Pick hops for insomnia!

Now is the time of year when you can pick hops - here in Cudworth it is abundant, as opposed to last year, when there was hardly any. Hop helps me sleep. I dry the flowers, put them in jars and then make a hop cushion with some of them. Or rather, I fill a hankie with some hops, close it with a rubber band, stick it in a jar by my bed and when I can’t sleep I take it out and put it under my nose. Usually it works in about 20 minutes. Not always, but enough to reward the trouble of picking and drying them.

I once bought some dried hops for beer-making but they smell totally different, rather unpleasant I find, so I’m glad with my plentiful home-picked harvest this year.

Oh and once I run out of hops (the hankie works only for a few weeks, though by day I always put it back in its jar) I do the same with rosemary, dried or as essential oil, but that does not feel so rewarding!

 

That's interesting, @Annemieke. I've read old accounts of working-class Londoners going hop-picking in Kent - that used to be a regular arrangement, a sort of working summer holiday - and those often say how well they slept, despite the rough accommodation - I had put that down to fresh air and hard work, but it would seem the scent of hops also helped!

 

It was probably the hops in the beer that made them sleepy .....