Olive Harvesting in the Napa Valley: CIA Students Get Hands-on Experience

Now this is how you learn by doing! Students in our CIA Accelerated Culinary Arts Certificate Program (ACAP) recently harvested olives from the 10 Frantoio olive trees (Tuscan varietal) that line the entrance to Copia, our location in Napa, CA. Later that day, they milled the olives in the college’s Olio Mio olive mill and celebrated with a harvest lunch featuring fresh olio nuovo, focaccia from our pizza oven, burrata, prosciutto, hummus, tomato, and greens from the Copia gardens.

The project allowed students to see firsthand the process of making oil and taste fresh nuovo oil before it is filtered and bottled, giving them a better understanding of the complexities and nuances in olive oil production. Each student will receive a bottle of the finished oil, and the remaining oil will be used at The Grove at Copia as a finishing touch on the restaurant’s special dishes.

This experience—having the Napa Valley’s bounty at their fingertips—is a perfect example of the hands-on learning our ACAP students receive during their 30 weeks in this fast-paced, intensive program.