Tossa and the evergreen corks

Tossa owes the beauty of its countryside as much to the rugged coastline, that forms small bays and beaches of transparent blue, to the splendid range of mountains that envelops it, full of green pine and cork forests.

The land occupied today by Camping Cala Llevadó was, in times gone by, forests of evergreen, cork and cultivated carob trees. The Aromir family, proprietors of the Camping and who own large areas of evergreen and cork forests in the municiple of Tossa, would like to give you, through this short pamphlet, a knowledge of the working and explotation of these forests and the process of industrialisation that accompanies the bark from the trees to the cork in the bottle of champagne or quality wine.

The cork forests are typically mediterranean in that the explotation does not consist of felling the trees, but removing the bark from it. The cork is the basic product one extracts, apart from the wood and the acorns, which centuries ago were a great deal more valuable. The cork which covers the trees acts as insulation and protection in the case of fire in the forests. The evergreen corks have the capacity to regenerate this casing after each peeling.

The cork forests occupy humid areas and are common to the western part of the mediterranean. In Catalonia they concentrate in the regions of "La Selva", "Gironés" and "Les Alberes", in the province of Girona.

The cork forests don't like the cold, and grow well with annual rainfalls between 600-1000ml. They prefer suntraps, facing the sea, and its habitat corresponds to heights up to 800 metres.