h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'll be sub-editing your hop ice cream entry shortly so I'm trying to learn about hops. You talk about a seed cone but somewhere else you mention leaves. Do you put actual leaves into the mix or are they the petal-like things of the seed cone? And is there a a technical name for those "petals"?

Do you buy them ready chopped or is the first step to chop the hops?

Hi Gnomon, hops are actually flowers I think. But ones with the seeds in them. You can buy them as "whole leaf" or "whole hop" which is the same thing, or as pellets. Pellets aren't that great for something like this as they're pre-compressed and need boiling/soaking to flake them out.

You can see a hop cone here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Hopfendolde-mit-hopfengarten.jpg

The bit that looks like a bright green fircone is the bit you use, although it's dried a bit before you get it

If there's a technical name, I've no idea what it is.

I really ought to write a fuller entry on hops themselves, there's a huge amount of stuff about them, different aroma and bittering levels, measured as alpha percentages, oil content, and the list goes on