To calm down, you need to drink a little tea with hop cones before going to bed - just a teaspoon of crushed raw materials per glass of boiling water. A bath with a decoction of hop cones is very helpful - this aromatherapy will help you restore strength after a hard day at work and relax before bed. Place hop cones in your pillow - the smell will accompany you all night, this will allow you to sleep like a baby.
Women Health. Fresh hop cones contain a substance that is similar to the female sex hormone estrogen. Therefore, women need to drink tea brewed from green, not dried, cones. This helps relieve pain and discomfort during menstruation. But pine cones are especially useful during menopause. When a woman’s body ages, it is the lack of estrogen that causes menopause and all the accompanying symptoms. If you consume the medicine from the cones during this period, you can tolerate it much easier - get rid of headaches, hot flashes, sweating, etc. By the way, an increase in the amount of estrogen in the body leads to such pleasant side effect– Many people have enlarged breasts due to hormonal changes. Therefore, hop cones can correct this “minor” cosmetic problem. To do this, you need to drink the cones in a course - every two months. To do this, prepare a tincture of fresh cones in alcohol and drink 20 drops of it in the morning and evening.
Ointment against bruises and sprains. Hop cones perfectly warm, have an anti-inflammatory and healing effect. It is not difficult to prepare the ointment - you need to mix the dried and crushed cones with butter and let it brew in the refrigerator for several days. Then you need to rub the composition with massage movements for 10 minutes, wrap it in film and insulate it, and leave it until the morning. This treatment is effective for rheumatism, bruises, sprains, and sore joints. It also helps to soothe pain in the bones after fractures, if the limbs hurt when the weather changes. If you take a bath with a decoction of cones, it will help get rid of rheumatism and the effects of paralysis.
Outdoor use. Hop cones have bactericidal anti-inflammatory properties. This allows you to use ointment, lotions and rubbing in the fight against various skin diseases. Soak a clean cloth in a cold decoction of hop cones and place it on the back of the patient with a sunburn - this will help relieve irritation, redness, burning and itching, and will gently cool and soothe the skin. This solution is also effective for frostbite - it increases blood circulation in the tissues, bringing them back to life. An ointment based on hop cones and butter helps with eczema, purulent wounds and cuts, inflammation, and boils. Tincture of hop cones relieves itching and redness. If you rub the tincture or decoction on your feet for a fungal infection, you can relieve the skin of the unpleasant symptoms of the fungus.
Urinary system. Based on hop cones, an excellent drug Urolesan has been prepared, intended for the treatment of the kidneys and urinary tract. Hop cones can be used as a decoction. This will help get rid of hepatic colic, biliary dyskinesia, cholecystitis, cholelithiasis. The drug helps remove stones from the kidneys. Hop cones help cope with bladder inflammation. Drink the decoction three times a day, and there will be no trace of the symptoms of cystitis within a week.
Liver. Hop fruits have an excellent effect on the functioning of the liver, helping it recover from serious disorders. Hop cones help detoxify the liver after hepatitis, alcohol intoxication, treatment with serious medications.

In addition, medicines based on hop cones are useful for hyperacid gastritis and pancreatitis. The decoction relieves swelling of various origins and relieves headaches. Hop cones are not only good for health - they are incredibly valuable for the beauty of skin and hair.

Everyone knows natural hair masks based on live beer. So, hop masks have a similar composition and act in much the same way. Most often, hops are used in the fight against hair loss and early baldness. Prepare a decoction based on hop cones, calamus and burdock root. Mix the crushed and dried ingredients in equal parts, pour boiling water and let it brew. There is no need to rinse your hair with this mixture after each shampoo; after rinsing, you do not need to rinse your hair with water - just pat dry with a towel. Hop cones nourish the scalp and hair follicles, strengthen them in their holes, and prevent hair loss. In addition, it helps cope with dandruff and seborrhea.

Hop cones are also beneficial for facial skin. The anti-inflammatory effect of the decoction or tincture helps to cope with acne, acne, skin inflammation. In general, hop cones have an excellent effect on the condition of the skin - it becomes firmer, tighter, more elastic, and acquires a healthy and natural color. To get this result, you just need to moisten a cloth face cloth in the broth, apply it to the skin and leave for a while. If you get into the habit of doing a similar procedure every day, your facial condition will noticeably improve and the aging process will slow down. This mask is very effective for fat type skin. Hop cones normalize the functioning of the sebaceous glands, the skin gradually becomes matte, and the unpleasant oily sheen disappears.

How to use hop cones

In most cases, a decoction or tincture based on hop cones is used during treatment. Preparing a decoction is not difficult, but you need to know a few nuances. To prepare a liter of broth, you need to take three tablespoons of crushed raw materials and pour boiling water. It is best to infuse the decoction in a thermos for at least 6-8 hours so that the cones give the liquid maximum of their beneficial properties. Then the broth should be strained and drunk in small portions - no more than half a glass at a time. You cannot store a decoction of hop cones for more than a day - it will begin to deteriorate.

If the treatment is long-term, and you do not want to suffer every day with preparation fresh decoction, it is better to use a tincture, which is stored much longer and is always at hand in a ready-made form. The tincture should be prepared only from fresh hop cones; dry ones will not work in this case. Fill a dark glass bottle with pine cones. If they do not fit into the neck, you can simply chop them. We fill the container with raw materials to the neck, and then fill it with alcohol or vodka. The bottle should be closed and left in a dark and cool place, possibly in the refrigerator for 3-4 weeks. The bottle needs to be shaken periodically to make the tincture more concentrated. You need to drink the tincture 20-30 drops, diluting it in water. But remember that hops infused with alcohol can lead to the appearance of a low dose of ppm in the body. If you drive, you should avoid this treatment.

Contraindications to the use of hop cones

Hop cones should not be consumed during pregnancy and lactation, especially if this alcohol tincture. Also, hops in any form cannot be used to treat children under three years of age. to frequent and regular use Men should be careful about drinking hops, as this will increase the production of estrogen in the body and reduce the level of the hormone testosterone. This will lead to unpleasant consequences - effeminate breasts, gain of fat mass in the hips.

Long-term use of hop cones must be discussed with your doctor, especially if you have chronic diseases. Be careful when collecting hop cones - they accumulate heavy metals and toxins from the air. Therefore, it is better to collect raw materials away from highways and polluted cities. Cones need to be collected at the time when they begin to ripen - late summer, early autumn. If the pine cone is bright green, it is not yet ready for harvest; if it is light green with a hint of yellow, it is time to harvest. But you shouldn’t collect dark green cones with brown spots - they are already overripe.

Remember, an allergic reaction or overdose of a medicine based on hop cones can cause dizziness, nausea and vomiting, in some cases shortness of breath and heart pain. Therefore, you should start taking the medicine with small portions, carefully monitoring the body’s reaction. Hop cones are a powerful medicine that must be used correctly. Take buds wisely and take care of your health!

Video: beneficial properties and uses of hop cones

khmil, khmelitsa, bitter, tsvil

A widespread plant, cultivated in industrial scale for the brewing industry. In folk medicine it is used as a sedative, diuretic, and anti-inflammatory agent. Natural estrogen.

Name in Latin: Humulus lupulus L.

Name in English: Hops ordinary

Family: Hemp

The culture's distribution area is extremely wide. Common hops grow everywhere, with the exception of the North Pole and hot steppe regions. It is bred not for its medicinal activity, but for the characteristic taste and color that the fruits impart to beer. But medicinal properties and contraindications of hop cones have been studied by science. The plant is used in official and folk medicine.

Features of common hops

The crop belongs to the Hemp family along with Japanese hops. The latter grows in limited areas of Japan and the Far East, does not have medicinal properties and is grown as an ornamental crop.

The name comes from the Latin “humus”, which means “earth”. Characterizes the plant as crawling along the ground until the vine finds support, after which it entwines it completely. The species name includes the term “lupulus,” which means “wolf.” Defines the crop as an aggressive loach that entwines other plants and strangles them, often causing them to die due to lack of sunlight and air.

Male flowers Female flowers
Inferiority

Description

Climbing hop is a perennial vine with a powerful rhizome. It grows up to three meters deep, fleshy, straight, light brown on the outside and white on the inside. Horizontal shoots grow from numerous buds, giving rise to new, young vine-stems.

Common hops. Botanical illustration from the book “Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen”, 1887.

Every year in winter the shoots die off, but in the spring they grow back from the “buds” of the root. The stems creep along the ground, are long, usually grow up to five to seven meters, but there is evidence of shoots lasting up to eighteen meters. The stems are hollow inside, the surface is covered with T-shaped frequent spines. Visually, the shoots are hexagonal and dark green in color.

Leaves grow from the petioles along the stem. When the soil is sufficiently moist, they are large, with a heart-shaped base, three- or five-lobed, with a carved edge edged with sharp teeth. The outer surface of the sheets is rough, rich green in color. The inner one is lighter, with pronounced glands and sparse spines located along the entire plane of the leaf.

The flowering period begins in June and lasts up to two months. What hops look like at this time is well known to visitors to parks and squares, where the crop is often grown as a decorative or hedge. The liana is covered with numerous flowers, which on one bush differ significantly from each other. Some of the flowers are collected in panicles; they are small and green. The other part of the flowers is larger, they are collected in complex inflorescences, like scaly cones.

The difference is due to the gender of the flowers, among which the “panicles” are male, and the “cones” are female. It is from the latter that in August and September hop fruits are formed in the form of small nuts, flattened on the sides and as if sprinkled with yellow “powder” secreted by special glands of the fruit.

Distribution and cultivation

Hops are an unpretentious plant. It only needs well-moistened soil, on which it grows in any direction. In its natural environment, it is found on river banks, in damp forests, in swampy areas and bushes. In Russia it grows from Western Siberia to the Caucasus and is cultivated on an industrial scale for the brewing industry.

It is planted in gardens and parks as an aesthetic, undemanding and fast-growing crop. Due to the fact that the stems die off annually, the plant does not cause significant harm to perennial neighboring crops. In summer cottages it is planted along hedges for decorative purposes. The culture propagates by petioles, which grow well in slightly shaded places.

Collection and preparation

Beneficial features hop determines the composition of its fruit. Cones are collected in August, while they are at the ripening stage. Fully ripened fruits are unsuitable for use, as they crumble after drying. The cones are picked by hand, close to the receptacles, and poured loosely into baskets for transportation.

Dry hop seeds in the shade, in well-ventilated areas at normal temperature. The duration of the preparation is short; the readiness of the raw material is checked by bending the cone. If the rod inside bursts with a characteristic sound, the raw material is ready. It is placed in bales or bags and compacted well. Breathable containers are used for storage. The finished raw material has a weak, pleasant odor and bitter taste.

Composition and properties

The composition of beer hop cones has been studied quite well. The main interest is the “yellow pollen” produced by glands on the walls of the fruit. It is called lupulin, it includes up to seventy percent resinous substances, up to five percent bitterness and about two percent essential oil. Lupulin contains organic acids, yellow coloring matter, choline is a natural stimulator of gallbladder activity.

Industrial harvesting of hop cones is often carried out for the purpose of storing lupulin. In this case, the “pollen” is simply sown from the fruit through sieves. The substance is a mixture of nitrogen-containing elements, resins and ash. In progress heat treatment breaks down into humulin, an antibacterial substance with a bitter taste. And lupulon is a natural antioxidant with preservative properties.

These qualities of lupulin are widely used in brewing. It is humulin and lupulon that give beer its bitter taste and help it stay fresh longer. Without heat treatment, lupulin is toxic and can cause poisoning in humans.

Hop cone oil is rich in esters, the volume of which amounts to up to three percent, hop resins, gum and bitter substances. It contains acids, vitamins A and PP, thiamine and choline - a biologically active complex used by manufacturers of dietary supplements as the basis of food additives.

Application of hops

In the twentieth century, the medicinal properties of hops were studied in medical purposes. As a result of a study by European specialists, the estrogenic activity of the raw material was revealed. The experiment was carried out according to the Allen-Doisy method using castrated rats and infantile mice. When dry extract of common hop was introduced into food and drink, an estrogenic effect was observed in eighty percent of experimental animals.

Characteristic changes in the genitals were observed: the mucous membrane of the uterus of female individuals increased, the vaginal lining became covered with mucus, characteristic of the active functioning of the reproductive system. The weight of the genitals in males increased 2.7 times, and manifestations of estrus were observed. This allowed us to draw conclusions about the hormonal activity of the essential compounds that make up hop cones. This is also evidenced by the fact that women involved in the procurement and processing of medicinal raw materials experience menstrual irregularities.

However, there are no direct recommendations for the use of hop cone decoction in gynecology. The fact is that huge dosages of the drug were used in experimental rats and mice - from ten to forty milligrams per animal.

The use of hops in humans in doses appropriate to their weight and capable of demonstrating any estrogenic effect is not possible. Therefore, using the plant during menopause to relieve symptoms or for breast enlargement is not a justified or scientifically supported practice.

The opinion that beer promotes bust growth, stimulates weight loss or saturates the male body with female hormones is also untrue. The amount of lupulin used in beer is so insignificant that it has no effect on the human body.

Official medicine offers completely different possibilities for using medicinal raw materials. Similar aspects of the use of hop cones in folk medicine can be traced in the works of herbalist Mikhail Nosal, collections about medicinal plants V.P. Makhlayuk and V.I. Popova.

Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and genitourinary system. To stimulate appetite, an infusion of medicinal raw materials is used. It improves digestion, relieves pain during attacks of gastritis, has a choleretic effect in diseases of the liver and gall bladder, and demonstrates an anti-inflammatory effect in cystitis and kidney diseases.
Insomnia, stress. The most widespread use of the drug is as a sedative infusion that normalizes sleep and reduces excitability. Hops are present in most natural herbal remedies for nervous tension from pharmaceutical production.
Dermatology, trauma. An ointment based on hop cones is used externally. The product has some analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects, so it is recommended for healing wounds, abscesses in diabetes, painful bruises, skin inflammation and acne. There is an analgesic effect for pain of a rheumatoid and gouty nature, and for varicose veins.
Cosmetology. Hop cones are used for hair as a remedy for baldness, to stimulate hair growth, and to activate dormant hair follicles. The decoction helps in the fight against dandruff.

In each case, a water or alcohol infusion or a steam of hop cones is used.

Infusion for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, kidneys

Used for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract with impaired bile flow and severe pain. Recommended for hepatitis. Instead of infusion, lupulin powder itself can be used. Herbalist and herbalist Mikhail Nosal recommends taking it three times a day on the tip of a knife (0.3 grams each). But it is important to consider that lupulin powder is toxic and can cause signs of poisoning.

Preparation

Pour the raw materials into a thermos. Use two tablespoons.
Leave for four hours.
Strain.

You should take a quarter glass three times a day, fifteen minutes before meals.

Tincture for insomnia

Instructions for using hop cones for insomnia include recommendations for making an alcohol tincture or “sleeping pad” from herbs. In the latter case, you need to collect lemon balm, mint, motherwort herbs in a fabric bag, add hop inflorescences, and sew up the bag. Place it next to your pillow for deeper and more restful sleep. According to reviews, alcohol tincture is just as effective, but acts faster.

Preparation

Place hop cones in a jar up to a quarter of the capacity.
Pour vodka down the neck.
Leave it to brew for a week.
Strain.

The product should be taken twice a day, five drops diluted in a spoonful of water. The last dose is taken before bedtime.

Pain relieving ointment

Preparation

Grind the hop cones into powder. Use a tablespoon of raw material.
Grind with butter or melted butter lard. Use a tablespoon of fat component.

Apply the ointment to the affected areas, rubbing lightly.

Hair growth steam

To stimulate hair growth, prevent baldness and as a remedy for dandruff, water vapor of hop cones is used.

Preparation

Place the raw materials in the container. Use four tablespoons.
Pour two hundred milliliters of boiling water.
Leave it covered for four hours.
Strain.

Apply to hair roots half an hour before washing your hair, rubbing into the skin. After using shampoo and conditioner, rinse your hair well and rinse with the remaining steam.

Hop cones have no contraindications for external use. They serve as a good cosmetic nutrient and disinfectant and demonstrate a wound healing effect. But when taken orally, it is important to follow the dosage and take into account the toxicity of the main active component. With a single dose of one or two grams of lupulin, symptoms of poisoning are likely: headache, nausea, vomiting.