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Exposing cheese to round-the-clock hip hop music could give it more flavor, according to Swiss researchers

By Denis Balibouse and Cecile Mantovani, Reuters From Business Insider

A combination of pictures shows the nine wheels of cheese during a tasting in the K3 cellar after the experiment to “insonify” cheese with different types of music by the University of the Arts in Burgdorf, Switzerland.
 Stefan Wermuth/University of the Arts Bern/Handout via REUTERS
  • Swiss researchers exposed wheels of Emmental cheese to round-the-clock music in order to determine its impact on aroma and flavor.
  • Nine wheels of cheese were placed in separate wooden crates and exposed to different genres of music.
  • Bern University of Arts researchers said there was a noticeable difference in strength of flavor, smell, and taste.
  • The experiment will now focus specifically on hip hop music.

BURGDORF, Switzerland (Reuters) – Exposing cheese to round-the-clock music could give it more flavor and hip hop might be better than Mozart, Swiss researchers said on Thursday.

Nine wheels of Emmental cheese weighing 10 kilos (22 pounds) each were placed in separate wooden crates last September to test the impact of music on flavor and aroma.

The cheese was exposed 24 hours a day to A Tribe Called Quest’s hip hop track “We Got it From Here,” Mozart’s ‘Magic Flute’ opera or Led Zeppelin’s rock classic “Stairway to Heaven.”

swiss cheese hiphop

One wheel was played the throbbing techno of Vril’s “UV” and another Yello’s dark ambient piece “Monolith.”

Soundwaves at low, medium and high frequencies were played for three others while one wheel was left in peace.

swiss cheese music experiment
The control panel of the hifi system used to mature wheels of cheese.

“The most obvious differences were observed in strength of flavor, smell and taste,” Bern University of Arts researchers said in reporting the findings of a culinary jury which did blind tasting.

“The hip hop sample topped the list of all cheese exposed to music in terms of fruitiness…(it) was the strongest of these in terms of smell and taste.”

swiss cheese
A member of the jury of experts checks cheese during a tasting in the K3 cellar after the experiment to “insonify” cheese with different types of music.

Benjamin Luzuy, a Swiss TV chief and jury member, told Reuters TV: “The differences were very clear, in term of texture, taste, the appearance, there was really something very different.”

swiss cheese
A member of the jury of experts checks cheese during a tasting in the K3 cellar.

The experiment, instead of using loudspeakers, used mini transmitters to conduct the energy of the music into the cheese.

“All the energy is directly resonating inside of the cheese,” Michael Harenberg of Bern University of Arts told Reuters.

swiss cheese
Beat Wampfler, a cheese maker, checks his wheels of cheese in the K3 cellar.

Beat Wampfler, the cheesemaker behind the project, said the cheeses were tested twice by the jury and both times the results were more or less the same.

He said the experiment would now focus on hip hop.

“The idea is now to take 5 or 10 cheeses and put hip hop on them and then compare.”

(Writing by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Jason Neely)

For more on this story go to: https://www.businessinsider.com/hip-hop-music-gives-cheese-more-flavor-swiss-study-2019-3?utm_source=feedburner&amp%3Butm_medium=referral&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+businessinsider+%28Business+Insider%29

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