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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Corvallis, Oregon » Forage Seed and Cereal Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #419540
Research Project: Development of Superior Hops and Resilient Hop Production Systems

Location: Forage Seed and Cereal Research Unit

Title: ‘USDA EdleFrucht’: An early-harvest, high-yielding nobel-style hop cultivar

Author
item Henning, John
item TOWNSEND, MICHAEL - Oregon State University
item WISEMAN, MICHELE - Oregon State University
item Gent, David

Submitted to: HortScience
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/16/2025
Publication Date: 9/18/2025
Citation: Henning, J.A., Townsend, M.S., Wiseman, M., Gent, D.H. 2025. ‘USDA EdleFrucht’: An early-harvest, high-yielding nobel-style hop cultivar. HortScience. 60(11):1900-1902. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI18482-25.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI18482-25

Interpretive Summary: New publicly available hop cultivars are sought by brewers—the end users--as customer preferences in beer styles and flavor change regularly. In addition, public desires for raw materials, such as hop, produced with minimal chemical inputs has increased over the past decade. In response to brewery stakeholders request for low-cost, low-input hop varieties with new and unique flavors, the USDA-ARS developed a new cultivar called, ‘EdelFruct’. EdelFrucht is a high-yielding, disease tolerant cultivar that is harvested earlier than most other cultivars. This new cultivar allows growers to produce additional hop acreage without investing in expensive infrastructure upgrades to expand production. It’s noble hop flavor mimics that of early landrace Bavarian hop lines but possesses higher bittering capacity for new American-style lagers and pilsners. As a result, brewers using EdelFrucht do not have to use as much hop raw material in brewing, thus saving money. The release of EdelFrucht provides USA brewing industry with a new and exciting raw material for brewing.

Technical Abstract: Hop (Humulus lupulus L.) is a perennial bine-climbing dioecious crop plant producing hop flowers that are used for flavoring and bittering beer as well as pharmaceuticals. USDA ‘EdelFrucht’ is a new publicly available hop (Humulus lupulus L.) cultivar that is high-yielding and harvested earlier than most other hop cultivars. It was derived from a cross between maternal parent, USDA ‘Nugget’ and USDA male germplasm ‘21328m’ from a cross made in 2000 at the USDA-ARS-PWA Corvallis, OR location. It exhibited yields that exceed those of commonly grown aroma hops and possesses tolerance to many of the pests affecting hop production. Chemistry profiles for this cultivar suggest it mimics a “Noble” hop flavoring with strong floral and fruity characteristics but higher than normal bittering capacity. As a result, brewers using EdelFrucht do not have to use as much hop raw material in brewing, thus saving money. The release of EdelFrucht provides USA brewing industry with a new and exciting raw material for brewing.