Beer Brewing Workshop

We had our second beer brewing workshop here this past weekend.  Jon Spee (check out his great local food blog The Local Kitchener) was here to lead this full fledged class, where he walked participants through all stages of home beer brewing from scratch - making the mash with organic grains, using hops fresh from our vine, brewing, fermenting, testing, bottling, tasting...

Healthful hops

The beautiful bountiful hops on our arbour is nearly ready for harvest.  Each year I harvest large baskets full, drying the hops flowers (called strobiles) and using them for herbal tea blends.  Hops is extremely easy to grow, and is a perennial herb that comes back strong year after year.  Hops has a wide range of benefits.  For example, offering sedative and relaxing properties so it is a nice addition to teas for insomnia, stress and anxiety.  Hops has been known to help women who are going through menopause, hops has been proven to reduce various kinds of cancer, and hops can also be used as a hair rinse to alleviate dry scalp.  Of course, hops is also a prime ingredient in making beer - on our bookshelf we have some wonderful books on making homemade beers including The Homebrewer's Garden, but have yet to make a batch using our own homegrown hops. Maybe during this autumn season...