Its Finally showing signs of spring around here. The buds on the grape vines are starting to pop.
The fruit trees are in bloom.
And more importantly, the hops have started to climb towards the sky. Hops are a very aggressive plant, not kept in check it can spread like crazy. Which really isn't the best thing when you'd like to maximize the amount of hop cones one plant will produce.
The plant will send out many little shoots like this trying to take over the area the plant is in. These tiny shoots are a pain and must be clipped, only allowing the selected shoots to climb. I usually allow 6 shoots per plant to remain and the rest, well those make a wonderful side dish.
Young hop shoots are kinda like Asparagus, if you cut they at just the right time they are very tender, cut too late and they become stringy. I've been picking the hop shoots from my 7 plants for about a week now and have had enough to make them for dinner every other day. Seriously, if you stand there and watch the plants you will see them grow, the shoots can grow from 6 to 12 inches in a day and the plants will create many new shoots in that time also.
First i trim them so only the tender tips of the shoots are left, about 4 to 6 inches of the shoots will be left. I also add any of the leaves that get trimmed of in the process, I think they taste much like spinach. Then place them on some tinfoil and add olive oil, salt and pepper. Close up the tinfoil and place on the grill while you cook the rest of your meal.
I was making some seiten burgers to have with them, which i was in a hurry to make so i made them by rolling into a log, cooking, then slicing.
Turns out perfect and the hops really pull in the salt and pepper flavor.
I can look forward to having hops for atleast every other day for atleast another month before the plants start to direct their attention to creating cones.
