37 Complete Olive Oil Times Sommelier Program in New York

Summary

Thirty-seven olive oil pro­fes­sion­als and enthu­si­asts com­pleted the Olive Oil Times Sommelier Certification course in Manhattan’s Flat Iron District, exam­in­ing olive oil sen­sory analy­sis, farm­ing, pro­duc­tion, health ben­e­fits, nutri­tion, culi­nary appli­ca­tions, and qual­ity assur­ance. Participants, includ­ing indi­vid­u­als like Reema Shihadeh, Olivia Ramos, and Lela Krstevska, found the course to be pro­fes­sional, com­pre­hen­sive, and well-planned, offer­ing a deep dive into every aspect of olive oil and equip­ping them with knowl­edge to share its health ben­e­fits with oth­ers.

Thirty-seven olive oil pro­fes­sion­als and enthu­si­asts com­pleted the Olive Oil Times Sommelier Certification course in Manhattan’s Flat Iron District.

Attendees, who trav­eled from eight coun­tries, exam­ined olive oil sen­sory analy­sis, best prac­tices in farm­ing and pro­duc­tion, health ben­e­fits, nutri­tion, culi­nary appli­ca­tions and qual­ity assur­ance over the week-long course.

An inter­dis­ci­pli­nary and inter­na­tional team of renowned experts led the rig­or­ous pro­gram, which incor­po­rated tast­ings of 100 olive oil sam­ples from every pro­duc­ing region.

Erin Annett Birlik and Umut Birlik are planning the launch of an extra virgin olive oil brand from Turkey.See Also:Renowned Sommelier Program Expands in Europe

Among the par­tic­i­pants was Reema Shihadeh, who joined the pro­gram to help improve her fam­i­ly’s olive oil busi­ness.

“I wanted to deepen my under­stand­ing of what defines excep­tional qual­ity,” she said. ​“As an entre­pre­neur in the beauty and well­ness space, I’m espe­cially inter­ested in its health ben­e­fits and its impact on skin health.”

Paul Ellersick is preparing to join the growing community of producers in Oregon.

“The Olive Oil Times Sommelier Course offered an incred­i­ble deep dive into every aspect of olive oil, from tast­ing and chem­istry to har­vest­ing and pro­duc­tion,” she added. ​“I now feel more equipped to dis­cuss the ingre­di­ent and look for­ward to shar­ing its health ben­e­fits with oth­ers.”

Olivia Ramos of Olivia LaBomba also joined the course to sup­port her pro­fes­sional efforts, import­ing high-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oil from Spain. ​“The course was pro­fes­sional, com­pre­hen­sive, well-planned and impec­ca­bly exe­cuted,” she said.

(Photo: Bavdun Umar for Olive Oil Times)

Meanwhile, Lela Krstevska said she enrolled to learn more about olive oil qual­ity and health ben­e­fits as she plans for her future olive grove. 

“The qual­ity in lec­tures, the diver­sity of experts and shared knowl­edge exceeded my expec­ta­tions for this project,” she said. ​“Even more, get­ting to have a net­work of great like-minded peo­ple who share the same val­ues is just price­less.”

With edu­ca­tion squarely in mind, Angelo Lampousis joined the course in prepa­ra­tion for his new gen­eral edu­ca­tion course at the City College of New York.

Angelo Lampousis

“[It was an] extra­or­di­nary oppor­tu­nity to learn from dis­tin­guished instruc­tors and from a num­ber of dis­cern­ing class­mates from a wide vari­ety of fields,” he said.

After retir­ing from the United States Department of Agriculture, Linda Feldman said she joined the course to nour­ish her love of learn­ing and inter­est in ​“grow­ing, pro­duc­ing, cook­ing and eat­ing food.”

“The course was a per­fect blend of infor­ma­tion on grow­ing and pro­duc­ing olives and olive oils, and learn­ing how to iden­tify the qual­ity and char­ac­ter­is­tics of extra vir­gin olive oil,” she said.

“I loved how the instruc­tion built on itself each day, enrich­ing what I learned in pre­vi­ous ses­sions,” Feldman added. ​“The instruc­tors were top notch. The 85 or more tast­ings over five days capped off the course.”

(Photo: Bavdun Umar for Olive Oil Times)

The Olive Oil Times Education Lab offers inno­v­a­tive courses and online pro­grams to empower a gen­er­a­tion of olive oil edu­ca­tors.

Enrollment is already open for the Olive Oil Times Sommelier Certification Program Europe, which will take place in ​‘s‑Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, from September 22nd to 26th.