Day 86, Learning about Cork

Mark and I had recently become curious about cork production. Today we got lots of answers while on a ‘cork trek’. The Alentejo - where we are in Portugal - is the perfect place to learn because half of the world’s cork is produced here. Some interesting things about cork - most cork trees plant themselves so you won’t see lines of perfectly spaced trees (planting a cork forest has a failure rate of up to 95%), it takes up to 65 years for a tree to produce quality cork, trees are harvested every 10-12 years and only May through July by highly skilled ‘strippers’, many well into their 60’s. Portuguese cork trees are protected by law and require official certification that one is dead before it can be cut down (after approximately 10 harvests a tree is ‘retired’). The history of the use of cork goes back to boat making in ancient Egypt. Much to learn and also appreciate. Not sure I will again carelessly throw a used cork in the trash. 🍷Read more