Hops are the female flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant Humulus lupulus. They are used primarily as a flavoring and stability agent in beer, to which they impart a bitter, tangy flavor, though they are also used for various purposes in other beverages and herbal medicine.In the Middle Ages, beers tended to be of a very low alcohol content (small beer). In Europe, many villages had one or more small breweries with a barley field and a hop garden in close vicinity.