Sure, beer is made with hops. But I'm going full circle and using beer to make pickled hop shoots! Come join me. It's a big bottle of beer, so there's some for sampling, too!
Pickled Hop Shoots Are Easy to Make!
I grow hops. I prune their shoots all through the spring, until I'm ready to train the hops to grow up a tall trellis. I can have a lot of hops! I saute them, put them in scrambled eggs, grill them, and pickle them. It's so easy to make pickled hop shoots!
I put a bunch of shoots into each jar, add 10 whole peppercorns, a clove of garlic, and a 50/50 mix of vinegar and beer. That's all! Then I let it sit for a few weeks.
I use a different beer every year. This year, I'm using a Kolsch-style beer by 54-40 Brewing Company in Washougal, Washington. This beer can't be called an actual Kolsch Ale, because that's a geographically protected style of beer. Only breweries in Cologne, Germany can make a real Kolsch Ale. The Kascadia Kolsch-style is brewed with Pilsner malt and German yeast. The bottle label may seem plain, but the beer is plain good!
The brewery that makes Kascadia got its name from the northern latitude of the old Oregon territory, before Oregon became a state. That's way up in Canada now, at 50 degrees and 40 minutes, up by the southernmost part of Alaska. But the brewery is actually near Portland, Oregon.
I'm glad I had enough Kascadia Kolsch-style to sample while I made my pickled hop shoots! It's an easy beer to enjoy, with low bitterness (only 20 IBUs) and low alcohol (4.8% ABV). It looks like an unfiltered beer, although that's not an essential part of the Kolsch-style of beer.
The pickling juice takes on the underlying pink color, as the hop shoots stay in the jar. The pickled hop shoots are delicious! And the leftover juice is good for making refrigerator pickles from other wild harvests, like the center of yucca flowers and cat's tongue mushrooms.
In my last beer review, I showed one way to use these hop shoots -- on top of pizza! Really good! You can see other ways to eat them in my video on How to Pickle Hop Shoots. And here are other ways to Eat Hop Shoots, too.
What Do You Think?
- Have you ever had a Kolsch Ale or a Kolsch-style Ale?
- Have you ever had a beer by 54 40 Brewing?
- Have you ever eaten hop shoots?
- Do you grow any hops?
My other beer reviews: Atoning For My Sins - with Pure Sin Schwarzbier // Gluten-Free Beer with Lentils: Olallie Blackberry Rosehip Ale // An Eclipse Special - The 8.2 Lunar Lager // Helles Belles Helles Lager // Session Premium Lager // Pray for Snow Winter Ale
Haphazard Homestead
foraging, gardening, nature, simple living close to the land
All content is 100% Haphazard Homestead!My YouTube channel: Haphazard Homestead
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Pickling with beer? That's new to me :)
Until I started pickling hop shoots, I had never heard of that, either. Here are the 2 recipes that I first came across: From the Tasting Table and Food52. They add chiles or hot pepper flakes, but I'm not a fan of that, lol. You can see they use different ratios of vinegar to beer, but I use the Food 52's 1:1 ratio. The kind of beer really does make a difference, too. A sour beer, like a gose, is really good!
I will have a look at those :D and maybe try some. Always something new, right? :)
Looks so delicious and also so easy, HH. But I do have a question. Are the hops still alcoholic after a few weeks or has the fermentation gone on to the vinegar stage? I am wondering if it would be safe to feed to kids.
I don't think there's fermentation going on, just pickling. So I wouldn't expect that the alcohol content goes down. But the amount of alcohol in a few hop shoots has got to be pretty minor. I'm not sure kids would like these -- unless they enjoy pickled artichoke hearts. They are definitely more of a sour pickle than a sweet pickle. But you could use any pickle recipe, really, with these hop shoots.
You have to try Slovak beer;) Cheers!
If I see any, I'll be sure to try one! :D
Good review! The pickling juice looks good with the pink color. I think I can drink this beer with low bitterness and low alcohol! ;)
Your cat is really cute. It seems that she (or he) loves to stay around you. ;))
Thanks, @tangmo! The pickling juice gets pink, but that's because the color leaves the hop shoots. So the pickled shoots aren't so pretty - but they are tasty! I like them with rice. I would have used them for the Steemit Iron Chef contest when the special ingredient was rice. But they just weren't ready.
Thanks for watching my video, too. I made the video a couple years ago. That cute little cat is Robert. He's gone now and I miss him. He was such a sweetheart. I'm glad he pushed his way into my video, so I can remember how he was.
You're welcome! I'm so sorry to hear that your cute little cat has gone now.... In the meantime, I'm sure you will keep this video for the good remembrance of him.
I've had a few different kolshs from the area. I tend to like the lighter beers and a kolsh on a hot day is bueno. The double mountain kolsh is a good stand by.
I'll have to try more of the Kolschs. I'll look for the Double Mountain. Too bad I don't have 1 on-hand today -- it's going to be hot in the PNW! Stay hydrated there in Portland, lol!
So creative as always @haphazard-hstead :-) in fact I wondered if you would be interested in a food publication im working on at the moment which will be published this year. I really love your articles and always learn so much about ecology! Would you be up for writing something for it?
So are IBU's a measure of the bitterness. I confess to not knowing much about beers. I do know I enjoy a Coors Light from time to time though lol. We are just getting up to beer drinking weather here in Michigan. I remember when I used to unload a hay wagon full of green, heavy prickly bales. Wow nothing was better than an ice cold brew right then.
These kind of remind me of bean sprouts!!! I love those things. These look like they would go good in a stir fry.
So delicious and tasty...........
I think its so yammi.
I could not controll myself.........
👍👍👍👍👍