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Hops in the old peasant society
Aug
Allmogens old hop yards are long abandoned. Something to change?
Hops (Humulus lupulus L.) are our only cultivated plant that has been legislated and thus strictly controlled. In the 17th and 18th centuries, hop cultivation in Sweden reached its peak, when there were millions of hop plants in the country. The surveyor always noted where hop farms were located. Even today, hop plants can be found on these long-abandoned hop farms.There is an old overgrown hop farm in Lindö, Torsås parish, in Småland, which according to legend was planted by Nils Dacke himself.(Fabian Månsson, The cradle of the dachshund) The female flowers of the hop have been used in beer brewing since the Middle Ages. The acidity of hops has a weak antibiotic effect against gram-positive bacteria, which helps the yeast to develop and ferment the wort into a good beer.
Månsson's trilogy is set in the 16th century, but it was on our oldest maps from the beginning of the 17th century until the end of the 19th century that we can see the hop farms plotted on the map, with the number of stumps usually indicated.- How many hops have you harvested? Malin continued her questions to Germund.
Germund mentioned a sum. 'The old judge knows that, by the way,' he said, 'for he has received half.
Malin stood up, her eyes stinging.
- Half! she hissed. Did you say half, you thief? Don't you know that for years all farmers have been handing over to the Saviour all the hops harvested in their hop yards? Do you not think that the king has the same right as an ordinary commoner? All the hops from your farm shall be delivered to the king's bailiff. That is the king's command. Any hops you need you can buy from the bailiff.
- I have created the hop garden myself, said Germund. He had been standing with his head bowed, looking at her with a lurking gaze, but now he straightened up and looked into her little grey rat's eyes. When I came here there was no hop farm but a thistle country, where the hop farm is now. Neither the king nor his bailiff built the hop farm here, but I did. So I take half of what grows in it, or no hops grow there any more.
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