Cork Tree

1. The cork oak is a perennial tree of the Fagáceas (Quercus suber) family, to which chestnut and oak also belong. There are 465 species of Quercus, mainly in temperate and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Cork is extracted from the species Quercus suber L.

2. Acorn

2.1. In addition to constituting a unique natural ecosystem in the world, the cork oak forest enables a range of agronomic, forestry, silvopastoral, hunting and economic activities: medicinal plant and mushroom harvesting, honey and wax production, charcoal production, hunting, livestock, observation of birds, tourism and equestrian tours. It also provides the creation of autochthonous food products certified by the European Union.

2.1.1. In addition to constituting a unique natural ecosystem in the world, the cork oak forest enables a range of agronomic, forestry, silvopastoral, hunting and economic activities: medicinal plant and mushroom harvesting, honey and wax production, charcoal production, hunting, livestock, observation of birds, tourism and equestrian tours. It also provides the creation of autochthonous food products certified by the European Union.

2.2. In the seven Mediterranean countries that produce cork, more than 100,000 people depend directly or indirectly on the savings provided by the cork oak forest.

2.2.1. Portugal,Spain, Italy, France, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria.

3. Descortiçamento =Stripping is the ancestral process of extracting the bark of the cork oak - cork. Even today, this work is done by specialized professionals, with absolute precision, using a single tool: the axe. This delicate operation takes place between May and August, when the tree is in a more active phase of growth and the bark is more easily removed from the trunk.

3.1. What is the world cork production? 340 thousand tons per year, of which 55% come from Portugal.

3.2. Portugal, which has a third of the global cork oak area, is the world's largest cork producer. Our country is also responsible for about 50% of the world's transformation.

4. Amorim Cork Composites

5. The Porco Preto Alentejano has a diet that consists of an extensive regime of grazing in the fields, in cork oak and holm oak forests, in total freedom in the cork oak forest for 18 to 24 months, in search of acorns and pasture. The Alentejo swine breed has been exploited extensively since remote times, using and valuing the natural resources of the agro-silvo-pastoral system in which it operates.

5.1. The cork oak forests provide low-cost renewable food resources and are historically associated with the traditional production system of the Alentejo pig.