How to Pick Wild Hops

Most wild hops varieties come from escaped cultivated hops brought to the United States by European immigrants in the 1600s. There are also native North American wild hops. Some of the naturalized hops have crossed with the native varieties, and others continue to grow wild but true to their original line. Hops provide a bittering agent for beer, but the flavor of wild hops isn't constant from plant to plant or year to year the way it is with cultivated hops. The papery flower bracts are harvested in the same manner as cultivated varieties even if they don't always provide the same flavor.

Things You'll Need

• Window screen

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Instructions

1. • 1

     Pick the flower cones once they dry and become papery. The cones mature in the late summer or early fall.

   • 2

     Grasp the cones gently and pluck them from the hops vines. Cones mature over a period of two to three weeks, so return to the wild stand of hops and harvest weekly until you have collected the amount of dried cones desired.

   • 3

     Spread out the cones on an old window screen. Place the screen in a warm, sunny area to dry for an additional week.

   • 4

     Fold a cone in half after drying. If the cone shatters, the hops are dry. If it doesn't shatter, dry the hops for an additional week.