Cheesemonger Calum Hodgson, from food store Sabato in Mt Eden, Auckland, with a wheel of Cheese with No Name. Photo / File
Cheesemonger Calum Hodgson, from food store Sabato in Mt Eden, Auckland, with a wheel of Cheese with No Name. Photo / File
A Kiwi cheesemonger is putting the science of music to the test, maturing a batch of gourmet cheese to a sound track of heavy metal music.
Calum Hodgson - aka the Curd Nerd - is conducting the experiment along with fellow cheesemaker Phillipa White of Sentry Hill Organics to see whether vibrations from the tracks of Lamb of God, Slayer and other artists affect the cheese's flavour.
He told the Weekend Herald the project was inspired by a BBC report from 2012 about a scientific study which found bacteria have a sense of smell.
It showed bacteria responded to their environment and have a sensory analysis, he said.
"[But] there wasn't so much confirmation around their audible experience."
So Hodgson has set out to test whether the bacterium used to make Sentry Hill Organic's sheep's milk Cheese with No Name can hear and respond to heavy metal - a genre he's passionate about.
The project involves setting up an iPod that will play the music in the maturing space at White's central Hawke's Bay farm of about 60 of 130 cheeses every morning for about three weeks.
"The cheese will get turned a couple of times a week so that will get multi-vibrations on all facets of the cheese," Hodgson said.
The other half of the batch will be used as the control, maturing under normal conditions.
"We'll collect a little bit of data as we go through the maturation process - with photos and weighing some of the cheeses and seeing if there's any recognisable, recordable data like that."
Cheese lovers will have the opportunity to sample both batches and other New Zealand cheeses at a tasting evening at Auckland gourmet food store Sabato on July 25.
Hodgson said he would conduct a blind test to see whether members of the public and The Grove's senior sous chef Josh Barlow -who is a fan of regular Cheese with No Name - can taste the difference.
A wheel of the Cheese with No Name. Photo / File
"I'm wagering that the bacterium that exists on this cheese - which is an orangey-browny kind of colour which gives it a really savoury, umami flavour profile - is quite bogan in nature and likes heavy metal."
But, White, who isn't a heavy metal fan, had a different hypothesis, Hodgson said.
"She's of the opinion that the vibrations won't resonate well with the cheese and that maybe there will be a muddied, kind of bitter profile."
He told the Weekend Herald the project was also about changing perceptions about cheese tastings, which were often seen as posh, and hoped this one would connect those who didn't typically buy "fancy" cheese.
"It's just a little bit of a fun part to attract a different customer who hasn't gone to something like this.
"Talking about food doesn't have to be hoity toity - it can just be chilled out with maybe some heavy metal playing at this one."
