Swiss researchers said yesterday that exposing the cheese to music around the clock could gain a better flavor and that hip-hop may be better in this context than Mozart.
The researchers put nine tablets of 10-kilogram Emmental cheese in separate wooden cages last September to test the effect of music on cheese flavor and aroma.
The cheese is offered 24 hours a day for the song "I Love Get Away From Her" by the hip hop band "A Tribe Cold Quest", Mozart's Magic Flute, or "Leadway To Heaven" by Led Zeppelin.
The song "U V" was played by techno-fryl alongside a CD, while the monolith of Dono Yello was played on the other side, while no music was played next to a third.
Low-, medium- and high-frequency music was played along with three other discs, while the surrounding atmosphere was quiet.
"The clearest differences were observed in the strength of flavor, aroma and taste," said the researchers at the University of Bern Art School in a report on the findings of a culinary jury that tasted the discs without seeing them.
"The hip-hop sample came at the top of the list of cheeses that came to the music, in terms of sweetness and good smell."
"The differences were very clear in texture, taste and shape," said Benjamin Loosey, a Swiss television chef and jury member.
"All the energy resonates directly within the cheese," said Michael Harenberg of the Berne University of Art.