Insidious Chinese pine nuts
Who would have thought the simple (and extremely tasty) pine nut could cause so much grief; so much suffering; so much dieting. If you’re a fan of these little kernels, there is something you should know about them: they’re PURE EVIL!
Okay, that’s not entirely fair. Not ALL pine nuts are evil. My research has indicated that it is only pine nuts imported from China that are the cause of my suffering, and the suffering of many others.
Last Thursday night I was preparing dinner for myself and a friend, which we possibly wouldn’t be eating for another hour or so. I was hungry and needed a quick snack to stop me from eating all the dinner ingredients. So I reached into the cupboard and grabbed myself a handful of pine nuts. Mmm tasty. They were from the same box of pine nuts I had used on my carpaccio, rocket and raspberry salad a few weeks before, so how could I know the effects that would soon take hold…
On Saturday morning we got up late; it was almost noon, so instead of breakfast I decided to skip straight on to lunch and eat some leftover leek and potato soup that was in the fridge from earlier in the week. At first taste I thought, “Agh, I think this is past it’s used-by date.” A second taste seemed to confirm this, even though it didn’t smell bad, so I threw all the soup away. Next, I tried some toast… which also tasted horrible. I began to wonder whether I had gotten dehydrated through the night and just had a bad taste in my mouth.
After cleaning my teeth, brushing my tongue and gargling mouthwash, I also tried tea and even water, but to no avail. When the problem persisted on Sunday, I realised there was more to this than meets the taste buds; everything tasted like battery acid. It was time to do some internet searching. As is usual when searching medical symptoms online, I turned up all the usual scary cancer and tumour-related stuff, as well as some information on stomach ulcers, acid reflux and liver problems. However, none of the symptom descriptions seemed to match what was happening to me.
Finally I came upon a forum where people were discussing the exact problem I was having; namely a metallic, bitter taste at the back of the tongue that was exacerbated by food, particularly anything sweet. About halfway down the topic posts, someone mentioned pine nuts, and after that post the agreement flooded in from people around the world suffering the same problem after having recently eaten pine nuts. With this new information in hand, I narrowed my search to “pine nuts bitter taste” and suddenly I had my answer from an official source; the European Journal of Emergency Medicine:
Taste disturbances after pine nut ingestion M. Mostin Poisons Centre, Brussels, Belgium Case report: A colleague anaesthesiologist experienced two episodes of taste disturbances after pine nut ingestion. At the first time, he just consumed a handful of pine nuts. Two days later, he developed an episode of taste disturbances (bitter, metallic taste). The disturbances lasted a few days. He made a link between pine nuts and the taste disturbances after the second episode when his wife and friends who shared with him a dish prepared with the same pine nuts complained of a persisting bitter taste sensation 2 days after the meal. Examination of the pine nuts revealed they were oxidized and not fit for consumption. No fungal contamination was found. No explanation was found for the taste disturbances. In the following months, six similar cases were reported to the Poisons Centre. The pine nuts involved in those cases were imported from China. The pine species remain unidentified. Analysis on pesticide residues and heavy metal did not reveal any contamination. One member of the medical team of the Poisons Centre tested on himself several brands of pine nuts and experienced two separate episodes of taste disturbances with the pine nuts imported from China. The phenomenon remained unexplained.
A student in pharmacy undertook chromatographic examinations on two samples involved in the taste disturbances and compared them with pine nuts from other origins. This led to the isolation of constituants compatible with triglycerids, formed by 16-18°C unsaturated fatty acids. The role of those triglycerids in the taste disturbances remains hypothetic.
So there you have it. And if you do further searching of your own, you’ll find much more information out there (even Wikipedia: wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_nut#Risks_of_eating_pine_nuts). But I have yet to find anything about a cure, other than patience. I have also discovered that peppermint tea and peppermint green tea are the only things I’ve tried so far that don’t taste horrible. I’m on day three now, so hopefully it won’t last too much longer.
There is still debate on the forums I’ve read about whether or not roasting the nuts makes a difference, but I can tell you that for me it did. I served my rocket salad to eight people a few weeks ago with a generous helping of roasted pine nuts on each, and no one had this problem.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any law in Norway that requires food to disclose its origin on its labelling. My pine nuts don’t say anything about where they were imported from. However, in all the information I read, it was Chinese imported pine nuts that caused this problem. Check your labels and if you experience the same thing, contact your local consumer affairs branch, or possibly poisons information if you are particularly concerned. As far as I know, there’s no danger, just a nasty, nasty taste for several days.
August 20th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
I had the taste in my mouth for over a week now when doed it start to subside?? it would really help me if I could see an end to it/
Thanks
August 20th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Hi there,
Sorry to hear you’ve also gotten pinenut-tastebud fever. I guess it depends on how many you ate as to how long the problem will last. I ate a small handful (maybe 20 nuts) and my normal taste came back after about 6-7 days. By the 5th day it was starting to subside, but it was definitely still there.
All I can recommend is to drink lots of water and peppermint tea or weak green tea, and try to avoid sweet foods since that seemed to make it worse for me.
Good luck! I’d really appreciate it if you could post again when you’re back to normal, so that others reading this post have another reference point.
Cheers,
Zoë
August 23rd, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Hiya,
… I have now thrown away the nut mix… I am on day 4 now, I hope it doesn’t last as long as last time. Who would have thought that something so, seemingly, innocuous could cause such a horrid affliction?
I’ve got this same thing, I bought some mixed fruit and nuts and stuff (inc pine nuts) to keep in my draw at work in case of snack attacks. Then I got this horrid bad taste thing, lasted about 8 days… was awful, then I was on holiday for a week and it went away. I still didn’t know what caused and read all the worrying things on the internet, the same type of things you mentioned in your article but as you say nothing seemed to match. Anyway I went back to work after my holiday… and … I have the bad taste back
Cheers
Andy
August 25th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Well, it’s still there for me .. but seems a little weaker now… or mebbe I am just getting used to it?
Andy
August 26th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Woot! Food tastes normal again, 6 days this time…. never shall I eat pine nuts again!
August 26th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Thanks for your comments Andy, and I’m so glad to hear your pinenut problem is gone.
Even though I know I can eat ones from other countries, and even the Chinese ones seemed to be okay when I toasted them, I’m still scared to eat them again too.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:57 am
Indeed! 6 days of that awful taste… the price of eating a handful of pine nuts is just way too high!
September 9th, 2008 at 11:14 am
thanks for the entry! I’m so glad that my wife and I figured out where the freaky bitter taste came from.
By the way, I checked the link you posted on Wikipedia and the information about the bitter taste has been DELETED! I can’t believe it. This is important information that everyone should have access to. (it must be someone involved in the pine nut import industry that deleted it, to protect their profits)
October 14th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
FYI: re Kevin’s last post, the Wikipedia article once again includes the “risk of eating pine nuts” section. I’ve had this bitter taste for DAYS, overwhelming the flavors of all food I eat, after innocently munching on raw pine nuts for 2-3 days in a row (ending last night). It really is awful….
January 3rd, 2009 at 1:14 am
ditto on the pine nuts and bitter taste sensation – Mine are from Sainsburys Camden Town, London UK – and yes they are imported from China – is this a result of the dreadful air pollution in this country? I saw a programme on a region in China on television the other day where they have to pollinate their pear trees by hand because all of the bees are dead (documentary was called ‘silence of the bees’ – I know pine trees are wind pollinated, but still – got to wonder how toxic that place is?
January 7th, 2009 at 5:00 am
Wow! I have had a horrible taste in my mouth after I eat ALL DAY today. I thought I was losing my mind or developing some dread disease, so I did a web search and found your article and the forum you mentioned. Yes – I ate pine nuts yesterdy and the previous day! The one’s I had said they are imported from Siberia (aka Northern China, maybe??). I don’t know if I can stand several days of this…the taste is driving me crazy! So good to know that it’s not all my imagination, though.
January 8th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Thanks for posting this. What a relief! My husband and I both had metallic tastes after eating pine nuts. I believe the package said they were from Vietnam, but they could have just been packaged there. Anyway, everything tastes horrible. I’m hopeful that there’s not some other toxin in the nuts. I’m glad I found your site Zoe.
January 20th, 2009 at 3:54 am
I am going on my fourth week now of this terrible taste, yes it is much better but I am
getting worried, nothing taste like it used too.Anyone else lasting this long, please let me know.Cheesecake has the worst taste.
January 22nd, 2009 at 6:14 am
Thanks for posting your pine nut experience on the web. What a relief to know what was happening. I was helping my daughter prepare some meals for the freezer and nibbled on the pine nuts she was using. We talked about how the pine nuts had come all the way from China, which seemed strange. Then 2 days later I had all the experiences Zoe describes. For me the awful taste was finally gone a week after I ate the nut. Thanks again.
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:25 am
thank you so much for your Blog, Ive been baffled by the horrible taste in my mouth, I though it was going to be a expensive trip to the dentist. When you mentioned eating pine nut…it was a light bulb moment. I have been eating pine nuts in my effort to be more healthy (that will teach me to be healthy). Hopefully, the taste will go away soon.
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:12 pm
My girlfriend and I have had this problem for the past three days – everything tastes horrid, especially sweet things. We ate pine nuts from Tesco, sourced from China in a pasta dish five days ago.
I have called Tesco to report this, they really should not be selling anything that causes this sort of problem. I really hope that it doesn’t last much longer, I want to enjoy my food again!
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Me and my husband had the same for four days. On the second day green tea begun helping to wash away the taste but it returns once I eat something or when asleep.
Ate freashly open packet of pine nuts sourced in China and sold in expensive supermarket in London 26-28 hours before that with expiry date in April.
January 22nd, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Hi everyone, and thanks for your comments. I’m glad you’re finding my post useful, and I urge you to hang in there, it does go away eventually!
January 24th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Weird! I was eating pine nuts as a snack at work for the last couple weeks. Suddenly, for the last couple days, everything has a bitter taste, reminds me of the awful taste of the white and skin of grapefruit. I’ve eaten pine nuts many times in the past, heard they had good fats and could help lower triglycerides. Guess one side benefit of things tasting bad is maybe now my triglicerides will be lowered because I don’t want to eat anything due to the taste. :-}
January 27th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Thank you for the information. I thought there was something very wrong with me! I checked my pine nuts and they were from Korea, but the bad taste that gets worse when I eat is exactly what you described.
January 28th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Ditto! I ate them too, they are from China, and the taste is gastly,gross and I hope my breath doesn’t smell as bad as my mouth tastes, I have been brushing, flossing and mouthwashing – and nothing is helping. So the main message here is, stay away! I am on day 7! I will probably lose 5 lbs when this is over -
February 1st, 2009 at 8:21 pm
I’ve been experienced this for the past few days! For US American readers, I made pesto with raw pine nuts purchased at Trader Joes. Don’t know the country of origin, as the package was tossed.
February 5th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Thank God for the internet. Although I had to stay clear of the possible neurological disorder postings for “bitter taste on tongue”, finding the pine nut connection was amazing. The brand of pine nuts that I had was “Melissa’s”, a popular brand for many other imported edibles. I’m on bitter day 5 of trying to operate and successfully run a restaurant where properly functioning taste buds are key!
February 11th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Hi, I’m waiting for a call back from the food standards agency and NHS Direct about this .I have had the bitter taste for 4days now and my son ate some of the same pine nuts before I discovered what had caused my symptoms.He was ok this morning and I am hoping it stays that way. Has any one complained about the pine nuts they bought and what medical advice have they been given? I’m off to try peppermint tea
February 12th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
I have had this taste since yesterday, it even put me off my glass of wine. glad i know what it is now. I always eat pine nuts but this is the first time it has effected me, the packet just states nuts from various sources. Thanks for the info i thought i had ingested something poisonous
February 15th, 2009 at 12:17 am
I too am experiencing the effects of eatting pinenuts. I have loved them for years on my salads but not any more. I am on my third day and have been worried I had some dreadful problem. I did a google search with my symtoms and was stunned to find out this was caused by pinenuts and some many people have experienced this too. Everything taste terrible even my favorite treat – chocolate. Yuk!
February 17th, 2009 at 3:45 am
MY BITTER TASTE DID NOT GO AWAY IN FOUR WEEKS SO I GOT TESTED FOR MERCURY AND HAD A HIGH MERCURY LEVEL. I BELIEVE EVERYONE SHOULD BE TESTED. AS MANY HAVE SAID SOME ARE AFFECTED BY THE PINENUTS AND SOME AREN’T.I BELIEVE PEOPLE LIKE MYSELF WHO HAVE MERCURY IN THEIR BLOOD ARE THE ONES MORE LIKELY TO BE AFFECTED BY THE FOOD ALLERGIES.I MAY BE WRONG BUT I THINK I’M ON TO SOMETHING.
February 18th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
I’ve done the same, eaten pine nuts and got the taste two days after for 5-6 days, now gradually getting less. However, I’ve felt quite ill as well – nausea, pains my in right side at the back (liver?)and feeling weak. This would suggest some kind of toxin. Has anyone else felt ill with it?
February 19th, 2009 at 1:55 am
thank you! I was literally eating pine nuts (the last snack in the house for the last few days) while researching this horrible taste in my mouth. I bought them at the Chinese market near my house…yep…thank you!
February 19th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Hi
I’m currently experiencing exactly the same problem- after eating a bag of pine nuts about three days ago. The taste is quite horrible. I’m not feeling sick- but the taste is very distinctive, and not pleasant. I’m disturbed to see that it goes on for several days- and I’m afraid in some cases, weeks.
Luke
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:22 am
[...] blog has received a lot of attention since I posted about my pine nut misadventure back in August last year. Since then I’ve been keeping an eye on my stats just to see what [...]
February 26th, 2009 at 12:38 am
Wow, Google is awesome isn’t it. Even though I didn’t know the cause of my awful taste problems over the past week, when I saw pine nuts come up and realized I bought a fresh batch of Trader Joe’s a little over a week ago, it fits perfectly. I have all of the same experiences as you. I had them as a snack again last night (before finding this), and this morning I had the worse-tasting banana you have ever experienced. Quite possibly (and hopefully), this is a natural phenomenon caused by a certain type of tree, or certain method of handling or storage. But I will be more than angry if we all find out later that this the result of a genetic modification or other food safety issue.
March 2nd, 2009 at 6:05 pm
I am experiencing a horrid, bitter acrid taste after eating pine nuts from Trader Joe’s. I just hope this taste will leave soon
March 5th, 2009 at 1:33 am
I bought hummus from Trader Joe’s with pine nuts in it and had the same bitter-taste reaction. Does anyone also feel like their tongue is coated? I don’t know how else to describe it, but it feels a little numb and is really annoying. And sad– I love pine nuts!
March 12th, 2009 at 7:40 am
Yes!! Me too! Bought the pine nuts at Trader Joe’s on Saturday and made pesto (which I’ve done almost monthly for 40 yrs). Monday morning it hit me and I couldn’t figure it out. I feel fine, no colds or congestion, no fatigue, nothing out of the ordinary except the horrid taste. I still have some of the nuts and they do smell a bit off (stale).
I’ve eaten pignolis regularly all my life; I’m 58, and this is the first time this has ever happened.
I read on another forum after trying to find out about this that “alpha lipoic acid” may help (available at drug, heathfood stores….and probably at Trader Joe’s as well LOL
So, I’m on day 3
March 12th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
I also did buy and eat pine nuts and now experience the same taste disturbances as a lot of you here (I’m on day 3). I live in Canada and bought a 650g pack of pine nuts from Golden Boy (GB) brand from a local supermarket. It doesn’t say the origin of the nuts, but the company is in British Columbia. I tried to email them about my problem but when I went on their website, I couldn’t find the pack that I have bought. Anything but the pine nuts. Makes you wonder…
March 21st, 2009 at 6:11 am
This happened to me too…a few years ago, before there were lots of references on the net. I was munching on them daily, so my torture (when I figured it out) lasted over one month. It is horrible. I was eating the Trader Joes roasted pine nuts from China…
March 22nd, 2009 at 3:59 am
Hi Zoe and all,
I’ve been researching online all day to determine this awful bitter taste and yep, pine nuts! I hope the quantity ingested is not proportionate to the length of time I experience this nastiness. I’ve eaten them almost every day for the past three weeks, ~ a tablespoon a day on salad and in pasta and on pizza and sometimes by themselves.
I’ve found that, oddly, Diet Pepsi doesn’t taste any different and actually tastes a bit better than normal and cereal with milk isn’t quite as gross as other foods. Plain cereal is still heinous, so I think the milk must help neutralize the bitterness somewhat.
Thanks for posting this!
March 30th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
So I hope this is what I have not acid reflux or liver failure…but really after reading all these posts do we have an average of how long this lasts…I am ready to chew on raw garlic just to make this metallic wallpaper paste taste go away Please help there has to be something that eases the bitterness
March 31st, 2009 at 3:55 pm
If you only ate the pine nuts this one time, it will probably take about 6-8 days to go away. If you ate them a few days in a row it will take longer to get out of your system. Try the peppermint tea and cut down on sweets, coffee and alcohol until it starts to go away; it won’t shorten the duration but it makes it less horrible.
March 31st, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Had pine nuts two days ago and the bitter taste started yesterday. My wife bought them at Ralphs and I checked and they are from China. I thought I was going crazy or had some type of tongue cancer. I am also experiencing some muscle cramping but nothing serious. This forum really helped me in know that others had the same problem and I was not alone. Thanks from San Diego.
April 1st, 2009 at 3:56 am
Wow! Thank goodness I’m not going nuts (no pun intended)! I made my famous “trail mix” last weekend (after several years of abstinence from the yummy high fat and calorie treat!) and all week long have noticed an awful, metallic, bitter taste in my mouth. ?Was this my karmic payback for not brushing my teeth a full two minutes on occasion? Some horrible systemic disease (yup, I’m a nurse!)? An interspecies migration of whatever strange thing is ailing my sweet kitten Hudson??? Of course, ironic enough is that I last munched on some just a few hours ago…
I’ve noticed that going back on Prilosec has helped a little, minty gum helps more. The taste is bad and persistent enough to put me off of my morning coffee for the immediate future, and everything I eat just seems to bring the taste out more (what a diet aid!).
I’ve also noticed my sense of smell is much more sensitive… especially to perfumey scents, eeeeuck!
Has anyone acertained whether there are actually negative health effects associated with this?
Also, having bought my raw Pine Nuts at Trader Joes as well, I am interested in knowing whether anyone has contacted them about this and what, if any, the response has been!
Susanne in Los Angeles
April 1st, 2009 at 6:26 am
This is day 2 for me and it seems like the bitter taste is less in intensity but still there. My niece got ready for a date tonight and showered herself in perfume. The smell made my taste buds go wild and the bitterness in my mouth was intense. I have a bit of a cold and runny nose so I cant really smell but I could taste the perfume and the bitterness. For some reason Coke seems to neutralize the bitterness (regular not diet)
April 2nd, 2009 at 4:20 pm
I will add to the thanks for this posting. I too am suffering pine nut tastebud fever. Ate the nuts purchased from Trader Joe’s two days ago. Symptoms kicked in last night, much relieved to know its not some kind of mold attack, I thought I ate a bad apple. Will keep an eye out for the mercury testing if the bad taste lasts more than a week or two.
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:37 am
I am on day 4 and my taste buds are about 80% back to normal. I still have a slight bitter taste in my mouth when I eat but nothing like the first day the symptoms kicked in. I will check in later once it has completely subsided. For all of those of you “newbies” to Pine Nut taste bud fever do not worry the symptoms will go away. It may take longer for some than others but it does goes away. I WILL NEVER EAT PINE NUTS AGAIN IN MY LIFE.
April 6th, 2009 at 5:24 am
Hi Zoe, thanks for posting this. Looks like the Chinese pine nuts have reached New Zealand now. I’m on day three of my pine nut madness after eating pesto at a restaurant. I’ve been eating and enjoying pine nuts for years – now this! It’s really great to know that it’s only temporary as it truly is the most unpleasant experience. I’ve seen it mentioned elsewhere that this effect could be restricted to ‘O’ blood type – mine is O+. My wife is B+ and didn’t have the problem. I wonder what the other posters’ are.
April 6th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
My taste buds are back to 100% normal. It took a total of 8 days for the bitter taste to completely go away. Just as an FYI to David my blood type is O, not sure if – or +.
April 12th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
I too am having the bitter taste after eating pine nuts from Trader Joe’s. These say they are from Korea, Vietnam or Russia but I assume it is the same problem as pinenuts from China? Does anyone know of any safe brands of pine nuts? I hate to give them up but don’t want to deal with this nasty bitterness. I am going to report it to our Trader Joe’s in North Carolina today and will be curious to see if anyone else has suffered the same fate!By the way, I noticed that sugar free hard candies do not elicit the bitter taste.
April 15th, 2009 at 11:49 am
I purchased mine from Vons in Tarzana. They came in a 4oz bag from a company called Delish, based here in LA. I contacted Delish, Vons and the FDA. The man from FDA said we all need to contact our local FDA and complain and they will research it. This is my 5th day of bad taste and i THINK it is lessening some. I found that the only meal I could eat was a ‘chinese chicken salad’ with mandarin oranges in it from a local Jewish deli. they make their own dressing with a viniger base. it didnt have that taste so i went there 2 days in a row to eat because I was hungry and everything eles tasted bad. I would recommend trying a chinese chicken salad w/ mandarin oranges (but from a regular local American type establishment).
The company Delish sent a man over to my home to pick up a sample of the nuts because I still had the package (I only ate about 1 tablespoon)they sent me an email today saying that they spoke to someone from the FDA and the nuts are fine. I do NOT believe them because I just got off the phone with them man for the SOuthern Ca. FDA around 4:45pm. There is no way the man could have contacted them and met with them and tested those nuts with in an hour or so. I personally feel the company was trying to bs me. I spoke to a lawyer yesterday and will call him back as well.
I told the company I wanted to know 1) what the substance was 2)what the antidote is and 3)I want to make sure there is no lasting health hazard. Of course they did NOT answer any of those questions. I wonder if anyone has died from this or been subjected to numerous test and procedures from doctors because of this.
We need to hold these companies responsible to do the right thing and fix this ASAP. If anyone is in CA. my e mail address is forlindamitchell@yahoo.com
Please call the FDA so they check into it. the man told me to tell everyone else to contact them as well.
April 15th, 2009 at 11:49 am
p.s. I am O+ also
April 19th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Hmmm… just in case you are on to something… I am O+ too !!!
April 27th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
This may be of interest:
http://www.marsanta.co.nz/bulletins/Marsanta-2006-06.pdf
On page two there is a short passage about the Mongolian government not issuing export permits for pine nuts in 2006 until the taxes were increased. This may have lead to a stockpile of [rapidly deteriorating and oxidising] pine nuts to be unleashed on an unsuspecting world some time afterwards. A year or three perhaps?
Oh, and my pine nut madness took 8 days to completely disappear. Thank goodness.
May 2nd, 2009 at 7:22 pm
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May 26th, 2009 at 7:29 am
I have purchased large bags from Costco here in Washington. This is the 3rd bag. I have been trying to solve this taste mystery for weeks now. And have been using “Chinese raw pinenuts” on pasta, LOTS of them. At this rate it’ll take me a year to get this out of my mouth. I have no bad taste as long as I don’t eat and drink only water. It’s ridiculous. But I’m glad the mystery could be solved. NEVER ghad a problem before. Have eaten pine nuts and made pesto with them for 20 years !Thanks you for this site !!!!
May 26th, 2009 at 7:33 am
blood type : A+
May 29th, 2009 at 5:17 am
Interesting, I’m also blood type A+. Why are Chinese pine nuts still available? Day 3 and getting worse as far as taste.
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:29 am
I have it right now and am thankful I pinned it on the pine nuts thanks to the internet postings. I did eat some grapes this morning that weren’t as bad as everything else. My husband has blood type O and he did not get it after he at the pine nuts.
June 3rd, 2009 at 5:05 pm
I bought mine from the same Italian Groceria where I’ve gotten them for years and I’ve been dealing with this bitterness for two days. Iced Tea with lemon is the only thing I’ve been able to ingest without setting off the taste. (Pittsburgh, PA)
June 7th, 2009 at 4:27 am
I own a health food store and the brand we stock is Woodstock Farms from UNFI. They to are from China. UNFI will be hearing from me, as I ate some pinenuts yesterday and this morning my b.fast tasted wierd. Idid’nt realize what the problem was later I ate some more pinenuts. Wow, I’m glad I looked here and will not eat them again! I wonder if liver tonics might help?
June 8th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
So happy to have found this site. Thought I had liver disease or leaking fillings, was about to make a doc’s appointment. Ate pine nuts on Wed and Sat, these were particulary smaller ones than usual and had a dark mark at the blunter end. I have eaten pine nuts for many years and never had this reaction. I am in South Africa so the source must be the same as the rest of the world. The taste in my mouth is so disguting I am living on chewing gum, which I never usually eat, hope it goes soon.
June 13th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Started a line cook job at a new, very good, high-end organic foods restaurant last Friday ( June 5th). Spent my first day on prep – making sauces, dressings and PESTO! No time to eat, so snacked on pine nuts, both roasted and unroasted throughout the day. Walking home that evening, was suddenly assailed by a terrible, “burning chemical” smell, and was inexplicably overcome by wave after wave of nausea. Hurried my pace to get out of the area I thought was flooded with this “smell”. Got to my office in another part of town, took a sip of apple juice to see if I could settle the nausea – and nearly spit it out, as it was impossibly bitter. Then realized how bad the terrible taste in my mouth now was. Took a few bites of ripe melon, and nearly lost my lunch at the terrible taste. Nearly 8 days later, I’m still experiencing symptoms. Only found out what it was last night (BLOODY PINE NUTS) when I mentioned it to another cook, who said several of the cooks have experienced the same thing since the restaurant changed suppliers on their pine nut orders. The pine nuts now come from Asia, are smaller, and are triggering this affect. Was SO RELIEVED to discover I wasn’t seriously ill, crazy or poisoned. WILL NEVER TOUCH PINE NUTS AGAIN! Glad people are spreading the word about this – no food is worth the severity and length of symptoms this has caused. And, really, no one can say for sure that it won’t have a lasting effect. More research needs to be done – and in the meantime, BEWARE OF PINE NUTS!!!
June 15th, 2009 at 2:43 am
Hi- I too am a victim of Pine Nut Syndrome! I can not believe that this is happening and there is nothing on the news about it. I wonder if only some people get this horrible reaction or if it is something that happens to all that eat it. I served a salad with pine nuts on Thursday to some of my friends – I am going to call them and see if they are having the same reaction. Does this mean we are having a type of poisoning? Very weird and I think it definatley needs further investigation. I have eaten pine nuts all my life and this has never happened – what is China doing to them to make this happen?
June 15th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
My husband and I ate pinenuts from China Friday night on our green beans and Saturday we both started having major inflammation problems. His sciatic and my knees and thumbs. I have RA but rarely have flairups. It was too coincidental that both our bodies became inflammed. I even ate the rest of the pine nuts on Saturday and was really bad yesterday. I’m drinking tons of water with mangosteen juice and taking motrin right now to control the inflammation. No bad taste in our mouths though.
June 16th, 2009 at 6:17 am
You can now call this a pandemic.It has reached Australia.All the symptons exactly as everyone elses.I contacted “Sunbeam” the brand name of the pine nuts I purchased.It is a wholly owned Australian company but the ingredients are imported…you guessed it….China.They informed me that China is the only country where you can get pinenuts and that the symptons are common.Going by what has been written previously I have at least 3 to 5 days to go…..Not happy!!
July 1st, 2009 at 4:35 am
“Haddon House” pine nuts (no country of origin on label; I’m trying to find out from the distributor) purchased in the Bronx, NY.
It’s impossible to describe how terrible this makes food taste (of course you all know the deal).
spread the word to innocent pesto-makers around the world!
July 1st, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Confirmed — nuts were grown in China, packaged in USA.
The bitter taste is worse and more intense than yesterday. Good grief.
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:25 pm
I had maybe 6 or 7 nuts from a bag of Fisher “Chef’s Natural” pine nuts and have had the most horribly bad bitter taste for more than 4 days now. My daughter had almost half the bag and experienced more mild effects, which are now nearly gone. Confirmed they are imported from China. One of the most unpleasant experiences ever!
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:18 pm
thanks to you and others for spreading the word. 4 days ago i made a delicious homemade pesto with some tiny bulk pinenuts from the supermakert and the next night started to get the bitter flavor with everything i ate.. i am telling everyone i know!
July 9th, 2009 at 7:50 am
Hi Jan and the rest of the forum goers. I am also in australia. Day 2 perhaps 3 of THE PINE NUT bitter taste madness. We made a ‘delicious’ italain meatballs last monday night. Yesterday or perhaps the day before I noticed the same thing that the rest of the forum have been describing. I went on the net and found tens of responses. I rang a company, (australian scalzo foods sourced in china) I rang them up and suprisingly they did not know anything about this issue. Earlier today they rang me and asked me if I could send them back the pack and refer them to a this web site which I told them about before. They will reimburse me for the pack and some additional costs. I am not happy just want this to go away. Pete Dolinsky
July 10th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
For those in the Netherlands: Euroshopper pine nuts (Albert Heijn) are also imported from China. These are the cheapest pine nuts available in the supermarket, but I will never buy them again… Yug! Strangely, my boyfriend and neighbours who also consumed the salad with pine nuts, experienced no bitter taste. Just poor me. My blood group is A+.
July 25th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
I am living in the Country of Estonia. I woke with a bitter metallic taste in the back of my mouth, light-headedness, and nausea. My entire family has the bad taste and are mildly dizzy, only I have the nausea. We ate pine nuts imported from Chine 2 days ago. Horrible taste and feeling!
July 29th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
I also live in the Netherlands and have had this problem twice now. Both times I had eaten pine nuts in prepared salads from Albert Heijn supermarket within two days of getting the awful bitter taste. Both times it lasted about 10 days!
Anything sweet definitely exacerbates the problem and it’s surprising how many foods that includes! I’m interested in several people’s comments that vinegar based foods helped. If this ever happens again, I’m going to test that out.
I have heard that pine nuts will last longer if refrigerated so if I do find a brand that doesn’t cause the problem, I will store them in the fridge in case the problem has anything to do with freshness.
August 15th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
This is my 2nd day with the taste, and I ate pesto I made with a lot of Chinese pine nuts, two nights in a row, three nights ago! My husband is fine, though…Thank you for blogging about it.
August 18th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
This is absolutely bizarre – day 3 and it seems even worse. I too find that peppermint tea is almost palatable and will up my intake of oranges to see if that will help break down whatever those trygliceroids are ….Yes it’s definitely reached NZ and i cant remember where the nuts were from but they may have well been out of date even though they were in the fridge.
And I am also blood type O+ if that seems to be a factor.
I emailed NZ Food Standards Authority but don’t expect any response but now just desperately looking for some form of alleviation from this disgusting effect. Thank God for modern tools like the internet to confirm that you are not crazy – i too would be going to the doc for blood tests by now.
For those desperate to lose weight it may be the answer but i would rather run a marathon !!!!
August 19th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
For those who have suffered, or new posters, please come back when the taste is gone and put down how long it lasted. It seems this phenomenon is especially pronounced this year, perhaps due to stockpiling of pine nuts in China. It’d be useful to have a concensus on how long the taste lasts so other folks who find these blogs know what to expect. I’m on day three right now and will come back and say how long it lasted once it’s over. Note that if green tea is useful (and I’m finding it is) that an anti-oxidant pill might help.
August 21st, 2009 at 2:43 am
It’s amazing there are so many people with the exact same symptoms! All from pine nuts!
I had this phenomenon about 3 weeks ago. The only thing that tasted at all normal was water! All my favorite foods tasted foul! Bleh.
Total time was about 8 days, but after about the 4th day, the severity began wearing down. Completely gone now. So to all who have it: Take heart! It DOES go away!
August 30th, 2009 at 10:04 am
Want to join all these folks in saying “thanks” for the info and peace of mind it brought. Have this awful bitter taste now for 2 days and came to the conclusion the pine nuts I ate were rancid. Did not store them in the fridge. Origin is not known, bought them in bulk. By the way, I am blood type
B+.
August 30th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Cant believe this, I never eat pine nuts but had a Marks and Spencer Avacado and pine nut sandwich on Thurs lunchtime, Saturday lunchtime foul taste after a chicken slice, thought I had soap in my mouth, I already had a nasty chesty bug so thought part of that, but googled as comes on after eating and found so many others suffering the same, its vile, going on holiday to Spain tomorrow and dont want to taste this for a fortnight!!! Trebor soft mints are helping. Pine nuts are evil!!!!!!
June 1st, 2010 at 9:05 pm
I am going crazy…..I am a Professional Chef and life time foodie. Three days ago I cooked a chicken dish that I garnished with a pine nut and dried fruit compote. The compote was great so I ate a couple spoon fulls….wish I never did!! This is pure hell. I have never experienced anything like this before, I have been drinking tea and avoiding food, have no use for my pallet…somebody needs to find a cure for this!!!!! thanks for the post, glad its nothing more serious, but as far as a Chef is concerned I am out of the food game at least for a week or so.
June 2nd, 2010 at 1:00 am
Uggghhhhh! So gross! I’m very dissappointed in Trader Joes (in Oceanside) . My pine nuts were purchased the day before I ate them at my birthday party (messed up the whole rest of the birthday-week!). I will be taking them back to TJs and see what their response is for sure. I’ve seen the nuts implicated in these posts for over a year. Come on!
June 11th, 2010 at 4:48 am
Of all of the info on the internet about this strange pine nut problem, this blog has been the most helpful.
Thanks for getting it started.
I find it interesting that there was nearly a gap between the 2009 and 2010 posts. Did something change?
I have enjoyed pine nuts for a long time now, but am 2 days into the bad taste. Both my wife and I had them. I am O+ and had the bad taste. She is A+ and did not, though I don’t think it really matters. Probably more dependent on body chemistry, which is nearly impossible to pin down.
June 14th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
[...] Another case of pine nut mouth at Zoe Selina [...]
June 23rd, 2010 at 1:54 pm
U guys ‘n galls are pussies! I’ve had this taste for 5 days now, and WHAT ARE YOU BLABBERING ABOUT? It’s no big deal, just a bitter taste.
June 23rd, 2010 at 11:50 pm
Hmm Niels, let’s see. Chinese pine nuts are affecting people’s taste for days or weeks. You don’t think this is odd? Maybe you don’t suffer as badly as some here. All my food tastes bitter and metallic. Maybe you don’t enjoy food much…?
I’m just glad I know what’s causing it!
July 2nd, 2010 at 8:14 am
I’m on day 4. Ate Trader Joe’s pine nuts on Saturday and by Monday the bitter taste was awful. It’s Thursday and there’s some improvement. Lemon juice seems to help a bit. Am blood type A plus.
July 7th, 2010 at 1:13 am
Adding Cosentino’s in San Jose to the list of grocery stores selling this “bitter” brand of pine nuts. I thought at $40/lb they could do better job in sorting them out.
Bitter taste is really annoying, but… hey, on the bright side, already lost inches from my waist line.
Regarding antidote for biterness: the cream of asparagus soup relived symptoms for couple hours.
July 16th, 2010 at 12:22 am
I have been eating pine nut forever with no problem. Recently made pesto with Pine nuts I picked up at an “international food store” that were from China. Only licked my fingers during the process and am now on day 4. It is easing up a bit. Now not sure if I should use all the batches of pesto I froze.
July 20th, 2010 at 8:43 am
I had a handful of
pine nuts from china 3 days ago when going to bed took a table for headache doing the night woke up with a horrible taste in mouth try brushing teeth eating to get rid of the taste but nothing helped went back to sleep but woke with a really bad headache and was lightheaded and had a funny tummy,not sure if it wasthe pine nuts ?
July 28th, 2010 at 6:30 am
I too am experiencing the same thing – made pesto with pinenuts purchased at Safeway on Sunday and ate it the past 2 nights. I noticed the bitterness this morning and this evening have had a bad headache and what seems to be a fever. Has anyone else felt ill?
August 4th, 2010 at 9:30 am
This is my second episode! First time it happened about a year ago. It took a couple weeks to recover. This time, I had made a huge salad and toasted some for the salad. I forgot about the last episode!
This time I probably had 3-4 Tablespoons of the seeds over a week, mixed in the salad. Woke up today with the familiar disgusting, sour/bitter taste in my mouth. Sometimes, when I consume pinenuts, I have a slight taste of the way turpentine smells.
I just drink a lot of fresh squeezed lemon juice in water, with a little stevia because this condition makes my tastebuds perceive lemons as being very sweet!
I hope it goes away soon. Craziest thing ever!
August 4th, 2010 at 9:31 am
ah, btw, my pine nuts came from Costco both times, and they are from China!
August 9th, 2010 at 5:18 pm
I made pesto with expensive pine nuts purchased from a local grocery store. A day later my boyfriend and I have been experiencing a metal bitter taste in our mouths after we eat or drink anything. I am on my 6th day and still have it but its a little better. I also have felt tired, my joints ache and I have a pain on my right side- not sure if those symptoms are from the pine nuts. I reported all of this to the FDA and everyone else should do the same. Something has to be done about this. The pine nuts I ate did not say what country they are from because the grocery store placed them in a small plastic container. The pine nuts were smaller than usual.
August 11th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
I bought pine nuts from the bulk food section at Whole Foods. The initial metallic taste changed to a bitter taste with everything I ate which lasted over a week but seems to fade slightly after 2-3 days. I didn’t know what was causing it so I continued to eat them until last night, when I found this & other blogs. I put in a call to Whole Foods regarding where they source their pine nuts (local manager said they are ‘imported’ but didn’t know where from) I am waiting on a return call. Hope it goes away soon. Also hope it’s nothing toxic.. Good luck to all and avoid the imported Pine Nuts! Check here: http://www.hyam.net/blog/archives/60
August 13th, 2010 at 3:44 am
Thanks to JM. I too only had a spoonful of pesto and I am on day 3. Thought I had finally killed my liver for good from some other things I read. Too coincidental for it not to be the nuts.
It sucks, but i am glad to see I am not alone.
August 15th, 2010 at 4:04 am
First day of bitterness…after eating pesto with pine nuts from Trader Joes here in Cincinnati. My wife has no ill effects, but I also had a handful of raw nuts before they went into the pesto. Keep away from sweets.
September 2nd, 2010 at 7:10 pm
Interesting blog. Stumbled across it while goggleing looking for Pine nuts from China, being that my local Costco no longer carries them. We have bought them and used them for years, never with any side effects, although we have always cooked them, never raw. Having grown up in Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA) , pinon (pinenuts) as it is refered to locally have always been considered a treat and a delicacy. Got to admit . . . . don’t know anyone here that would eat them raw. We were always instructed by our parents when out in the mountains gathering them to never eat them raw, but it was more due to the possibility of rodent infestation issues and is the reason we always wash them throughly before roasting them. Now I have 1 more reason not to eat them raw, but it’s not going to stop me from eatting them roasted.
September 8th, 2010 at 6:51 am
Can you believe that this goes on and no one does anything about this? What is really happening in the body? I want to know. I am going to try cleansing the liver with herbs to see what happens.
September 8th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Same exact thing happened to me. Had a small handful of raw pine nuts purchased that same day at a local grocery store here in Cedarburg, WI. I didn’t realize it at the time, but they were imported from China. Melissa’s is the brand name. Started noticing the bitter/metallic taste the next day and it was bad by day two. By day four I decided I should investigate online and found your site (and many others)! I can’t believe there hasn’t been any further publicity about it. I notified the grocery store where I bought them and they said no one else has complained. It is now day five and not much better. I have O- bloodtype if that matters. As this blog was started over two years ago, has anyone heard anything recently about what may be causing this?
September 8th, 2010 at 9:09 pm
Forgot to mention that I, too, have had a headache along with this but thought this might be from lack of caffeine as I have all but given up on drinking coffee during this! Sure hope it goes away soon!
September 16th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Dear Zoe and Readers!
Thank you for all the posts, I’ve just learnt about this unusual and unfortunate syndrome recently, and the comments were very informative. I’m a food and sensory scientist in the Netherlands and I’m just about to start a research project on this puzzle of the pine nut syndrome. I wish to get in touch with people who have experienced the metallic and bitter off-taste and still have the batch of offending seeds on hand. If you still have the bitterness-causing pine nuts and would like to support this research effort, I would be very grateful if you could drop me an email at pinenutsyndrome@gmail.com. Thank you very much and I hope that your symptoms would vanish soon!
Best regards, Grace
October 3rd, 2010 at 6:43 am
I’ve had this metallic taste in the back of my mouth for 3 days. I had eaten quite a few pine nuts that I purchased at Trader Joes. They were smaller than the pine nuts I’m used to buying, were toasted, which I had never purchased before, and were from China, Vietnam or some other S.E. Asian country. 2 – 3 days later, the bad taste started any time I eat or drink anything. Glad to know that there is some explanation that isn’t catastrophic.
October 9th, 2010 at 12:41 am
I found other blogs and comments on this same problem. One person had luck with brushing her tongue, teeth and whole mouth with baking soda. I have not had this problem myself but I was sent the link to this blog by someone who has. I do buy pine nuts from Trader Joe’s but usually keep them in the fridge and always roast them. I think I’ll throw them out now!
October 9th, 2010 at 11:20 am
Hi, and thank goodness I found this blog! last week, I bought some fresh made pesto from a local gourmet food place. I added it to pasta, and later in week ate some on crackers. About 5 days later, I noticed a strong, increasing bitter taste after eating, or drinking anything even white wine. I thought I was losing it, the taste was so bad, I decided to google “everything tastes bitter”. Bingo! I dont know if the pine nuts in the pesto are from China, but I bet they are…that place tends to use the cheapest source. Thank goodness I know that it will go away.
I look forward to my taste buds returning, and I will never eat pine nuts again!
October 11th, 2010 at 6:10 pm
Hi, one more to add to this long list. Was wondering about this awful taste. Googled it and found some info on pine nuts causing this… English is my third language so at first i didn’t know what pine nuts are and thought that i hadn’t eaten anything like that. I Was looking into some more frightening options but somehow the pine nut theory seemed to fit my symptoms best so I translated “pine nuts” with wikipedia and now knowing what to look for I went to the kitchen and surprise surprise it was exactly Chinese Pine Nuts I found (my heureka moment)… 3 days now and counting. Interesting phenomena…. Not very nice though.
October 11th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
Same thing. Bought them at Metro grocery store in Toronto (“Selection” . . . which is their house brand). Product of China.
October 16th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Ate a handful of Pine Nuts on Wed. Developed a horrible taste in my mouth on Friday.Still have it. It’s AWFUL. Thanks for the help. I will NEVER eat pine nuts again.
October 23rd, 2010 at 1:43 am
i to woke up two days after eating pine nuts i am a chef so its going to be fun next few day bought them from whole sale company we deal with going to let them know.
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:43 pm
Had pine nuts in a lovely pasta dish in Cambridge on Saturday night. Bitter taste started monday morning. I’ve also had a low-grade headache ever since as well. Someone mentioned a link to other pine allergies which I definitely have. I get a bad rash if I trim the hedges and also suffer terrible hayfever around evergreens when they pollinate. Think I’ll stay well away from pine nuts from now on. At least this will kick start my diet!!
November 11th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
Where to report cases of pine nut mouth. This is a study by a food science graduate student:
http://pinenutsyndrome.wordpress.com/2010/10/20/the-ones-to-avoid/
November 21st, 2010 at 1:02 am
Yup – I am with you all! At Far East Pinenut Couscous two days before everything started to taste bitter!!
I am on day two – YUK. It seems to secrete from inside the mouth – tongue, lips, mouth after you eat or drink. I did have a headache initially and stomach ache when it started but nothing since .. I will never eat pine nuts again!
November 21st, 2010 at 8:04 am
I made a dip out of raw pinenuts about 3 days ago, with garlic and avocados. I ate some of it twice……. today I was at the movies and ate some popcorn. Immediately after I was finished, I had this awful taste in the back of my mouth. It has continued through the evening. It isn’t as intense as what some of you have experienced, and I hope mine doesn’t get better. Sucks, that I spent 8 bucks on something that I had a little bit of that now I have to throw away. I can’t believe this has gone on for YEARS, and that they still import this crap!
December 3rd, 2010 at 12:43 am
I am on day 2 of this bizarre pine nut disturbance. We bought our pine nuts at a west coast American grocery store called QFC and they were from China. The odd thing is we made pesto with them and we were fine. Then a couple weeks later, I made rosemary pine nut cookies with the same batch of nuts. About 2 days later everything started tasting horrible. I had a banana for breakfast on the first day and thought it had gone bad. Then I thought something was wrong with me. My husband remains unaffected (lucky dog!). So far a vinaigrette salad has been the best to eat–everything else tastes bad while eating and even WORSE afterward. I’m truly relieved that it’s not a tumor or something, but at the same time VERY concerned that this is a fairly new phenomenon and therefore long-term effects are completely unknown.
December 31st, 2010 at 5:25 pm
I’m italian and make pesto with pine nuts almost every week during summer months. Probably have made 30 batches (with pine, “pignoli” nuts) and have never had this happen. Went out Weds, night with friends and had vegetarian tacos topped with pine nuts and have had this horrible bitter taste for two full days. It started a day after eating them and is ruining everything I eat. Well, if nothing else it’s a good way to shed holiday pounds because i have little appetite, but it’s incredibly frustrating, and makes me feel almost nauseous. Thought it was the new baking soda toothpaste, so I switched to regular. Nothing helps!!
January 6th, 2011 at 2:09 pm
OMG, I am so glad my work does not depend on my taste buds. I want to call every doctor in town, notify all the mainstream medical websites to update their pitiful information that is scaring everyone out of their wits, and feel inclined to help cheer on some class action lawsuits.
This is ridiculous what the FDA does to suppress alternative medicine, but will do NOTHING to stop this Blight of the Pine Nuts. I never eat the dang things. I am B pos blood type and they are listed as detrimental to B’s in Eat Right 4 Your Type, but the second time I went in the store after the clerk told me they had this new item I caved and bought a .21 pound bag on Dec. 29. I think I forgot about them for a few days, then I ate a handful 3 times a day as a plain snack for 2-3 days.
I had a 36 hour headache from hell that no medication would touch and that has diminished to a small nagging headache. I’ve had nausea to the point I thought I would throw up. My wonderful and expensive grass-fed hamburger patty tasted absolutely rotten. First it was just the bitter after taste, then every food started tasting nasty.
Even though I despise prescription drugs, I’ve been trying doxycyline, and OTC antihistamines for flushing rosacea, plus vitamins and herbs and thought I’d finally hit on a lethal combination of stuff I bought the same day as the pine nuts. I think today was day three or four of the torture. My stomach has been burning and the belching so horrible, I started looking up ulcer symptoms and diets today. I suspected everything – even the stevia I had just added – and then finally I tried another search for bitter taste instead of aftertaste, and it’s the ding dang pine nuts that were fingered 10 years ago.
Looking at all the symptoms posted on this page, I’ve had almost every one of them – some small cramps in my legs and feet and also this one not mentioned yet, a cold sore popped out on my lip. I’ve had assorted abdominal pains.
The first thing I found to help was a lick of salt would dull the bitterness stuck to the back of my tongue. Then – Pepto bismol that can possibly break up biofilm protected bacteria in the gut that may contribute to rosacea seemed to leave the least offensive after taste but seemed to inflame the burning gut. Thanks be to google and Internet, because I can’t afford any doctor’s visits (and how many doctors do you think know about this) I finally traced the source of all my distress to the vile and evil pine nuts. It was with great relief tonight that I sipped a cup of mint tea sweetened with stevia, now that I knew stevia was not the culprit, and no bitter taste moved in after I finished. Folks stay away from those synthetic fake sugars – they are very bad for your health – and they are in almost all gum – where they are absorbed directly into your blood stream. Look up stevia and xylitol.
Tomorrow I will call the FDA (for whatever little good that will do) and the store owner. I’ve reported it to the local TV news channel and as you can see I can write up a storm. I subscribe to a legion of alternative health newsletters that I will notify. There are petition sites that can notify all the members of Congress. The FDA is so corrupt that it cannot be fixed and should be dismantled. And Jonathan Emord would love to do just that if anyone has mega bucks to contribute to the cause. http://www.emord.com/Jonathan-Emord.html
Thank you Grace, for your great blog http://pinenutsyndrome.wordpress.com/ and your research work on this topic. I see it is the smaller nuts (seeds actually) with the dark ends that seem to be the main culprit. I have about a tbsp of these evil buggers left to send to Grace or the FDA, and will check also if the store has any left in stock. I’m thinking of contacting the local newspaper and radio station. My GOD! the medical expenses and tests people must be undergoing because of the negligence of the FDA to do it’s job somewhere that it really counts!
January 8th, 2011 at 9:11 am
It started for me yesterday…a bitter taste like bile in the back of my mouth when I ate or drank. I thought I might have that horrible disease where any household stuff with chemicals in it affects you! Anyway, I decided to self diagnose today and googled the syptoms and yes…pine nuts came up everywhere and guess what…I had a few raw pine nuts about 3 days ago. Just a few mind you but obviously enough to cause this rancid taste. Fantastic isn’t it!! Ducks nuts were my culprits…doesn’t say where they are imported from but I will be so wary of pine nuts from now on….at least we can put a name to it…Pine Mouth haha
January 8th, 2011 at 9:16 am
Oh and by the way….my appetite has not been suppressed….now if they could develop a nut that gives you a rancid taste and suppresses your appetite then they would be on a winner…you would make zillions from it!!
January 11th, 2011 at 1:08 am
Oh dear! My partner cooked us a lovely healthy meal(tagliatelle with veg and pine nuts-amazing!) two days ago as I have been having problems with my digestion and now we both have ‘pine mouth syndrome’!!!! we thought we were using crockery that was not washed properly but thank goodness we now know what’s going on. I went for blood tests the day before the meal and thought there was something seriously wrong with me. even water tastes horrible! I will tell people not to eat pine nuts. aargh!
January 18th, 2011 at 3:52 pm
Hello, I from Russia. The present pine nuts don’t have bitter taste. The cedar is very useful. In wood, where a cedar very pure air. In nuts many useful substances. It is possible to do milk of them. Cedar pitch well heals wounds, lifts immunity. As it is possible to do cedar oil. There can be you buy not qualitative pine nuts?
February 4th, 2011 at 12:15 pm
First happened to me in March last year but I had a virus at same time so blamed that. Again in May that time I convinced myself I was very ill as it lasted weeks (but I did pig out on nuts). Once it went away I googled and got a few similar experiences. Just been brave enought to do a further test with new pack of pine nuts from China (via Tesco). Yup – evil bitter, grapefruit skin/poison mouth. Now, I love pine nuts. Anyone know who sells them from anywhere other than China?
March 23rd, 2011 at 3:21 pm
I ate pine nuts for the 1st time in my 52 years on this planet and lucky me I get this affliction. My Dry toasted pignolias were purchased from Trader Joes and states that they were purchased from Russia or Korea, (strange that they dont know exactly where). I will send the remains of the package to the person who is doing a research project. I will never eat pine nuts again…
March 31st, 2011 at 9:28 am
Last weekend I too bought dry toasted pignolias from Trader Joes that were purchased from Russia or Korea. I ate a handful of them on Sunday and then added them to my salad for lunch on Monday. Tuesday night I got this horrible taste in my mouth and It is worse tonight. Glad I found this site as I had thought there was something really wrong with me. I’m still concerned that TJ’s sells these things. I will return the package and let them know that this is not an isolated situation. My blook type is A- Also, I have eaten pine nuts for many years and have not had this happen before.
April 6th, 2011 at 8:22 am
Thank you so much for this site!
I am a survivor of brain injury from a poisoning by long term low level Carbon Monoxide, and so have been told I am at risk for seizure and stroke. I was worried this weird taste could be a warning sign for a seizure and was about to inconvenience my friends to take me to the ER when I started researching this. There may be sites out there that have more professional credentials, but none that were more reassuring than hearing that so many people are going through the same thing!!
Key points of my experience relevant to others:
COOKED OR RAW:
Everyone ate the cooked pine nuts, I ate raw ones while cooking and as a snack earlier. Taste as yet unaffected in other household members.
OTHER SYMPTOMS:
HEADACHE — Had splitting headache all day after I ingested them, developed bad taste on the morning of the third day since first meal (Ate leftovers for two days, plus snacking on raw pine nuts).
DIARRHEA — seems to be controlled with Immodium
ACID REFLUX/upchuck in throat/aspirating burning stomach acid/choking — this is so nasty and I am glad I have had a pneumonia shot for my asthma or I would be worried about getting sick just from aspirating this horrible stomach acid — this symptom could be fatal for seniors!!
Bad TASTE –And of course, everything tastes metallic.
TOLERABLE FOODS: Salted peanuts (until about 30 seconds after last bite, then the taste is again unbearable & seems to be riled up worse than before. Thankfully it seems to settle if I don’t eat anything.
WORST FOODS — Dairy products are the worst for me, followed by anything sweet. Bread was tolerable to taste, but the after-effects with taste and burning upchuck were scary.
REMEDY:
I’ll let you know if this works: A health nut guru recommended Bentonite (? spelling?)clay and activated charcoal. I’ll try and see if this works.
Thank you again for your site!
May 3rd, 2011 at 10:41 pm
My pine nuts were pignolas from ShopRite. I bought them recently and put them right into the freezer when I got home. Their expiration date is April 2012. I toasted them for 10 minutes before I used them in a recipe the other night. I had a bad case of acid reflux either that night or the next, my liver hurts, and I have that annoying metallic bitter taste. No one else who ate them was affected.
May 16th, 2011 at 10:31 pm
I bought 2 small jars of pine nuts about 5 days ago. Had never had them. They were really good so within 2 days both jars were gone . That was Thursday. almost immediately began the bitter taste, but since saturday ive been in the bed in the fetal position. Stomach feels like I took a few punches. I have taken everything in the medicine cabinet!! Am I poisened? I feel really dumb. would someone please tell me what I can do. This is day 4 and I still cant walk upright. My kids ate a few!!! First couple of days I just thought I had gas, but then When I first googled it, it came up with gastritus, so that is what Ive been thinking I have. Yesterday a saltine tasted so bad, I spit it out.any suggestions?
May 23rd, 2011 at 6:34 pm
Same story about eating raw pine nuts as many of you – luckily I Googled the first day of the foul taste so didn’t get too frightened. That was Wednesday; on Saturday I bought charcoal tablets; Sunday until now I lost almost two days with sickness, diarrhoea, unbearable joint pains and weakness. I hadn’t eaten much at all and certainly nothing that could account for this sudden worsening of symptoms, and the rest of the family remain ok. The nuts I bought came from Julian Graves in Taunton, Somerset, UK, and were baby pine nuts from China.
June 26th, 2011 at 2:40 am
I grew up in New Mexico eating pinon (pine nuts) picked from the mountains near where I lived. I never had any problems. I moved to Virginia a few years ago, and haven’t had pine nuts since I got here — until five days ago. I would have never linked this terrible taste in the back of my mouth to them. Yesterday was the first day I tasted the horrible bitter metallic taste every time I ate or drank anything. The pine nuts I ate were purchased at Walmart on June 19, and were not expired. I will have to see if the package is still in the waste bin at my office to check where the nuts were imported from. Roughly 2 ounces ingested over a three day period as a ‘healthy’ snack alternative at the office on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Friday morning, everything tasted horrible. It is Saturday evening, the second day of this horrible taste. I guess I’ll just have to ride it out like everyone else. And like everyone else will avoid pine nuts imported from China/Asia. I will try to remember to post back when the bad taste is gone, or if I find anything that subdues the horrible taste….
June 26th, 2011 at 5:56 am
Just wanted to post back to say that after reading everything I could find on this issue, I decided to try to find some substances that won’t cause the bad reaction. Since everyone was mentioning that sweets seem to amplify the bitter metallic taste, I thought it might be an acidic reaction in the mouth causing most of the problems. I know that sweetners such as xylitol are considered alkaline and antimicrobial, so I decided to sweeten with it instead of sugar. It works. I also decided to see if a saline sinus wash would help after eating, and it works much better than gargling because it gets the back of my throat where garling can’t reach. Also gargled with xylitol sweetened water and it helped, too. Eventually the taste creeps back, probably as acidity in my mouth increases. So I’m keeping a cup of xylitol sweetened (Lipton Goji Raspberry Green) tea close. I think it shouldn’t be too bad doing this for the next few days. At least I found a way to wash the taste out of my mouth and throat periodically. I hope this information helps others who encounter the China Pine-Nut Syndrome….
July 3rd, 2011 at 11:09 am
Last Sunday (a week ago),I made a chicken dish garnished with pine nuts from Fred Meyer, an Oregon grocery chain. Two days later, on Tuesday morning, I sprayed my house to head off a flea infestation (we’ve had a an extremely wet spring, and my cats were scratching like crazy). That evening, I came home from work, put the cushions back on the sofa, washed my hands and grabbed some chips. They tasted really bitter. I thought omg, I’ve managed to ingest insecticide, even though I am maniacal about washing my hands. Had pain on my left side, headaches and this horrible bitterness in my mouth. Called Poison Control who told me that yes, this is one of the signs of pesticide poisoning. My doctor was clueless.I’m going into Day 5, and for the last few days, I’ve had a really sore throat, it’s bright red and there is what looks like a blister in the backof my throat. Anyone have a sore throat? I’m hoarse and it hurts.
July 28th, 2011 at 12:00 am
I had this same problem but it ended up being from canned air dusters that you use on computers instead of pine nuts. Check out the site here Bitter Taste In Mouth . But the next time I ate pine nuts I noticed that they also cause it a little.
December 24th, 2011 at 1:05 am
Unfortunately I ate a whole pack et of the culprit (pine nuts) over 2 days. I developed the awful bitter/soapy/mtallic taste 1 day later accompanied with stomach, bowel and slight nausea issues which lasted that morning. Now 4 days later I still have the taste issues. Eating milk products seems to be worse for me, with the bitter taste almost unbearable. I don’t understand because I have eaten pine nuts for years now but this is the first episode of pine nut syndrome. Go figure! Just grateful I googled it to find out what was causing my problem. I was convinced initially I had toxic poisoning or a brain tumour. Will repost when the symptom goes ( hopefully soon ) Not looking forward to Christmas dinner tomorrow
December 27th, 2011 at 8:35 am
It’s me again. Day 5 was absolutely awful, the bitterness lasted ALL day and was so intense that I resorted to trying anything in my cupboard/fridge to reduce my symptoms. In the end I tried a fresh garlic and fresh ginger mix which I at first rubbed over my tongue, then swirled in my mouth to get the other parts of my tongue that I couldn’t reach. It definately took a large portion of my bitterness away. I repeated this again later in the day, which again gave me relief. The next day, (day 6) I noticed I could again enjoy the taste of food with just the occasional return of mild bitterness over the naext few days.
January 3rd, 2012 at 11:10 pm
I Ate Pine Nuts on New Years Eve and got this horrible taste in my mouth a day later. It is now 3 days since ingesting the nuts and my taste buds do not seem to be any better. I don’t normally use Pine Nuts. My product has no indication of where the pine nuts come from. At first I thought I had some sort of poisoning. I am going to discard the remaining an probably won’t cook with them again. Nothing tastes right and sweet food do seem to be the worst.