From cork oak to cork
In the summer months, the sky above the cork oak forests is almost cloudless. For centuries, Mediterranean farmers have been peeling the bark of Quercus suber, the cork oak, in sweltering heat. A form of agriculture that, since Dom Pierre Pérignon introduced corks for champagne and wine at the beginning of the 17th century, gradually established itself alongside agriculture and animal husbandry in the cork oak regions.
Oak trees must grow for at least twenty to thirty years before they can be peeled for the first time. With a height of 1.50 m, they had to have a circumference of at least 70 cm.
The harvest time is nine years. Skilled workers climb trees sweaty and tanned. A worker strategically selects a crack in the bark with the tip of his sharp axe. Targeted cuts penetrate the oak bark. A second worker peels the cork bark off the trunk with skillful tearing and slow movements, if possible without breaking the bark or damaging the tree. The larger the severed piece, the more valuable it is for cork making. It's hot midday. The cicadas are chirping.
The first crop, known as “Desbóia” in Portugal, produces cork with an irregular structure that is too hard to cork well. This so-called "new cork" is used for floor coverings or insulating materials. Only the third harvest, "amadia", is also used for the production of natural corks.
The selection processes that separate the wheat from the chaff begin as early as the harvest. For example, the bark area near the root is trimmed as it is more likely to contain traces of TCA, the chemical responsible for the infamous “cork taste”.
The harvest is one of the best-paid in agriculture worldwide: a peeler can earn 120 euros a day, because no machine can replace the traditional handwork that forms the starting point of the industrial production chain. Finally, the felled tree is marked with the last digit of the harvest year.
After work in the evening, the cork oaks shimmer reddish in the evening sun. The scent of cinnamon, vanilla, caramel and eucalyptus floats sluggishly and melancholically in the air.
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