Olive Oil Sommelier Certification Course at New York's International Culinary Center

The renowned International Culinary Center (ICC) in New York and the Olive Oil Times Education Lab will present the first Olive Oil Sommelier Certification Level 1 Course October 8 – 10 on the ICC’s SoHo cam­pus.

The ground­break­ing pro­gram on olive oil sen­sory analy­sis will be taught by lead­ing experts from around the world, includ­ing the Monell Chemical Senses Center pres­i­dent Gary Beauchamp, Albert Einstein College of Medicine nutri­tion­ist Keith Ayoob, Del Posto exec­u­tive chef Mark Ladner, NYIOOC panel mem­ber and ole­ol­o­gist Nicholas Coleman, Chilean taste panel leader Carola Dummer Medina, noted New York mer­chant Steven Jenkins, NYIOOC pres­i­dent Curtis Cord and award-win­ning pro­ducer and taste panel mem­ber Pablo Voitzuk.

“The Olive Oil Sommelier Certification Program will bring the world’s fore­most olive oil experts and edu­ca­tors to New York and the International Culinary Center in a com­pre­hen­sive series of courses span­ning pro­duc­tion, qual­ity man­age­ment and advanced sen­sory assess­ment,” said Cord, the pro­gram’s direc­tor. ​“There has never been a greater need to fos­ter a deeper under­stand­ing of this impor­tant food among tomorrow’s culi­nary lead­ers, and there is no bet­ter place to reach them than the International Culinary Center.”

“The International Culinary Center has always been at the fore­front of culi­nary inno­va­tion, and we’re proud to launch the first Olive Oil Sommelier Program,” said Dorothy Cann Hamilton, the school’s founder. ​“We are excited to team up with the Olive Oil Times Education Lab to intro­duce a never-before-seen, inno­v­a­tive pro­gram to our cur­rent and future stu­dents.”

Advanced level courses will con­tinue quar­terly. Those who suc­cess­fully com­plete the three-level course will earn the pro­gram’s Olive Oil Sommelier Certification.

Extra vir­gin olive oil is the unre­fined juice from olives which has been part of the cul­tural her­itage around the world for thou­sands of years. Like wine, olive oil reflects its ter­roir and exhibits com­plex taste char­ac­ter­is­tics depend­ing on the olive vari­eties used and count­less other vari­ables in cul­ti­va­tion and pro­cess­ing.

Extra vir­gin olive oil is cov­eted for proven health ben­e­fits and its abil­ity to enhance the tastes of foods. Chefs and dis­cern­ing con­sumers around the world are learn­ing to har­ness the end­less pos­si­bil­i­ties and there is a grow­ing demand for high-qual­ity olive oils and those who can iden­tify them at an expert level.

More than 100 olive oils from 25 coun­tries will be tasted and ana­lyzed dur­ing the Level 1 course, Cord said, drawn from the huge library of entries from the New York International Olive Oil Competition to demon­strate cer­tain qual­i­ties and sen­sory char­ac­ter­is­tics.

More infor­ma­tion and pro­gram reg­is­tra­tion is avail­able on the International Culinary Center web­site.