While various factors go into creating cheese, such as using different bacteria, determining the amount of moisture to drive out, and acidifying the milk in a specific way, Swiss researchers have taken a unique approach to influence the taste and aroma of cheese – by using music.
In a unique experiment, nine 22-pound wheels of Emmental cheese were placed in individual wooden crates and exposed to a non-stop, 24-hour loop of one song for six months using a mini-transducer to conduct the sound waves directly to the cheese.
Swiss cheesemaker Beat Wampfler and researchers from the Bern University of Arts conducted the study.
The cheese was exposed to songs including A Tribe Called Quest’s hip-hop track “We Got It From Here” and Mozart’s ‘Magic Flute’ opera Led Zeppelin’s rock classic “Stairway to Heaven”. 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 without sound.
Michael Harenberg, director of the music program at Bern University of the Arts, initially doubted the project when Wampfler first approached him.
“Then we discovered a field called sonochemistry that looks at the influences of sound waves, the effect of sound on solid bodies,” explained Harenberg.
“The most obvious differences were observed in the strength of flavour, smell and taste.”
A jury of culinary experts then sampled the cheeses during two rounds of a blind taste test, and the results were quite interesting.
The cheese exposed to A Tribe Called Quest’s hip-hop track was the “strongest” in smell and taste and was “remarkably fruity, both in smell and taste” compared to the other samples. Mozart’s cheese was also a favourite for some jurors and was described as “mild and sweet”.
When the experiment started, Wampfler told the AFP that, in his experiences, all sorts of things can affect the flavour and texture of cheese.
“I am convinced that humidity, temperature or nutrients are not the only things influencing taste. Sounds, ultrasounds or music can also have physical effects,” Wampfler concluded.
This experiment proves that there’s so much more to cheese-making than just temperature, humidity, and bacteria. The findings open up new possibilities for the food industry to explore how music can influence the taste and aroma of food products.
