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Sound of science: Hip-hop makes most funky cheese, research shows

BURGDORF, Switzerland — The most flavorful cheese might just be the most funky.

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Aptly-named cheesemaker Beat Wampfler exposed eight separate 22-pound wheels of Emmentel cheese to different music 24 hours a day for six months as part of a research project with the Bern University of Arts, according to a release.

An independent panel determined the tastiest cheese, which had a "discernibly stronger smell and stronger fruitier taste," listened to A Tribe Called Quest's "Jazz (We've Got)."

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

The other songs used in the experiment include Mozart's "Magic Flute" opera, Led Zeppelin's classic rock ballad "Stairway to Heaven," techno artist Vril's "UV" and Yello's ambient track "Monolith."

Researchers used mini transmitters to infuse the music with the cheese. The sound waves were played at low, medium and high frequencies. A control cheese was not exposed to any music.

The cheeses were taste-tested twice by the judges, with the results being basically the same.

Researchers next want to experiment with different hip-hip music.

"The idea is now to take five or 10 cheeses and put hip-hop on them and then compare," Michael Harenberg, of Bern University of Arts, told Reuters.