Beer Brewing Herbs

If you like beer you may be interested in growing some of your own ingredients. Hops are the most common herb used in beer and are used for  bittering. They are relatively easy to grow and make a nice vine to grow up your deck or elsewhere.

hops

I've been reading "The Homebrewer's Garden" by Joe Fisher and Dennis Fisher which details many of the other herbs that are and have been used in beer.  I was not only amazed at how many herbs have been used in beer but also realized that I grow many of these herbs.

Hops are my favorite as I am a fan of great IPA's. They not only bitter the beer it but to create a variety of unique flavor profiles that include floral, piney and citrus. There are some beers that taste very similar to grapefruit juice just becasue of the hops they use. If you are not a beer drinker you may not realize that there are actually many different varieties of hops all producing different aromas and flavors in a beer because of their alpha and beta acids.
 
We grow hops here on the farm and use them in dream pillows as they are a good for destress and to promote sleep. You may have experienced relaxation after you've had a few beers! Hops are also good for skin care and help decrease irritation and promote hydration. I've written about the benefits of hops before, here.

thyme

There are additional herbs that are used in beer for bittering, flavoring and giving the beer a nice aroma.

Herbs used for bittering include yarrow, horehound, sage, dandelion, costmary, and clary sage. They are typically added at the beginning of the boil phase and need to be balanced with hops which are also bitter.

Flavoring herbs include rosemary, hyssop, borage, oregano, mint, bee balm/monarda, lemon balm, sweet woodruff, marjoram and thyme. Add these carefully as they can have rather strong flavors. They can be added at the beginning or near the end of the boil.

Other herbs can be added for aroma including rosemary, hyssop, lavender, chamomile, lemon balm, bee balm, elder flowers. If adding them for aroma they are added toward the end of the boil. 

Yarrow apparently was commonly used to bitter beer before hops were used, a beer known now as Gruit Ale. I don't know if any commercial brewers use this but I did find a lot of interest in it on several beer brewing websites.

Other herbs that I grow that are used in beers are Horehound, Coriander, Summer savory, Nasturtium, Raspberry Fruit, Rhubarb, Rose Hips and Valerian leaf. Not mentioned in the book, but herbs I think would be great in beer include rose petals, red clover, violets, calendula, salad burnett, and feverfew.

I'd love to taste a good hoppy IPA that is flavored with lavender. I've seen several Saison styles with lavender but never an IPA. So, local breweries, make my dream come true please!

Besides using these herbs in beer, they can be used for skin care and bath herbs. Beer Spa is a concept that is gaining in popularity and many of these herbs can be used in conjunction with beer to provide skin benefits. We just put on a beer spa event and hope to do more in our area.

Summer Skin Care with Herbs

Sunny beach

The dog days of summer are upon us. That hot sun not only dries out our skin causing premature wrinkles, but is can also increase the risk for skin cancer. Herbs can help skin in a number of ways, including cleansing, cooling, and protecting. 

Make an infusion or strong tea from herbs that can be applied to the skin or put in the bath. Also try herbs as a steam facial by putting them in a bowl and pouring boiling water over them. Lower your face into the steam being careful not to burn yourself. Feel your pores open and your worries drift away. Yet another way to use herbs for your skin is to make a tall glass of iced herbal tea to relax with.  These are some common plants for summer skin care:

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) – Some call it a weed, but it is a very good source of vitamin A which is important for maintenance of the skin’s epithelial layer. Vitamin A is also found in stinging nettles, parsley and violets.

Rose Hips (Rosa spp.)– After the rose flower fades you still have the hips, which are high in vitamin C. This vitamin is essential for making collagen, the foundation upon which the skin rests. Rose flowers also make a good face cleanser and are considered hydrating for the skin. Parsley and strawberry leaves are also high in vitamin C.

Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) –The phytoestrogens in red clover can help diminish wrinkles, giving your skin that plump youthful look. It has also been used to treat several skin conditions including eczema. Since it is a legume, it can also feed your soil!

Chamomile (Matricaria recutita)– It's anti-inflammatory properties can be soothing to the skin, especially after a sunburn. It is also antiseptic which can help prevent infection of minor scrapes.

Mint (Mentha spp) – The cooling properties of the mint family are refreshing on a hot afternoon. Make a tea to drink as well as to apply to the skin in a mister or with a cotton swab. Mint can also help relieve dry cracked skin.

Green Tea (Camillia sinensis) – Although you probably don’t have this one in your garden it is an important one for summer skin care. Many animal studies have shown that green tea can prevent skin cancers when applied topically. Try making a strong infusion to put in the bathtub, or apply it directly to moles on the skin. It also provides beneficial properties as a drink. Better safe than sorry.

Calendula (Calendual officinalis) – This orange flower is great for dry skin and can hasten the healing of cracked hands or abrasions of the skin. It is also antiseptic and anti-inflammatory and has been used to treat eczema.

Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) – This herb can bring relief from sunburn and has also been used as an insect repellent and to treat skin allergies and rashes.

Recipe

Rose water toner

2 c rose petals

1 cup water

2/3 cup witch hazel

2 tsp honey

Bring water to a boil and add rose petals. Remove from the heat and steep for one hour. Strain out the petals. Add the second cup of rose petals to the water and again heat to just boiling, steep for one hour and strain. Mix in witch hazel and honey. Keep this refrigerated and use within three days.

You can find a good green tea herbal bath mix from Colorado Aromatics to use after exposure to sun here.

Spring Salad Herbs

Spring Salad

The site of spring herbs popping from the ground in spring was a welcome site to people in the pre supermarket era who had little nutritive foods for months over the late winter. These spring herbs or bitters are packed with nutrition and can be enjoyed in salads. Looking around my yard I see tarragon, salad burnett, dandelion, chives and parsley, all of which can be chopped and put on a salad of greens that I buy from the farmers market. There is mustard growing now that would also be great on this salad. The flavors are great and are sure to interest your taste buds.

What herbs do you find for your salads?

Dandelion and Dock

Dandelion and Dock Roots

Getting areas ready to plant means taking out some things. both Dandelion and Dock are prolific on my farm and I try to control them by digging the roots and using them. 

Yellow dock (Rumex crispus)

Yellow Dock is a weed found in many pastures. It is also known as curly dock because the leaves have undulating egdes. It is edible and sometimes eaten as a potherb but it is the deep taproots that have medicinal properties. Its main use is as a laxative due to the anthraquinones found in it such as emodin and chrysophanol. But has also been used to improve the absorption of minerals and the help a headache.

Yellow dock is a purifying tonic and so can be used topically for a number of skin conditions. It has anti-inflammatory and anti-itch properties. Although it is most widely used for acne it has also been used for eczema, psoriasis, rash, boils, and abscesses and to calm irritated skin. It is said to improve blood flow (a good thing for most conditions). Because of tyrosinase inhibitors dock could potentially decrease age spots on the skin.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

The word Dandelion means ‘lions tooth’ referring to the jagged edges on the leaf. There are many similarities between dock and dandelion in that they are both detoxifiers and great for skin care including acne. Dandelion is also a pot herb (cooked) and the raw leaf can be used as a salad green. The flower is used to make wine and fritters and we’ve made coffee substitute from the roots before. The herb is very nutritious and a source of vitamins A, B, C, and D, as well as minerals such as iron, potassium, and zinc.

Dandelion is both a laxative and a diuretic (increasing urination to decrease water content of the body and thus decrease blood pressure). It has been used to detoxify the liver and gallbladder and to help decrease a headache.  In skin care it has been used to treat acne, eczema and psoriasis. It is antiinflammatory and an antioxidant. It has an effect on the cells of the dermis to strengthen that layer of skin. Many herbalists recommend it for breast health and medical science is looking at the possibility of dandelion to inhibit cancer cell growth.

Don’t plant dandelion or dock though; come to my place and dig them up if you need some; both spread wildly!

Brewers Herbs

Beer is an ancient drink (and food) that I happen to be quite fond of. I especially like beer with lots of floral hops. Hops were not always used in beer though, and may not have been used until the 9th century. Before that, a mixture of herbs referred to as gruit was used to flavor beer. Although I don't brew beer, I do grow hops and other herbs so am interested in what herbs are used in beer. I recently read "The Homebrewer's Garden" by Joe and Dennis Fisher to learn more about herbs in brewing, a very interesting book by the way.

Here are some of the herbs from this book that grow in my gardens.

Anise Hyssop - provides a licorice flavor to beer.
Basil - adds a slightly bitter, spicy flavor.
Bee Balm - often used as a tea, bee  balm provides a bitter, minty flavor.
Borage - gives a spicy, cucumber like flavor to beer. This herb can also be steeped in wine.
Chamomile (Roman) - is said to be one of the 'secret' herbs in Celis White beer. It gives an apple-like flavoring.
Clary Sage - provides a balsamlike aroma to beer.
Coriander - this is a flavoring in one of my favorite beers; Belgian Whites.
Dandelion - yet another use for this common weed. Use the tender spring leaves in your salad and the larger leaves later in the season to bitter your beer.
Elder - the berries are best know for making wine, but they can also be used to flavor beer. The flowers can be used for 'dry hopping' as well.
Oregano - adds a distinctive flavor to beer.

Horehound - this herb can add a warm, menthol flavor. I wonder if horehound beer can be used to control coughs?
Hyssop officinalis - this herb is used in Benedictine and Chartreuse. Using it in beer provides a minty, medicinal scent.
Juniper - commonly used in gin, juniper can contribute this taste to beer as well.
Lavender - oh, the many uses of sweet lavender. I would love to try a pale ale flavored with lavender. Let me know if you know of one.
Lemon Balm - this is used in many liquours and can add a lemon scent/flavor to beer.
Mint - there are many types of  mint, and although I love a mint tea, I don't know how this would be in beer.
Rhubarb - great in a fruit crisp, this is one fruit that would be interesting in beer.
Rose hips - apparently rose hips are used in some beers from Poland and impart a citrus flavor and red color to beer.
Rosemary - before the use of hops in beer, rosemary was quite popular.
Sage - was used in fifteenth century English beer recipes and adds bitterness and camphorlike scent.
Savory, Summer - provide a peppery, oregano-like flavor and aroma.
Spruce - was popular during the American Revolution spruce adds distinct, woods taste that is popular in winter beers.
Sweet Woodruff - this herb is what makes May wine what it is but can also be used to add a mild, sweet aroma to beer.
Thyme - used to give beer a spicy aroma.
Valerian root - is commonly used as a sedative so what better place to use it than beer?
Yarrow - both the leaves and flowers can be used to bitter beer.

I'd love to see more 'herbal' beers so I hope that if you are a brewer this gives you some ideas - and don't hesitate to share with me! I'd love to write reviews!