Want better-tasting cheese? Play it hip-hop.

As something of a cheese snob–I love a good Comte with a glass of port after a nice meal–I’m always looking for interesting cheese to try beyond your average cheddar.

Word out of Switzerland–a country that knows cheese–is that researchers have determined that cheese likes music as it ages, hip-hop in particular.

Why the boffins at Bern University of Arts decided to test these sonic theories is beyond me, but they played different types of music to ageing wheels of cheese. The songs ranged from “We Got It From Here” by A Tribe Called Quest, “Stairway to Heaven” from Zep and “Magic Flute” from Mozart.

Speakers were not used. Instead music was sent to the cheese using mini-transmitters so it could better resonated inside the wheels.

The results? According to a blind taste test by cheese exports, the varieties exposed to hip-hop ended up with the strongest flavours and aroma. That gives cheesemakers a new direction.

Next step (and I’m not making this up): What kind of hip-hop works best? Does tempo do anything? Should it have more deep bass or less? Research will continue with up to ten different cheeses and a variety of hip-hop tracks.

(Via Complex)