Upon your arrival at the Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández Airport, IATA: ALC, or Alicante Terminal (Alacant Terminal or RENFE train station), you will be greeted by one of our drivers, who will promptly take you to school by private shuttle. After checking in at the hotel, you can enjoy the local amenities until 19:00 h, when we will all meet for a quick 30 minutes orientation session, after which we will share a welcome dinner prepared by our chefs.

On the morning of Introduction day, we start by quickly reviewing our course itinerary and daily schedule, and we continue the theory lesson that goes on to explain the principles and methods of dairy production. The session then veers toward core science concepts of milk and dairy. After a lunch break, we continue by working on standardizing fresh raw milk that arrives directly from the farm. After the lesson ends, we will have a short break, followed by dinner prepared by our chefs.

The morning of our second hands-on day, we will start right away by making cream products, principally butter. We will pause for lunch, after which we will resume activities making three important dairy ferments: yogurt, crème fraîche, and cultured buttermilk. After we finish production for the day we will have a short break, followed by dinner prepared by our chefs.

Day 4 starts with milk standardization, following by a production and theory lesson on acid coagulated cheese. We will pause for lunch, after which we will resume activities by making different types of ricotta. After we finish the lesson for the day we will have a short break, followed by dinner prepared by our chefs.

On day 5 we start the day with milk standardization, we follow with a theory and production lesson on fresh rennet cheeses. We will pause for lunch, after which we will resume activities by having a theory lesson on rennet types and uses, and then finishing the lesson for the day by making ricotta and its variants. After we finish the lesson for the day we will have a short break, followed by having dinner prepared by our chefs.

We start day 6 with goat’s milk standardization. We will produce different types of goat’s milk cheeses. We will pause for lunch, after which we will resume activities by making a brined cheese, goat’s milk dulce de leche, and brunost. At night we will go out for dinner at a local restaurant.

Days 7 and 8 are free. School serves lunch and dinner as usual. We invite you to explore the town and the many options around. Consult our staff for their recommendations.

On day 9 we meet again in our kitchen classroom. We have an exciting cheese production ahead of us today, as we focus on pasta filata cheese. We are making some of the most important traditional Italian pasta filata cheeses. We will pause for lunch, after which we will resume activities by finishing our cheese production. After we finish the lesson for the day we will have a short break, followed by dinner prepared by our chefs.

On day 10, we focus on alpine cheeses. We will pause for lunch, after which we will resume activities by producing four styles of pecorino. After we finish the lesson for the day we will have a short break, followed by having dinner out at a local restaurant.

Day 11 is a day dedicated to cheddar cheese and gouda. In the morning we will have a lesson on cheddaring. We will pause for lunch, after which we will resume activities by finishing our production by delving deeply into the world of gouda cheese. After we finish the lesson for the day we will have a short break, followed by dinner prepared by our chefs.

Day 12 is technically advanced day, a moldy one. We set out to produce the most delicate white rind cheeses. We will pause for short lunch, after which we will resume activities by having a theory lesson on cheese molds, and by finishing the production for the day. After we finish the lesson for the day we will have a short break, followed by a hands-on dinner, making pizza and pinsa romana.

On our last day at the lab, we will finish by going into production of some very interesting blue and washed rind cheeses. After lunch we will go through everything related to a micro-dairy set-up, and a thorough review of all equipment necessary for production and talk about HACCP planning for an artisan producing facility. We will also go through how planning should be set for a healthy business. At night we all go out to dinner at a local restaurant where we will celebrate the closure of an amazing two weeks we’ve spent learning together. Just before dinner we will give the official ACS course certificates to everyone, and we give out the ACS course awards.