Organizers of the annual course say it is designed for "those who have never processed olives to those who have been milling for decades."
The UC Davis Olive Center will again host their Master Milling Certificate Course this fall, from September 28 to October 1.
This year’s curriculum covers a variety of topics that aim to help olive oil processors produce better oil more efficiently, according to the course’s website.
Leandro Ravetti, among the world’s top experts in olive oil processing, growing and standards will lead the course. Ravetti currently serves as the executive director of Australia’s Boundary Bend Limited, the award-winning producers of the Cobram Estate brand.
The UC Davis Olive Center executive director Dan Flynn and research director Selina Wang will also serve as instructors throughout this year’s course.
See Also:Register for the 2017 Master Milling Certificate Course
In addition to four days of expert instruction, the Master Milling Certificate Course also offers participants an opportunity to visit olive oil processors throughout California’s Yolo County.
This year’s excursions will bring participants to sites including Boundary Bend’s recently established U.S. facility, located in Woodland, CA. A visit to Seka Hills in Brooks, CA was also recently added to the itinerary.
Ravetti told Olive Oil Times, “We designed the course to appeal to a wide audience, from those who have never processed olives to those who have been milling for decades. Everybody benefits.”
According to a survey taken of last year’s attendees, ninety percent of respondents “believed that the coursed material would boost their quality or efficiency by more than five percent,” and seventy-two percent said that “the course was ‘very likely’ to lead to higher profitability.”
Flynn said that these benefits are achieved by three values presented in the course: a focus on maximizing quality in order to yield higher profitability, hands-on field visits to top-quality producers, and the opportunity to taste the first milling of the season through a session led by Them Curry of Olive2Bottle Milling Services.
Organizers described the yearly course as a “small investment that will pay off in more efficiency, better quality and higher profits.”
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