L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2023 www.italoamericano.org 22 L'Italo-Americano B ack in the late ' 8 0 s , w h e n I was still in ele- m e n t a r y school, we used t o s t u d y e v e r y r e g i o n o f Italy. Each week, we'd pre- p a r e a r i c e r c a , a t w o - o r three-page essay with pho- tos and drawings, about the region we focused on: I used to love ricerche, so much so I e n d e d u p w o r k i n g a s a researcher for a great part of my adult life. A n y w a y … I r e m e m b e r that, when we had to study S a r d i n i a , o u r m a e s t r a - who loved traveling and had visited what I would consid- er, as an 8-year-old, very exotic places like Egypt and e v e n t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s - brought to class pieces of sughero, cork. We were all gobsmacked: of course, we were familiar with it, but not in that shape and form! Cork was cylindrical and came on top of wine bottles, not in … sheets. What our beloved maestra Carla - shout out to her, she is still alive and in h e r 9 0 s n o w - b r o u g h t i n w a s n a t u r a l c o r k , i n i t s r e a d y - t o - b e - t r a n s f o r m e d form, something we kids had never seen. O f c o u r s e , w e a l l k n o w that cork is the material cork stoppers are made of, but how familiar are we with its origins and wider use? Cork, known in Italian as sughero, is the bark of quer- c u s s u b e r , t h e c o r k o a k , known for its porosity and elasticity. It is considered o n e o f S a r d i n i a ' s m o s t important natural resources and it has been used by Man for millennia. Cork oaks are particularly common in the northeastern area of Gallu- ra, where they grow natural- ly in large woods called sug- herete. Cork oak is a typical tree of the Mediterranean shrub, very resilient and very strong, which means it doesn't suffer the bitter cold of Sardinian winters, nor the heat of Sardinian summers. These are beautifully majes- tic trees, that can easily live h u n d r e d s o f y e a r s , a s d e m o n s t r a t e d b y t h e impressive sughera mon- umentale di Crisciuled- du, a cork oak wood with many centuries-old trees. Thanks to the easiness of its extraction and to its mal- leability, cork has been con- sidered a very practical and multi-tasking material since the inception of civilization and it has been used widely for the production of uten- s i l s , c o n t a i n e r s a n d , o f c o u r s e , w i n e s t o p p e r s . Today, it's curious to learn, cork is even used to make f a b r i c then transformed i n t o i t e m s o f c l o t h i n g o r b a g s , a n d e v e n u s e d t o u p h o l s t e r f u r n i t u r e . M y childhood memories, the same that brought back the face and voice of maestra Carla, speak of postcard-like p a i n t i n g s m a d e o n t h i n s h e e t s o f c o r k , u s u a l l y depicting traditional Sar- dinian costumes. What strikes, perhaps, the most about cork is how incredibly environmentally friendly and sustainable it i s : o b t a i n i n g i t d o e s n ' t require cutting the tree, but just shaving off its bark, a process that doesn't damage it. Moreover, the bark grows back, which means that, in t i m e - i t t a k e s a b o u t t e n y e a r s f o r i t t o g r o w b a c k completely - the same tree w i l l p r o d u c e c o r k a g a i n . C o n s i d e r i n g t h e l e n g t h y lifespan of cork oaks, and oaks in general for that mat- ter, we can say sughero is very, very sustainable! T h e e x t r a c t i o n a n d manufacturing of cork are n o t c o m p l e x b u t r e q u i r e some skills and experience. The first step is that of, as said, extracting the material from the tree: this happens usually during the summer, from May to August. Cork can be sourced from trees of at least 20 years of age, as younger trees are not con- sidered mature enough. The first bark extraction is called demaschiatura, a word that comes from the Italian for "male," maschio, because t h e f i r s t b a r k i s u s u a l l y rougher and tougher, more "manly," if you wish. Suc- c e s s i v e b a r k l a y e r s a r e called sughero femmina, or f e m a l e c o r k , b e c a u s e t h e b a r k i s u s u a l l y s m o o t h e r and more supple. Once the bark is shaved off trees, it is allowed to rest outdoors for a while, then it i s b o i l e d i n w a t e r . T h i s p h a s e h a s a d o u b l e g o a l : sterilizing the material and killing all potential germs, and making it flat and more similar to an actual pliable sheet. Natural cork is then let out to dry and… that's it. As you can see, it's a very straightforward procedure, which doesn't harm trees, doesn't waste energy, and doesn't pollute our environ- ment in any way. W e h a v e a l r e a d y m e n - tioned some of the products most commonly made with cork, wine stoppers being t h e m o s t u b i q u i t o u s l y known. Today, these famil- iar cylinders are produced industrially, but once upon a time, they were hand-cut in the shape of little rectan- gular blocks. We also said t h a t c o r k c a n b e c o m e a n expensive fabric and that it may even be used to make interesting paintings and o b j e c t s s u c h a s b o w l s , b o x e s , l a d l e s , a n d t r a y s o f t e n s o l d i n g i f t s h o p s a r o u n d S a r d i n i a . W e shouldn't forget that cork is a common isolating material in construction and it is also used in arts and crafts, espe- cially to create small objects for presepe. "Male" cork, for instance, is perfect to create mountains, while regular cork is mostly employed to create homes. FRANCESCA BEZZONE Traditional Sardinian cork masks (Photo: Marco Di Benedetto/Dreamstime) Sardinian cork: a true gift of nature LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE TRADITIONS

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