It's said that music can soothe a savage breast, and it now seems that it might work wonders for the flavor of maturing cheese, as well. According to a team of Swiss researchers, exposing cheese to a constant concert while it's aging could make it taste better, especially if that music is hip hop. The researchers put 22-pound (10-kg) chunks of Emmental cheese in separate containers and subjected them to various types of music, including works by Mozart, Led Zeppelin, the electronic band Yello, and the hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest. Other blocks of cheese "heard" only sound waves at low, medium, or high frequencies, and one piece of cheese was aged in silence. A jury then critiqued the flavor of the different cheeses -- twice -- and agreed that the cheese that had been exposed to hip hop music had the best taste, texture, and appearance. One panelist remarked that the "differences were very clear." The team now plans to focus its efforts on determining which hip hop songs produce the best flavor.
Say cheese:
- You need approximately 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of milk to make a single pound (.45 kg) of cheese.
- The residents of Denmark eat the most cheese per capita, at 62 pounds (28.1 kg) per year.
- Mozzarella, Swiss, Cheddar, and American cheeses help prevent tooth decay by promoting saliva production; this helps to eliminate sugars and some acids in the mouth.