Know the beginnings of the cork in your wine bottle?
Fascinating story about the Portuguese national tree
Subject: FW: Cork Harvest
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Cork Harvest
Have you ever wondered where that cork in your bottle
of wine comes from? The answer is most likely to be
Spain or Portugal, where over half of the world’s
cork is harvested.
In fact it is the “National Tree” of Portugal .
However, unlike other forms of forestry,
the production of cork
never involves the death of a tree.
Instead, they are gently stripped,
leaving a strange but fascinating
landscape of denuded trunks.
All of this takes some time.
Cork trees can live to over 200 hundred years but are not
considered ready for their cork to be removed
until they are at least 25 years old.
Even then, the first two harvests do not produce cork of be removed
be removed I t isn’t until the trees are in their forties that they
produce premium cork.
Once the trees have reached the maturity necessary to produce high
quality cork then they will be harvested
only every nine years.
A tree, in its lifetime, can be harvested (the process is known as
extraction) about fifteen times.
Little wonder then, that in Portugal and Spain the propagation of
the trees and the production of cork has
become an inter-generational industry, with farmers still producing
a crop from trees planted by their
great-great grandfathers.
The cork must, however, be extracted from the trees without causing
any lasting harm to them
– otherwise, 9 years later they will be useless.
Extraction takes place in the summer when the tree is least
susceptible to damage.
The poor cork which is produced as a result of the first two
harvests is known as male cork:
later extractions provide what is known as gentle cork which is
what you will screw out of a wine bottle,
the contents of which it helps to flavor.
The extractors must be skilled at their job.
They make two cuts to the tree.
The first is horizontal and is cut around the tree.
This is known as the necklace and the incision is made at a height
around three times the circumference of the tree.
Then a series of vertical cuts are made which are called openings
or rulers.
This is the point at which the extractors must use the most
strength but at the same time
be at their most gentle.
They push the handle of the axe in to the rulers and carefully pry
the cork away.
If the cuts are too deep or impatiently done then there
is a risk that the phellogen of the tree will be damaged.
This is the cell layer which is responsible for the development and
growth of the periderm of the tree –
its bark in other words.
Damage this and the tree will produce poor or no cork in the
future: it may even die. So strength and gentleness must be used in equal
measure during the extraction.
Once the cork is extracted it is stacked in layers and left to
dry out. Once that has taken place it is taken to be processed.
The technique used leaves the trees alive and the
environment intact – cork production is said to be one of the most
eco-friendly and recyclable harvests on the planet.
Not only is cork easy to recycle. The trees prevent the local
environment
from becoming arid and so actively help to maintain rare ecosystems.
Not only that, but the cork forests of the Iberian Peninsula are
home to a number of endangered species
which would find it much harder to thrive
without the presence of the cork oak forests.
Although 60% of the cork extracted is still used for bottle stoppers
(despite the recent predilection for using alternatives)
cork is an essential component of a number of other things too.
If you are a fan of badminton, then without cork you would no
longer be able to play
– it is a vital component in the manufacture of shuttlecocks.
cricket bats are made of cork.
More sports rely on it too – the centers of baseballs and cricket
bats are made of cork.
Cork is also a great material to use for insulation.
It is non-allergenic and easy-to-handle and if it does catch fire
its fumes are not toxic like man-made insulation materials.
The different segments of woodwind instruments are
fastened together by pieces made from cork and not
only that – the baton of your concert conductor will most
likely also be made out of this versatile material.
Cork has many other uses, too, including components of the fairings
and heat shields of spacecraft.
Yet ultimately, the fascination is in its production,
which leaves so many trees stripped and bared to the elements and
which gives the landscapes
of parts of Spain and Portugal such a unique appearance.
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