There may be no answer to this one, but…
Is there any easy way to identify hop varieties while on the bine? I ask as there are several untended hop bines growing in community gardens near my home, and it seems a shame to let them go to waste. It would be nice to know what they are though, else I’ll just see if they have good aroma properties or age them for use in future lambics.
This could be of some help, below. The bottom line is that it is difficult at best. As you are in the UK, you might ask the older farmers in the area if they remember what was grown in earlier times, if hops were grown around there.
Or you could pick and dry, then do a hop rub with your hands, comparing to known varieties. The last alternative is to pay for DNA testing, but that would be expensive.
The link. Read the wild hops article.
http://www.gorstvalleyhops.com/pdfs/July_09.pdf
Thanks for posting that Jeff, I knew it existed but couldn’t find it.
Thanks!
I’ll see if anyone might know, but the land is either common or is worked by small tenants of the local authority (this includes me - I grow my hops on my 250 square yard allotment along with vegetables), so finding someone who has been around long enought could be a challenge.