Bite: Hop shoots
The hop plant is a vigorous climber that sprouts new shoots every spring – crisp, white and about the size of green beans. These grow out of the root, close to the top soil, and are best picked early on when the fibrous shoots measure five to seven centimetres.
The hop plant is hot these days, and not just for flavouring beer.
In Flanders, which used to be covered in hop fields from Brussels to Poperinge, hopscheuten, or hop shoots, have been a common folk's food for centuries. Even the Roman logbooks were so detailed as to mention the "unknown vegetable eaten here, only harvested for a few weeks out of the year".
What started out as "poor man's fare" has been steadily gaining popularity among gourmets for the last two decades. Due to the extremely short season (about six weeks from early March until mid-April) and the shoots' hand-grown nature, quantities are limited, and prices are high - anywhere from €30 to €1,000 per kilo. Although greenhouses and modern technology manage to extend the season, it has had little effect on the product's reputation as one of the world's most exclusive vegetables.
Hop shoots are prized for their earthy and mild flavour, which, while entirely unique, often gets compared to asparagus. They can be eaten raw to give salad a bit of crunch or warm with a creamy sauce, usually next to poached eggs or fish.
The region around Poperinge, the last bastion of Flanders' hop farming tradition, is the place to be if you want to try hop shoots. During the annual Hop Shoots Festival, which runs until mid-April, a handful of top restaurants incorporate the so-called "white gold" into their refined menus. There are also exhibitions, tours, even hotel arrangements - all in the name of the humble hop shoot. The recipes on the website have the versatile hop shoots prepared in a number of dishes, including marinated salmon, sole and risotto and even a dessert of hop shoot ice cream, bananas and hop jenever sabayon.
't Hommelhof in Watou is one restaurant serving up a seasonal menu. The cosy place with its walls draped in - what else? - hops, is known for its hearty beer cuisine. Not to stray from his specialty, chef Stefaan Couttenye has created the following suggestions: young pigeon in St Bernardus Prior (a strong dark local beer), with mashed peas and hop shoots in cream, and calf 's head maison with hop shoots and a poached farm egg.
To really immerse yourself in the West Flemish hop culture, go for an arrangement. The Rentmeesterhoeve in Poperinge is a luxuriously renovated farmhouse offering an overnight stay plus participation in the hopscheutenhappening (until 26 March), and all-day event, with a guided tour through hop fields to a hop farm where you'll learn everything there is to know about the crop. Then you'll take part in a local beer tasting, have dinner in a gastronomic restaurant, take a walk through downtown Poperinge and, finally, visit the National Hop Museum.
Dinner is a three-course menu of beef Carpaccio and a salad of raw hop shoots with goose liver curls and truffle vinaigrette, cod prepared with hop shoots in a cream sauce flavoured and served with St Bernardus Tripel and a surprise dessert. This particular arrangement costs €132.50 per person; the others range from €100 to €222 per person.
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Beer & Food Writer
