Francisco Jesús Berral Torres
Oil master miller atassociated cooperative Agrojara in Martín de la Jara (Sevilla).
Pedro Aroca, oil master miller at the associated cooperative Agrojara in Martín de la Jara (Seville).
Although he has been working as an oil master miller for 4 campaigns, he has been professionally linked to this cooperative for more than 20 years. “It seems like yesterday when I started to control the reception of olives”, Pedro recalls, “and after a few campaigns I became assistant to the previous master, where I learned the reality of this profession”.
Despite having studied business administration, Pedro likes field work more. “From the beginning this job awakened in me a passion for mechanics, so I had to face my initial lack of knowledge with many tests and more mistakes, and stick to the previous master to learn as much as I could” confesses Pedro.
Pedro confesses to us that the integration of Agrojara in the Oleoestepa cooperative project two campaigns ago now has meant a significant change in the way of doing things.
“Before starting in Oleoestepa, at reception they only separated the olives picked from the ground, crushed them, sent them to the winery and that was it, they could sell their oil. Today, with the help of Oleoestepa’s technicians, the changes are very evident, which has allowed us to advance faster towards the achievement of higher quality olive juices,” says Pedro gratefully.
He goes on to give us examples of the main changes that have brought about this new approach to EVOO production. “Prioritizing the quality of the best deposits and making physical-chemical, multi-residual and sensory analyses of each of the deposits, among other changes, has allowed us to analyze and discover “mistakes” that have been made during the process, so that learning is continuous and its positive effects are evident” explains the master.
During the campaign all his attention and efforts are focused on obtaining the best extra virgin olive oil possible with the raw material that enters the cooperative, “there are already many farmer-members who understand that a quick delivery of healthy and clean olives is fundamental, because it is impossible to obtain a good oil from a bad fruit” confesses Pedro.
Once the fruit is received in perfect condition, in his opinion, the keys to obtaining an excellent extra virgin olive oil are cleanliness and temperature control, always below 27 degrees, that is, cold extraction. And of course, crushing the olives as soon as possible.
In these twenty years there are many memories that come to mind, but he remembers his first stressful days at the cooperative during the night shift without knowing the cooperative or having any experience in his job.
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