Beyond the Brew: The Medicinal Power of Hops

Technically they are &quot;bines&quot; not &quot;vines&quot;. It&#x27;s mostly just a historic difference from the etymology. However, I believe there are some differences in bine pests and view pests.<p>Another medicinal use of hops, although non-human, is for mite control in beehives.

&gt; The plant’s introduction to the New World came with European settlers, who brought hops to North America in the 17th century.<p>This is not true. Hops were widespread in North America before European contact. There are broadly speaking 4 major land races of hops: European, Asian, and 2 from North America.<p>The history of hops breeding is pretty fascinating (at least to a nerd like me). Almost all of the trendy modern varieties that you would recognise from IPAs and NEIPAs (such as the &quot;C&quot; strains: your Cascades, Citras, etc) are the result of cross breeding a North American variety (probably Cluster) with a European variety (probably Fuggle), and can be traced back to a breeder who imported an &quot;unknown strain from Manitoba&quot; back to England, and bred and categorised hundreds of hybrids. I believe the goal was to breed a strain that was disease resistant but with less of the (now desirable) intense flavours characteristic of the North American strains.<p>I grow hops in Canada (Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, and Perle varieties). They are a really cool plant: I&#x27;ve never seen anything grow as quickly as they do (Benjamin Franklin once wrote about how impressive it was to watch hops grow), and their smell is really wonderful at harvest time. I dry, vacuum seal, and freeze them, and produce more whole leaf hops than I need for a year of brewing (which would otherwise cost several hundred dollars).

As mentioned below, Nicotine and caffeine are useful to plants, and to humans. Potatoes, eggplants, tomatoes, tobacco all have nicotine. Humans just happen to have receptors for the chemicals in our brains&#x2F;nervous system.[0]<p>interestingly, i was going to look for plants that hit our cannibinoid receptors and found this:<p>&gt; Myrcene is found in extremely high concentrations in hop oil, making up to about 75% of the extracted volume in some varieties, and is also found in high levels in mangoes, lemongrass, thyme and verbena.<p>Myrcene is a terpene which is a &quot;cannabimimetic&quot; compound;<p>&gt; B-caryophyllene is found in black pepper, cloves, rosemary, hops, caraway, oregano, basil, lavender, cinnamon, and many more plant species. In most of these species, β-caryophyllene is a major constituent of the essential oil.<p>Flax (linseed) contains, possibly, straight cannibinoids (in fact, CBD! 2012 discovery). Also, curiously, at least to me, all grasses humans consume are partially (marginally?) converted to compounds that interact with humans&#x27; opioid receptors. It&#x27;s one of the reasons [some?] humans get withdrawal symptoms if they go on a diet that reduces sugarcane sugar, wheat, etc.<p>I&#x27;m repeatedly reminded that everything on earth is connected, even if only by heritage and geographic proximity to our own evolution.<p>[0] Ketchup has niconoid and opioid compounds in it and that&#x27;s probably why i go through about a half gallon a month ;-) and combined with french fries it&#x27;s a potent nicotine lunch with a side of opioids.<p>Also i&#x27;m a layman. My facts are true, but i sometimes use the wrong words because i haven&#x27;t drilled the exact terms forever, because people&#x27;s eyes glaze over if you start saying &quot;nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist.&quot;

Such a widespread cureall medicine, they named a whole profession who uses it after it. DevHops..

Do some plants have medicinal powers because we evolved with them (meaning we are just reinventing what we already knew for thousands of years), or is it more a random phenomenon?

Don’t they act as an estrogen in men?