Hops, Prep & Dose

Both infusion and tincture of the fresh flowers do justice to Hops' properties. The former should steep half an hour for best effects. The fresh freeze-dried extract is excellent too.

Being one of the foremost remedies for the skin, Hops can be used alone or in appropriate combinations in a variety of preparations such as salves, compresses, poultices, washes and the like.

It makes a good addition to cough syrups for irritable coughs and restlessness.

It is a superior agent in rheumatism and neuralgia. A hot fomentation may be applied to the parts affected, and with other agents taken internally with the best of success.

Standard Infusion; 4-8 ounces of infusion up to 3 times daily

Tincturing: Dried leaf (1:5, 75% alcohol); 1-3 ml 3 times daily; Fresh flowers, 1:4 60%, 14 days

(Unless otherwise indicated)

Cut or powdered strobiles or dry powder for infusion, decoctions and other preparations, single dose of 0.5 g; liquid and solid preparations for internal use, infusion or decoction, 0.5 g in 150 ml of water;

fluid extract 1:1 (g/ml) 0.5 ml;

Native dry extract 6–8:1 (w/w) 0.06–0.08 g

Hop ‘flowers’ are strictly speaking strobiles – a cone of papery bracts that surround the tiny inner (female) flower or seed. They are stripped off the hop vine when fully ripe (papery and yellow) in late summer. Very fine comminution. (e.g., by food processor) will be required to achieve a wt:vol ratio higher than 1:4.

In many, many texts Hops are quoted as an example of a herbal remedy that must be dried before use. Practical experience proves this to be a myth

 Dose:1 to 60 drops of the tincture.

A hops pillow can be used to aid sleep. Fill a sachet, about 5 by 5 inches (13 by 13 cm) and sewn on three sides, with hops and tie tightly with a ribbon on the top. Insert it into a pillowcase. The calming aroma helps slumber. A pillow for children’s sleep could be filled with dill seed, fennel seed, and lavender. Both King George II and Abraham Lincoln slept with hops pillows to aid sleep.

Suppositories from Physio-Medical Therapeutics, Materia Medica and Pharmacy BY T. J. LYLE, A.M.M. 1897