The news report cited by the IAS officer for this story has been found to be false in a fact-check. Please find updated report here.
Hop Shoots, a vegetable grown by a farmer in Bihar is cooking up a storm after an IAS officer tweeted a collage of two photos and wrote: ''One kilogram of this vegetable costs about Rs 1 lakh ! World's costliest vegetable,'hop-shoots' is being cultivated by Amresh Singh an enterprising farmer from Bihar, the first one in India. Can be a game changer for Indian farmers.'' Soonafter the 'hop shoots' started a buzz on social media with many people tweeting about the green conical vegetable.
What are hop shoots?
The hop - called humulus lupulus - is a perennial plant. A native of North America and Europe, hop shoots were believed to be a weed untill its properties were known. According to the website agrifarming.in, hop shoots have ''antibacterial effects'' and are used for ''bittering'', ''flavouring'' and as ''stability agent in beer''.
Why are hop shoots expensive?
According to an article in theguardian.com, the hop shoots are ''absolutely back-breaking to harvest'' and hence the high cost. The weed-like tendrils grow haphazardly and one has to ''hunch'', ''hunt around'' and they are so ''tiny so you need to pick hundreds to fill a carrier bag."
The same article says the hop ''leaves take on a kale-like quality'' when cooked. There are even festivals to celebrate the hop shoot like the London Hop Shoot Festival.
