Native hops ( Lúpulo )
humulus lupulus var. neomexicanus
As summer seems to start to fade and warm evenings and mornings become cool we near the end of our hay season. The season we always look forward to and always slightly resent. The end of hay season signals the start of apple and hop picking, among many other things, but two of the things we get the most excited to pick. Both of which have less room for things to go wrong and far less physical demands than making hay.
Each year, almost as a vacation, we venture south to the spot I have been picking hops at for six years now. It is a valley like our own, but instead of hops here and there, there are seemingly infinite fragrant little neon green flowers, strobiles, sprawling all through the foliage that boarders the spring creek.
Neomexicanus hops, or Lúpulo by the old Spanish speaking folk, are native to New Mexico and are considered completely separate from the European varieties. Like those of us from NM for generations, lúpulo is hardy, unruly, and unpredictable, but more the interesting because of it. Lúpulo hasn’t really been commercially grown because they grow differently than commercial species. Instead of always growing tall and up, these plants grow all over the place, mostly found sprawling and crawling through the willows. The flavor and characteristics of each plant vary, seemingly to what they are growing with. Fresh, they smell to me of pine and garlic, some more in one direction or another. The unpredictable flavor also leads to an undesirable attribute in commercial growing and brewing.
We like to pick at the end of August and as the stobiles start to turn brown on the edges. After they're picked we dry them in our sun room on a drying rack and use to make beer shortly after with some reserved dried for later use in cooking and in our ‘honey sodas’. Despite the interesting flavor and aroma lúpulo has, the plant is known to be a remedio plant that is used as a sedative and for all uses anti microbial.
Luckily for us, lúpulo in the wild can be found in pretty large numbers, but not enough for commercial use and just enough to reward those of us who are willing to venture out to pick and who are happy to let it grow exactly where and how it wants to.
