Flower Friday........

.....................Hop Cone
 
 

Hop plants are grown for their flower cones, which impart bitterness and flavour to beer.


 Harvesting of Hops is in full swing at the moment. While we were driving back from Riwaka yesterday afternoon, having been out there for my Derelict Thursday blip, a tractor and trailer unit, carting hop vines from the farm to the processing sheds, was dropping small bunches on the road. We stopped to collect this undamaged/squashed bunch and it is now in a vase on my kitchen bench.
There is nothing nicer than the fresh clean smell of hops – whether it is from the fresh hop cone or wafting on the air as they dry in the kiln.

The Nelson / Motueka area is the only area in New Zealand where the climate is suitable for the growing of Hops.

This link will take you to an interesting site about NZ hops. It includes the history, varieties developed and grown in this region and the final products – Cone Hops, Hop Pellets, CO2 hop extract


Thank you for the comments and stars for yesterday’s ‘derelict’ dinghy blip.