Juan Maldonado
Oil mill master at the associated cooperative La Inmaculada Concepción de la Roda de Andalucía (Sevilla)
Within last five years he has been working as the head of production at this oil mill have served to confirm that working on the front line requires great responsibility and stress. The main reason is that “the difference of quality between one olive oil or another can be only tenths of fruitiness in the tasting, fundamental for an extra virgin olive oil to be different from the others”.
Before working as a master miller, he worked for 27 years as an assistant to the previous master miller, with whom he was lucky enough to work side by side, proving campaign after campaign that, to do this job, it´s necessary a comprehensive knowledge of the mill and the machines that make up it. “Knowing when and how to make the changes into the extracted process is key to having a perfectly synchronized oil mill.” For him all knowledge is welcome, “but above all you are in loved with the EVOO, because you have to put a lot of love into it.”
During the campaign he puts the focus of his work on an ideal classification of the fruit, “knowing how to differentiate the varieties and the different qualities within them is key to achieving the highest quality in the olive juice.”
Outside the campaign, in addition to managing the oil cellar, he performs maintenance work. As the old oil master instilled in him, it is necessary to have a complete knowledge of the machinery of the mill, “because, although the mill closes its doors at the end of the campaign, the work continues from the door to the inside”.
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