Odour
Intensely deep-herbaceous, rich and green-spicy odor with a peculiar and characteristic "bitter"-leafy undertone, distinct and tenacious. A valerian-like topnote develops in older oils, but it can be removed by careful washing of the absolute.
Flavour
Introduces a most interesting naturalness to apple flavors, pineapple, etc., and lends a rich body to various types of spice- or seasoning compounds. Normal use level about 0.30 mg% to 1.00 mg%, Minimum Perceptible is 0.05 to 0.10 mg%.
Notes
Used for flavoring purposes for more than 2500 years. Offers a bitter-green note which is interesting in pine, fougère, hyacinth, citrus (lime in particular), and even in aldehydic perfume bases. Ultrasonic extraction methods are also used, producing extracts with improved yields.
Full Arctander text
#### Hop Absolute.
Used for flavoring purposes for more than 2500 years, Hops have also entered perfumery. In addition, they supply the flavor industry with some very interesting materials. **Hops **are the female flower catkins from the climbing vine, **Humulus**** ****Lupulus**. This plant is cultivated all over Central Europe and in the U.S.A., particularly in California, Washington state and Oregon (not far from the peppermint fields). In the eastern U.S.A., Virginia and New York state produce the balance of the American demand for hops to the beer breweries.
The following perfume- and flavor materials are derived from hops:
- **Hop**** ****Concrète**** ****and**** ****Hop**** **Absolute, extraction products from hops.
- **Hop**** ****Oil,**** **steam distilled from the hops (see **Hop**** ****Oil).**
- **Lupulin**** ****and**** ****Lupulin**** ****Distillate,**** **from the glandular hairs on the hops, known as
**Lupulin**** **(see monograph).
The hops will yield **Hop**** ****Concrète**** **by extraction with ether gasoline or benzene. Petroleum ether is rarely used. The concrète is solid and dark green, waxy-resinous, and is only an intermediate in the production of *absolute from concrète of hops.*
**Hop Absolute **is produced by alcohol-extraction of the concrète and subsequent recovery of the alcohol in vacuum. The evaporation residue is **Hop Absolute. **The absolute is a semi-solid, dark green mass of intensely deep-herbaceous, rich and green-spicy odor with a peculiar and characteristic "bitter"-leafy undertone, distinct and tenacious. A valerian-like topnote develops in older oils, but it can be removed by careful washing of the absolute.
Used with caution and discretion in flavors, hop absolute introduces a most interesting naturalness to apple flavors, pineapple, etc., and it also lends a rich body to various types of spice- or seasoning compounds. The normal use level would be about 0.30 mg% to 1.00 mg%, and the **Minimum**** ****Perceptible**** **is 0.05 to 0.10 mg%. In perfumery, it offers a bitter-green note which is interesting in pine, fougère, hyacinth, citrus (lime in particular), and even in aldehydic perfume bases.
**Hop Absolute **is produced in France on a very limited scale only. The botanical material is, obviously, abundantly present. More recently, ultrasonic vibration has been introduced as a
means of extracting botanicals, etc. Ultrasonic Hop Extract is commercially available, and, according to the type of menstruum used, the product will be soluble in water, alcohol or hydrocarbons.
Most commonly, a mixture of water and ethyl alcohol is used, thus producing an extract which is soluble in low-proof alcohol. The yield of extracted, aromatic matter is considerably improved by this method, over the yield attained by conventional extraction. A few French houses specialize in ultrasonic extraction. Ultrasonic extracts are generally very dark. See **Ultrasonic Extracts **in Part One of this book.
See also **Lupulin**.