The abbess, mystic, and early Christian botanist Hildegard of Bingen said in her twelfth-century herbal that hops “were not very useful.” They “make the soul of man sad, and weigh down his inner organs.”† And so hops fell outside the church’s Gruitrecht. The powerful plant—Humulus lupulus, or climbing wolf; it spreads vigorously if left unchecked—was untaxed and free for the plucking.
