The Syracuse Newspapers reports on attempts to preserve several hop houses in Madison County. Hop houses are barns with a cut pyramid shape at the top, used for drying hop flowers. Hop flowers are an important ingredient in the preservation and flavoring of beer, and at one time were the largest cash crop grown in the county.
Madison County still has about 35 hop houses, but most are in bad shape and 5 are in danger of collapse. Critz Farms in Cazenovia has built a replica hop house as both a meeting place and as an educational opportunity. When they opened it, I had a chance to tour it and write this article for Maltblog on the design and purpose of the hop houses, as explained by Juanita and Matthew Critz.