Thursday, June 19, 2008

Gregorian chants help cheese mature

Bosses at a school for dairy farmers say a chart-topping monks' chant has turned their cheese into a prize winner.

The 'Chant - Music of Paradise' album - which reached the top 10 in Britain - is played over and over again to two and a half tonnes cheese as it matures in cellars at the school in Graz-Altgrottenhof, Austria.

This isn't the actual music being played to the cheese, but it's the nearest I can find.


"Cheese matures with the help of micro-organisms which I am sure also feel vibes. The music is very simple and I think that is what helps," said head teacher Erich Kerngast.

Since serenading their product with the monks' chants, the school has won a string of prizes for its Grottenhofer Auslese cheese. "We put in a Dolby Surround hi-fi system worth £1,600 and have been playing the Gregorian chant in there over and over again," said Mr Kerngast.

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