Cork and it's huge importance to the environment

[Clive]

Hola,

Thought i might add a bit to this subject. http://www.iberianature.com/material/cork_trees_spain.html

Quercus suber is a type of oak tree native to the Mediterranean region. The tree has adapted to problems of fire and drought by growing thicker bark, as a protective layer. This cork layer has many industrial uses and huge open forests have been developed to benefit from its sale in 7 countries bordering the Mediterranean sea. Spain is the second largest producer at around 25% of the world supply, following Portugal.

Cork oak trees are not felled, the bark is stripped, by hand using a special axe, at harvest time. This layer slowly regenerates, therefore creating a sustainable crop. Areas are harvested every 9 to 12 years, often with little work carried out in between these times. With this in mind you can envisage the importance to wildlife that these forests hold. A tree will be approximately 50 years old before its bark will be suitable for a wine stopper and may live to be 200 years old.

Beginning in the 18th century cork has become widely used in industry, particularly after the development of the cork stopper by Dom Perignon, a Benedictine monk well known for creating the first champagne. Other varied uses are flooring, engine gaskets, wall covering, sound insulation, fishing floats, shoes and life-buoys.

Environmentalists, WWF and ornithological groups are campaigning to save the cork industry from decline by making the end user (wine drinkers) more aware of their power in choosing cork only bottles rather than metal screw tops or resin stoppers.

The following report on cork forests of the Mediterranean region goes into great detail on the strong link between corks in wine bottles and the survival of these beautiful and important natural habitats.

They conclude that if current trends to use alternative stoppers continue to grow that three quarters of these natural woods and forests could be lost through neglect, fire, diversification and over-grazing during the next 10 to 15 years.

http://www.wildsideholidays.com/natural/plantlife/80-plant-life-of-iberia/92-cork-and-its-huge-importance-to-the-environment.html

Any ideas or comments?

Clive

[Technopat]

Interesting report on cork, Clive - very readable, thanx.

Following consultation with my friendly neighbourhood wine expert, yes, the guy who recommends all that quaffable juice, am sad to report the following points, many of which you already mentioned:

1. Very good quality wine requires very good quality cork to ensure correct evolution (his term) in the bottle. (Adding significant cost to final product).

2. Most wine consumed these days is young wine - synthetic cork/latex is better.

3. Synthetic cork/latex is also better for rosés, white wines, sparkling wines, cavas and Champagne.

4. Sherries, etc. do not need cork, either.

5. Cork production is very labour intensive, long-term (min. 8 years) and risky (fires). (Maybe the economists can set up a profitable futures market there, if they haven't already done so).

6. Most cork produced is bad quality cork, especially that coming from other Mediterranean countries (poss. bit of chauvinism here?) and which ruins both good and bad wine.

7. When I suggested that synergy between pata negra producers and cork producers might lead to mutually sustainable whatever, he laughed and said that while it is true that the pata negra needs to roam freely and eat its fill of acorns, such roaming is now done within relatively small enclosures, certainly not extensive enough for there to be enough cork trees growing to be profitable on that side

In conclusion: the future is bleak on this front also

Regs.
Technopat

Ps. I still pre-judge a wine by its cork - bit silly really, as once it has been opened, not much you can do about it! Likewise, if I know that a particular label/bodega uses synthetic cork I will not buy it.

[Clive]

Hola, second instalment, see what your wine buff says about this.

OK. Here is the other side of the "cork" From the (devils advocate)....

http://www.wineanorak.com/cork.htm

I live very close to Jerez de la Frontera. The English speaking people who came here tasted a product that the people had been making for hundreds of years always stopped with a cork. they changed the name of the town and the product to "sherry" because they could not pronounce Jerez (Andalucian). They didn't say "oh.. we can't drink that cos its spoiled by the cork". In fact they invested heavily into the land that produced the cork.


The Romans were making wine at Acinipo (not 5 miles from where I sit). 2000 years ago! In fact Acinipo means "In the centre of the vineyards". Acinipo was one of the most important towns of Iberia all those years ago and I am fairly confident that wine did not get poured down the sink because "it tastes funny"

I have a feeling that the modern wine industry should look inwards. To the other ingredients that go into wine that the older civilisations did not have nor care to use.

Why is it one wine gives you a headache the next morning and another wine doesn't..hmmm same grape same cork..Inside a different array of chemicals.

The wine people blame it on TCA but i think the problem is the modern manufacturing process itself.

""TCA is the commonly used abbreviation for a chemical called 2,4,6-trichloroanisole.The wine industry says that about one in 20 bottles of wine is ruined by cork taint as soon as it is bottled. Wine takes on a musty odour and doesn't taste so good. (but most people drink it anyway).

Two potential strategies for dealing with TCA exist: the first is to stop TCA getting into the cork in the first place; the second is to remove it once it is there. As yet, no one has succeeded with the first strategy – because cork is natural and has lenticels that are open to the environment, allowing microbes in, this may never be possible. TCA has been found in bark in cork forests. So cork producers have, instead, concentrated on ways of getting TCA out of the cork. This presents severe technical challenges. Any method invasive enough to get all the TCA out runs the risk of damaging the structure of the cork, impairing its physical properties"".

I would appreciate anyone doing some research. How about buying 30 bottles of wine and making a note which ones are bad or not.

Now that's research and its good for the environment too!


Clive

[Technopat]

Greetings Clive, and All,

Totally agree with you about the funny stuff going down with wine under the current state-of-the-art manufacturing process - where it says wine above, read also olives (is no-one else worried about the ridiculous number of E-whatever numbers they put on the labels of the jars of olives? Olives!) and even jamón. As you rightly point out, the Romans (and Greeks, for that matter) didn't worry about BB dates. Keep this thread going, folks!
Regs.
Technopat

[Technopat]

greetings again,
Just read your link to the synthetic cork place - sounds like it could have been written by my wine guy, if it weren't so clearly written by a Brit, well, a native English speaker.
I'll get back to him on the percentage of 'corked' bottles - he did tell me once, but I've forgotten.

As for people who collect good wines as an investment for the future, here's a nice little anecdote:
Few years back, when the Spanish Olympic Committee was celebrating its centennary/75th anniversary (can't remember which), they held their Executive Board meeting at the Marqués de Riscal bodega. This bodega labels an exclusive vintage for the SOC and supplies 'em with umpteen crates a year for their official events. To celebrate their long-standing relationship, the bodega presented the SOC with two bottles which had been filled the very same day as the SOC was founded. As cork tends to crumble with age, and even if it didn't, it would have stuck to the sides of the bottle, old bottles are opened by cutting through the neck. The content of one of the bottles was apparently full-bodied and very quaffable (to be shared among the eight members of the board), the other bottle was full of a nauseously strong vinegary liquid.

Regards,
Technopat

[Technopat]

Greetings All,
Just got the gen. from my wine guy (obviously not official stats., but something to go on and to contrast with other sources):

Of the top quality red wines, fewer than 1 in 500 bottles would be spoilt by corks going off.
Of the medium-range ranges reds, double (i.e. 2:500), and
of the low-quality plonk (those that still use cork) 3:500 bottles.

As for whites, the prob. isn't the cork - any white over the age of two is iffy.
Ditto rosé - with the added prob. of exposure to light.
Cavas, etc. ditto - (any puns about corks going off, anyone?)

As mentioned elsewhere, cork is def. not good for whites and rosés, young wins and red plonk in general, etc. 'cos they shouldn't 'breathe' in the bottle.

As you can see from the above, only good red really needs real cork - all this from a guy who has naught against synthetic stoppers as a matter of principle, but prefers medium-to-high quality wines. Who doesn't?
Regs.
Technopat

[Jill]

Hullo. This is interesting!
Some years ago, perhaps as many as 15 years ago I was told by some Portuguese friends that the cork trees were dying because of some kind of disease. They said that, as a result, the wine makers were going to have to start using artificial corks.
Is there any truth in this? Are the trees ill?

If it's just a case of the trees being under-used through lack of demand for cork, then the thing might be to create a new demand for something other than wine bottle corks. Our boat is insulated with cork. It's not the usual insulation material for boats in fact I've never heard of anybody using it before but it's the only thing that we could find that is
a.) natural (from a sustainable source, and no nasty chemical processes involved in its manufacture).
b.) safe (unlike the poly materials usually used for insulation it doesn't give off poisonous gases when ignited in fact, it doesn't carry a flame at all; it will scorch but it won't burn).
c.) does not absorb water (very important aboard a boat. Wool, which also qualifies for a. and is reasonably good for b. would be totally useless as insulation aboard a boat.).
The cork that we bought came from Portugal in slabs about 1m X 30cm X 5cm. It was produced as insulation material for factory roofs not just for us! - so there's obviously a market. And just imagine how many wine bottle corks it would take to insulate a roof! People use it on their floors too, of course. If I've understood you correctly, it seems that it would be a good thing to encourage this.

All the best, Jill

P.S. I've just been experimenting, and wine bottle corks do carry a flame. Either it’s the residue of alcohol, or else (more probably) our stuff has been deliberately pre-charred to make it safe. You can weld a piece of metal held against it, and it won't catch light.

[Technopat]

Greetings Jill,
Nothing like a scientific challenge for getting through these cold, harsh spring evenings. Your theory as to the reason for cork going up in flame made sense, but these things have to be replicated and off I went to the kitchen to look through my collection of corks to see if I had any repes - finally settled for a '99 Protos (not an especially good vintage, but the cork was good quality and old enough not to have much alcohol content left).

Lit up a treat - not sure who it was carrying the flame for - but She Who Must Be Obeyed sent me out into the tendedero to continue with my experiments. Left to its own devices, the cork tended to just scorch rather than blaze away - but by blowing away at it gently, was able to keep that ol' flame going. Had to call the experiment off after a while 'cos it was chilly out there.

Have come up against this kind of lack of interest in science and R&D before with the locals - s'pose Miguel de Unamuno started it off with his daft ¡Que inventen ellos! She has a point though - the smell of burnt cork is both penetrating and lingering!

Do also vaguely remember something about diseased trees - but as you say, whether this was due to lack of adequate forestry, lack of demand or just a rumour put about by the synthetic stopper people ...

Speaking of Portugal, have been wracking my brains for the name of that monastery in the middle of cork oak forest. Can't even remember where it was - more or less in the region of Sintra, possibly? Cork-lined cells and corridors - walls, ceilings, the lot. Sound and heat insulation-in-one.

As for encouraging use of cork in general, as Clive pointed out above, it takes around 50 years before a tree can grow bark thick enough to be used for bottles (4-5 cm), so I reckon the future for the industry (you know - business plans, short term profit, etc.) is the compressed stuff, which means lower quality raw material, and less time necessary for it to grow. Bit like the DM (isn't that what it's called - the stuff they make furniture out of these days?) - dreadful stuff - chemical processes. Until they come up with GM cork and then they'll see to it that there's a demand again.

Sorry - didn't mean to end on a negative note. Should have opened a bottle and tried the newly-pulled cork to see if it would have burnt/scorched any better!

Regs.
Technopat

[Clive]

Hola,

Some of the plastic stopper companies used an advertising method a few years ago saying that stripping cork actually kills the trees (which it does) and was therefore using cork was very bad for the environment when in actual fact it is the opposite. I think this maybe where you heard this from Jill. There was also talk that stripping the bark leaves the tree prone to disease.

Acorn to first cut is about 30 years and imagine the forest just left to itself for that amount of time.

Stripping is done in July and August when nesting birds are pretty much finished and their young are on the wing. mammals to have young that are on the hoof and able to move away from the workers.

Strippings are taken every 8 or 10 years and the time in between the forest is left virtually to it's own devices. (8 years of just the forest doing it's stuff.

Strippings are taken 8 to 10 times so if you add it up an individual cork oak will last for around 120 years or so. Often when they get really old they are just left alone. Not a bad age for a crop rotation system?

Clive

[Technopat]

Greetings Clive,
You're just an old sentimentalist.
I think I've had to speak to you before about this tendency of yours to stand in the way of progress and lobbies. Some other thread? Think of all them gold courses they could build once they've cleared away all them thar good for nuttin' ol' trees.

You can't stop progress!
Technopat (Tilting at progress)

[Clive]

Hola,

I was thinking about cork and flames and as far as I am aware the thick coating of bark on a cork oak is actually there to protect the tree from forest fire.

During the hotter months of the year a Mediterranean primeval forest would have been prone to flash fires. At this time of year the tree inside "shrinks" and separates the sap wood from the protective layer and this added with the thick layer of bark protects the tree from a flash fire through the woods.

This is why cork harvesting goes on during the summer months. All is needed is a vertical slice and the bark peels easily because it has already separated from the trunk inside. (Not that it is easy work in 40 degrees clambering over mountains with your donkey)

If a flash fire passes after a cork harvest though the trees will be killed because they have no protection from the flames.

So it must be that there is some artificial stuff in the cork of the burning experiments mentioned earlier that make them burn so well.

Clive

[Technopat]

Greetings Cive, and All,
Yes, I too remember someone, referring to fires, saying that the cork/bark did actually protect the trees. As for the bottle corks - I would imagine some kind of wax (non-flammable?) or paraffin (flammable?) would be spread over them to prevent them disintegrating when being shoved into the bottle - come to think of it, some corks do seem to have a shiny look.

Your explanation of the tree "shrinking" inside its coating makes a lot of sense.

But back to basics - what can be done creatively to ensure that these trees and natural spaces be preserved - i.e. is there any evidence that acorns prevent cancer? My father-in-law tells me that after the war here they ate acorns as part of their staple diet, in the same way that back in the UK the chestnut was the staple d. until the potato was introduced or nettles until spinach, etc.

Does anyone know of any studies concerning the acorn? I realise it's a long shot, but hey, now that Clive has persuaded me not to aim my Webley at anything that moves, we should take advantage of my marksmanship! (Bit out of practice, but I reckon I could hit a sitting acorn at 10 m. - standing - and maybe 25 m prone.)

Obviously we don't want over-exploitation - which would obviously be the direct and immediate consequence of people (or should I say, businesses) suddenly 'discovering' the acorn's health factor, if any.

Regs.
Technopat

[Dave]

Dear All
Acorns (nuts) are edible after tannins are leached or boiled out. HARVEST TIME: Only collect nutsfrom areas you know have NOT been treated with pesticides. Gather nuts during the fall from September to October. Only gather the ripe tan-to-brown acorns, rather than the unripe green ones. SAFE HANDLING PROCEDURES: Wash nuts thoroughly with warm water. Do not use dish detergent or any type of sanitizer. These products can leave a residue. To remove bitterness, shell the brown, ripe acorns and remove any corky skin layers, dice the meat, and boil the chunks in water from 15 to 30 minutes until the water turns brown. Then pour off the water and repeat the process until the water clears, indicating that the tannic acid has been removed. During the last boiling, salt water can be added; then the acorns can be deep fried or mixed in a soup. Finely chopped acorn meats can be added to bread doughs and muffin batters. After the leaching process, acorn meat can be frozen. To make flour, the boiled acorn meat can be split in two and dried by slowly baking in a 200 degree oven with the door cracked to allow moisture to escape. Crush or grind and use as a thickener or a flour. Another method is to roast the fresh acorn to work well in a grinder or blender. After grinding, place the flour into a cloth bag and boil to leach out bitterness. Leached acorns, after they are roasted until brittle, can be ground and used as a marginal coffee substitute.
SOURCE: Larson, Ken. 1995. God's Free Harvest, Rhema Publishing, Inc., Suwanee, GA. 231 pp.
Do not eat raw as they are poisonous
The symptoms being
Stomach pain, constipation and later bloody diarrhea, excessive thirst and urination.
I remember reading somewhere, that in Germany during the Second World War they made ersatz(Fake) coffee from acorns.
Enjoy
Regards
Dave

[Sue]

Hi Dave and All,

I have wondered about acorns from different oak trees. In the other, grey, land with the English oak (I can say that because it is a botanical reference) sheep, donkeys and horses often become seriously ill due to eating acorns. Yet here in Spain all animals are expected to eat them. The oak species are different and perhaps also the levels of tannins-toxins! Any ideas?

Regards, Sue

[nick]

I thnk they used to feed pigs on acorns in that medium-sized island off the north-coast of Europe. I think there is still an acorn-fed herd in Epping forest

[Technopat]

Pata negras?
Seriously though, someone told me that someone had told him there was someone up in the vales of Wales (passing ref.) breeding pata negra. Can't remember now if Francis has broached the issue of bellota, recebo etc. - am zapping off to check ... (if not .... subtle hint)

Regs.
Technopat

Francis' passing ref.:
http://www.iberianature.com/material/spain_food/pork_dishes_spain.htm

[nick]

Sorry not Epping but New Forsest

"Common of mast (the right to turn out pigs in the autumn to eat acorns) is widespread and, until recent years, was extensively exercised in a good mast year. Few commoners now turn out pigs, partly because of the pressures outlined below and partly because of the depressed state of the pig market"
 http://www.newforestassociation.com/newf.htm

[Sue]

Hi Nick and All,

I didn't find the quote inside the link yet, but isn't mast the name for beech fruit/nuts?

Regards, Sue

Clive just checked it in the dictionary, mast refers to "The fruit of forest trees beech nuts, acorns etc"

[Technopat]

Greetings Sue and All,

I get fruit of beech, oak and chestnut trees, especially as food for pigs and wild animals

Regs.
Technopat

[Clive]

Hola,

Interesting figures for the oldest cork tree in the Alentejo. It may have made 1 million corks in year 2000.

http://www.corkqc.com/cqftree.htm

Can anyone find some up to date news?

Clive