Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Put A Cork In It! / ¡Ponle Un Corcho!

ON OUR DRIVE out of Casares, we passed dozens of trees whose trunks were cleanly stripped of the lower bark. I pointed them out and San Geraldo immediately said, "Cork!" Judy said they looked like oaks. San Geraldo explained that cork trees were in fact a type of oak. Me? I was completely ignorant. Now I'm not. Well, not completely.

The "cork oak" (quercus suber) has been grown and used in Southern Spain for perhaps six thousand years. It's usually harvested in summer, when removing the bark does no damage to the tree. I think it's harvested every 7 years or so, so the bark has time to regrow and mature.

EN NUESTRO VIAJE de salida de Casares, pasamos por docenas de árboles cuyos troncos fueron limpiamente despojados de la corteza inferior. Los señalé y San Geraldo dijo inmediatamente: "¡Cork!" Judy dijo que parecían robles. San Geraldo explicó que los alcornoques eran un tipo de roble. ¿Yo? Yo era completamente ignorante. Ahora no soy. Bueno, no completamente.

El "alcornoque" (quercus suber) ha sido cultivado y utilizado en el sur de España durante aproximadamente seis mil años. Por lo general, se cosecha en verano, cuando quitar la corteza no daña el árbol. Creo que se cosecha cada 7 años más o menos, después de que la corteza ha tenido tiempo de volver a crecer y madurar.



DUDO: IF IT'S NOT ABOUT BIRDS, PUT A CORK IN IT!
DUDO: SI NO SE TRATA DE PÁJAROS, ¡PONLE UN CORCHO!

26 comments:

  1. Hi Mitchell, always learn something interesting on your blog. Love the shot of Dudo!
    Have a good day.

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  2. I knew that was were cork came from, but I had never seen pictures. There must be a LOT of trees. Cute kitty!

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    Replies
    1. Travel:
      The trees were everywhere. But I couldn't get shots as we wound around... the road was REALLY winding!

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  3. Replies
    1. Adam:
      I couldn't help but laugh at your comment... even though I tried with all my mutt.

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  4. Dudo has no time for barkless trees!

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  5. When I first read put a cork in it, I was worried someone had wind. I am relived to see no one did. Those trees are so cool.

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    1. mistress maddie:
      That reminds of a joke my sister told me when we were kids. It was about a monkey and an elephant and i can only remember the punchline. "All I saw was that poor little monkey trying to put the cork back in."

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  6. Well, learn something new every day! Those poor trees look nekkid.

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    1. Debra:
      The color of the bare, nekkid trunk was beautiful and looked like velvet. Wish I could have gotten a closer look.

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  7. Those are some cool old trees!

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    Replies
    1. Wilma:
      The one in the second photo had an enormous spread.

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  8. Tie a yellow ribbon around the old cork tree...

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    Replies
    1. Kirk:
      Or maybe just pop another cork and forget about the ribbon.

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  9. There ya go! New to me. LOVE the colour of those trunks!!
    Dudo looks bored with this! lol

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    1. Jim:
      I wish I could have gotten photos of a bunch of trees together. The color was beautiful.

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  10. I understand that one of the reasons wineries are moving to plastic corks and even twist tops is because the demand for cork was outstripping (poor pun) the availability.

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    1. Willym:
      I'm not sure if that's true about cork or not. I've also read that it's a myth. I've also read that twist tops work better... but I have a feeling THAT will be a hard sell.

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  11. I save all my cork corks and re-purpose them, mostly as fire-starters. They burn fast and hot. Like Ur Spo's men.

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    Replies
    1. Walt the Fourth:
      Well, I suppose I should say it: I've got no fire to start.

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  12. Dudo looks like he's going to give you a darned good slap if you don't leave him alone.

    Btw: I've long wondered why the city of Cork in Ireland and the Belgian city of Liege aren't twinned (or maybe they are) because, as some may already know, the French word for the tree-bark product, 'cork' is........LIEGE! (Just thought I'd throw that pearl of wisdom into the mix!)

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    Replies
    1. Ray:
      No matter his mood, Dudo tends to look right at the camera (unless he's trying to sleep; then he drapes a leg over his face). If Moose could roll his eyes, he would -- before turning his back on me. I was in Liège in the '70s with my parents. My father had been there years earlier. We drove from Amsterdam; the Dutch name for the city is Luik I(which we didn't know) so there was some confusion along the way. But the city name is apparently from old German for "people," so that might explain why Cork never sistered up.

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