Hildegard of Bingen Describes the Preservative Power of Hops

Between about 1151 and 1158, the Benedictine abbess and natural historian Hildegard of Bingen compiled the work now commonly known as Physica. In its chapter on hops, she characterized the plant as bitter and observed that its bitterness could prevent certain drinks from spoiling, allowing them to remain usable for longer. Hildegard did not invent hopped beer, and her passage does not constitute a brewing recipe: documentary evidence linking hops with breweries predates her work. Her account is nevertheless an important medieval explanation of why hops were valuable in beverages, recording their preservative function alongside the medical qualities that she attributed to the plant.