What is hops?

Many people don't know much about hops, but in fact hops are a perennial herbaceous vine. The beer brewed with hops has good transparency and gloss, and the foam is delicate and white. Beer peanuts are some of the indispensable raw materials when brewing beer. Moreover, hops actually have certain medicinal value in treating diseases. They can also help with diuresis and stomachic treatment, and regulate gastrointestinal problems.

Hops is a perennial herbaceous vine. The whole plant has barbed thorns, and the stem is about 10 cm long and hollow. The leaves are opposite, ovate and have long petioles. The inflorescence is axillary, the male flowers are spike-shaped, with many leaf-like bracts, more than 10 pairs of orpiment, no perianth, and a large amount of yellow powdery substance is produced during the fruiting period. There are a large number of wild distributions in the forests on the hillsides of Tianshan Mountain and Altai Mountain in Xinjiang, which is one of the origins of this product. The beer produced has good transparency and luster, delicate and white foam, floral aroma, pure and soft taste, and rich carbon dioxide content. Hops are the key raw material for making beer. About 1.5 kilograms of dry hops are needed to make 1,000 liters of beer.

Hops can also be used to make bread and treat diseases. It has great medicinal value and has diuretic and stomachic effects. Its pine cone preparations have anti-cancer activity; the volatile oil is effective in treating heart disease; and the polyphenol compounds it contains have a certain effect on treating various types of inflammation and Watkin's disease liver infectious damage. The bitter substances in hops, including volatile oils, pectin, tannins, flavonoids and other compounds, have obvious pharmacological activity in themselves.

Bazhong is one of the main hop producing areas in Xinjiang. The planting area is 520 hectares, with an output of more than 3,400 tons. The exported "641" has a strong hop aroma and is very popular.

I believe that after understanding these common knowledge functions of hops, everyone should have a more scientific understanding of it! Hops are not only used in the process of brewing beer. Besides being indispensable, its medicinal value can also better help us treat and solve some adverse disease problems.