Hops

Although not a native plant, I find hops that have escaped from cultivation quite often here in Newfoundland. Early European settlers to the island often planted hops to replace yeast for baking bread, rather than thinking of them as a staple flavouring for brewing beer.

Hops can be found growing around old homesteads, climbing up old apple trees or taking over pin cherry or other stands of trees. I am more interested in harvesting the delicious spring shoots rather than the buds or flowers that are commonly used for brewing.

Hops shoots can be hard to find because the thin shoots blend into other greenery. It is

much easier to see the dried twisted stalks from years past, growing up trees or wherever it has found to climb. If you find the clusters of buds in the summer, you know it will be a good place to come back the next spring (mid-May into early June) to harvest the shoots. When cooked, the shoots taste like a nutty, earthy asparagus with a hint of kale or bitters in beer.

I like to sauté them in butter or oil and serve them as a side. Like many other spring shoots, they pickle really nicely. One of my favourite things to do with wild hops is to make an IPA beer brine pickle, a crowd pleaser when served on a charcuterie board.