[Lee Stewart]

These green tips of the hop plant is the bit brewers don't use, however, they come with a very serious price tag. A kilogram (2.2lbs) of these shoots can cost up to $1,135, making hop shoots the most expensive vegetable in the world. It's harvesting that makes them so expensive as the hop plants don't grow in uniform rows, making for very lengthy and labor-intensive picking. While the raw flavor tastes a bit like nettles and is very astringent, when cooked, the shoots become slightly nutty and resemble the texture of samphire..