I started to get a bitter taste in my mouth after eating. At first I thought I was going to die so I Googled on it – how many people a minute go through that process! My scatter gun approach to diagnosis came up with a series of suggestions. I either had jaundice or I was diabetic or I had eaten pine nuts (possibly from China) in the last few days. My skin isn’t yellow and my pee isn’t orange and I am not thirsty all the time but I had eaten a new kind of pine nut in the last few days so the third option looks like it warrants attention. After Googling start blogging.
There is a very short scientific-like paper out there Taste disturbances after pine nut ingestion. In the initial case the pine nuts were oxidized and not fit for consumption but six other cases are mentioned and it is not clear if these were oxidized. A test subject also consumed two portions of nuts which I guess they wouldn’t do if they were oxidized. Importantly there was no fungal contamination, no pesticide contamination and they didn’t know what species of tree the nuts were from but they had come from China.
The wikipedia pine nut page currently summarises and has a few links to discussion groups where the effect is mentioned.
Now I eat pine nuts a lot (I am a veggie) and this is the first time this has happened. It is also the first time I have had ‘Baby’ pine nuts which were sold as being small. My theory is that these are actually a different species of pine nut. This would be fun to investigate.
What candidates do we have among commonly eaten pine nut species ( according to Wikipedia)
Pinus gerardiana, known as the Chilgoza Pine, ‘noosa’, or ‘neoza’, is a pine native to the northwestern Himalaya in eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northwest India, growing at elevations between 1800-3350 m. It often occurs in association with Blue Pine (Pinus wallichiana) and Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara).(Wikipedia) – This is a possible one. Are its seeds smaller than P. koraiensis I wonder?
Pinus koraiensis is Korean Pine. It is native to eastern Asia, Manchuria, far eastern Russia, Korea and central Japan. Korean Pine differs from the closely related Siberian Pine in having larger cones with reflexed scale tips, and longer needles. The seeds are extensively harvested and sold as pine nuts, particularly in northeastern China; it is the most widely traded pine nut in international commerce. – Very likely. (Wikipedia)
Pinus pinea Stone Pine (or Umbrella Pine) Native of Southern Europe in the Mediterranean region (Wikipedia) – not likely contender.
Pinus edulis Colorado Pinyon or Two-needle Pinyo is native to the United States and so not likely contender.
Pinus cembroides Mexican Pinyon – mexican so not likely to bother us.
Pinus monophylla Single-leaf Pinyon – USA native so not likely to bother us.
Looks like there are two contenders. Common things happen commonly so I have probably been eating P. koraiensis for years as it is the most commonly traded. Perhaps these new seeds are P. gerardiana?
I will investigate further.
You may also be related in a related blog post.
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Hi Roger,
I too have suffered this problem and until this weekend had not made the link to pine nuts. I have to admit to snacking on them whilst cooking in the kitchen. I was fine on Saturday and then ate some Saturday evening while preparing a casserole for dinner. The casserole tasted horribly bitter.The pine nuts I ate were the smaller and cheaper variety form James Grieves. This seems to fit in with your experience. I started buying this smaller variety last Summer and that is when I started to experience the bitter taste. Unfortunately I don’t have the original packaging any more to see whether they came from China. As an ex-chef I was devastated to find that my taste had gone making it impossible to season food.
This morning I think I am a little better – should be over it by tomorrow. The only thing I can eat with relative good taste is muesli but I still get the bitterness afterwards. Water is the only drink unaffected.
We should start a campaign to get these nuts removed from the market.
AT
Sorry – for James Grieves read Julian Graves – the former is of course a sort of apple!!!!!
Hi Roger
I have also just gone through what you have – ate pine nuts (baby ones from Julian Graves) on Sat night and now have a constant bitter taste in my mouth and can’t taste the food I prepare for my 8 month old baby! I am going to contact the people I had over for dinner(!) to see if they are experiencing the same as me and I am also going to contact Julian Graves! I also did think I had something nasty and made a doctors apt then googled it and couldn’t believe what I was reading!
If I may ask, how would you describe the sensation? Was it incredibly unpleasent or merely somewhat disconcerting?
I have a nearly uncontrolable sweet tooth, and I’m wondering if snacking on these nuts from time to time might help me bring that under control to some degree and perhaps lose some weight. If everything tastes bitter for a few days, I’m unlikely to do as much snacking.
Your opinion, given your experience of this?
I have had two replies from Alison at Julian Graves. Firstly she says:
“The pinenuts are from China although specific variety varies from region to region. The pinenuts are graded on the size, to do this they use different sieves to determine if it is classed as a normal pinenut or a baby pinenut.”
I find it fascinating that we don’t know the species that the nuts come from but I guess this is the case for many foods we it. Just another lesson in biodiversity. Alison sent a sample of the nuts I had eaten off for analysis and the technical report said:
“Thank you for your recent comments with regard to the after taste you have associated with pine nuts. We have had experience of sporadic complaints with regard taste and pine nuts. Unfortunately there has been no commonality to enable us to full identify why some people are experiencing this taste as it appears not to be batch related. We have carried out analysis and enquired with an independent food association we are members of, and no one can give a definite reason for the taste. It has been suggested that pine nuts can carry a natural chemical which only a small number of the population can taste and is only present under certain growing conditions or when the pine nuts have been cooked or eaten with another food.”
This is as I suspect. My wife ate these nuts as well and didn’t suffer any ill effect. It could be the variety of nut or some other factor but it doesn’t happen often enough to find a pattern. Possibly it is only the internet (and Google) that lets us discover these things. I have been eating regular pinenuts again without any problem so maybe I’ll just wait and see if it happens again.
From the point of view of eating pinenuts to put you off eating other foods this sounds like it would be pretty unpleasant. The taste really is bad and you get it after eating most foods it just seems worse after refined carbohydrate (in my experience). Because the effect isn’t predictable and may be genetic it would be difficult to isolate. If, however, you isolate a compound that could be turned into a functioning appetite suppressant then I claim my share of the proceeds!
Thank you for letting me know I am not crazy or worse yet suffering from some deadly disease. This week I have been munching on a small bag of pinenuts and also have a slight chest cold. I thought maybe the chest cold was really some kind of infection due to the taste of in my mouth each time I ate anything.After googling and finding this info. I looked on the package and they are from China. The nuts are now in the garbage. Thanks again for the heads up.
Thank you for this!!! This is the second time I suffer from this bitter metallic taste in my mouth after eating… When I got it last year, my doctor told me it was an infection and gave me some anti-nausea medication. (The bitter taste left only 3-4 days later, so I couldn’t really tell if it was the medicine that made it really go away). This time, I decided to google it and you are so right!!! I ate a salad (at a restaurant) 2 evenings ago that had a handful of pine seeds… And the bitter taste started yesterday noon.
What a relief to know this! I was starting to get worried about a recurring infection…
Thanks again!
I bought some pinenuts from Sprouts and was eating them on Saturday while I was cooking. Sure enough the last few days I have been tasting an awful bitter burning taste in the back of my mouth. My daughter in law came by for lunch today and after eating a cheese sandwich, she said the same thing….that she had a bitter aftertaste and yes everything taste Nasty…..YUCK! I was wondering if China is trying to poison us with Pine nuts? What good is the FDA if they cannot regulate imported food to be sure it’s safe for Human and Pet consumption? I am getting very upset by this!
WOW-These messages were a God send. I ate a handful of pines from Safeway for the first time in a long time. I now have bitter
taste in my mouth especually after coffee. Thanks for all the information. It all makes sense. Who needs a doctor 🙂
I ATE PINE NUTS ON CHRISTMAS EVE, MAYBE ONLY THREE OR FOUR OF THEM AND TWO DAYS LATER CAME DOWN WITH THIS AWFUL BITTER TASTE ESPECIALLY AFTER ANYTHING SWEET. I AM ON MY TENTH DAY AND STILL HAVING THIS PROBLEM. I AM GETTING VERY DEPRESSED. DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW LONG THIS WILL LAST.THE PINE NUTS WERE FROM CHINA.
I’ve made a salad with pine nuts a couple times since January 1st, two different packages bought from Albertsons on two different days. The second time we ate it was Sunday, January 3rd. Today, Wednesday the 6th when I had my first food of the day, it all tasted nasty. After I finished I recognized a chemically type taste. I had just had my hair colored so I thought maybe some of that or a soap from my hands got into my mouth, but then, at dinner, I had pizza and it happened again. Upon googling I saw all the connection with pine nuts. No one else that ate it has been bothered by this.
SAME HERE THE PERSON THAT BROUGHT THE PINE NUTS OVER WAS NOT AFFECTED, I HAVE AN ALLERGY TO SOME NUTS BUT NEVER TO PESTO SO I THOUGHT PINE NUTS WOULD BE OK. I WILL NEVER EAT THEM AGAIN, THIS IS MY TWELVE DAY. HAS ANYONE ELSE GONE THIS LONG ?IT SEEMS TO BE GETTING A LITTLE BETTER.THIS IS GREAT FOR DIETING, YOU ARE AFRAID TO TASTE ANYTHING.
I’m also experiencing the same bitter taste and I’m wondering if we can somehow find a link since our posts are all in a very close time period. Does anyone live in New York? I purchased my nuts from Fairway supermarket and I’m going to look into analyzing them. If it’s just a natural chemical component in the seed then were all suffering from a strange allergic reaction but if there’s more to them coming from China and a possibility of a foreign contamination I think this warrants further investigation. I’m willing to champion the cause if anyone wants to give me additional information.
Thanks for starting this discussion; I am very relieved to hear that someone out there has experienced this too, and has found the connection. I bought baby pine nuts from Julian Graves (my first time having the baby pine nuts) and I seriously hope that this taste goes soon. I suspected it was either my cold (been sneezing and sniffling all week), or the fruit I have been eating all week to combat the cold! You know how bitter plums can be in your mouth anyway? I will stop by Julian Graves some day soon and see what they have to say. I might phone them now!
Thank you!
I am having this same problem two days after eating pine nuts. The taste at the back of my mouth after eating or drinking is awful. This is my second day and I am anxious for it to remedy.
I have found that only water and peppermint tea taste normal and have been chewing gum to get rid of the taste after eating. I am hungry but don’t really want to put myself through the experience of eating the taste is so bad.
Does anyone know how long it lasts?
It is now the fifteenth day for me, how long is it for everyone else? It is getting a little better. I live in New
Hampshire. To the lady in New York have you found anything else out? Is it going away?
I’m in Southern California and purchased pine nuts from Trader Joe’s on Thurs, Jan 8. Ate them in a salad wrap that night…fast forward to Saturday morning, I’m eating an apple and notice a bitter taste in the back of my mouth. Tossed out the apple, thinking it had gone bad… But hours later at a restaurant, every appetizer I try is giving me the same bitter aftertaste – which rules out the apple as the culprit! Wasn’t sure if there was something seriously wrong with me, until I googled and found this thread. The package of pine nuts says “Produced in Korea, Russia, or Vietnam” (I guess they don’t know for sure???) Is there anyone else from So Cal with this problem?
I have spent a miserable weekend with this awful taste in my mouth after anything I ate, worrying about what could be wrong, I googled the problem this morning and find all of you experiencing the same! I too have been eating pine nuts, a healthier option I thought! I bought mine as a salad mix from Lidl’s (pine nuts, pumpkin seeds & sunflower seeds) does anyone know what chemical it is that ic causing the problem?
Thank God. We thought we were going mad or were ill (have been thinking it was contaminated water or washing up liquid or something!!) We used baby pine nuts from Julian Graves on Saturday night- today ( Tuesday) and yesterday we both have hideous bitter taste all day. Dan has been chewing gum all day to remove the taste and i have been eating sweet things to try and mask it! These nuts should really be removed from sale- I may print this and take it in the Julian Graves this week. Hope this doesnt last too long……..
Thanks for everyone’s comments. First time I’ve had this bitter taste sensation and it’s after eating anything at all. It’s totally yuck! I’ve just started eating pine nuts and never would have suspected a connection. I’ll be checking the country of origin before I buy an more. It sounds like reports of this come from various countries. BTW, I’m in Canada.
Elisabeth, if you are willing to champion – here’s my info.
We also bought pine nuts from Fariway ( 74-th street ) around Jan 9-th & we also experience the same bitter taste for the last couple of days.
I’m in New York and I got my pine nuts from Fairway as well. I bought them Saturday the 10th, had a small handful tuesday with lunch and again in a salad on Tuesday night and the bitterness started last night (Wednesday).
I’ve read elsewhere that it’s likely genetic. My husband hasn’t been affected at all and he’s been eating the same pine nuts.
considering this is the same batch from fairway ( bought about the same time ) it does bother me a bit ( e.g., could be some toxin ). We’ve bought pine nuts from Costco for years and have never had a problem before. The front sticker on the fairway bag says PINE NUTS ( pignolas ). Bar code is: 2 28109 70991 8. Sticker on the back is ripped.
I live in Austria and have the same problem. I bought my pine nuts from a supermarket chain called Zielpunkt. The nuts were relatively small but not sold as baby pine nuts. Do you guys also feel a bit heady when the bitter taste is there?
I live in NY and bought a batch of pine nuts from Amish Market. Cooked them on Saturday and started experiencing a bitter aftertaste after eating any food Monday night onwards.
I live in Southern California. I and my husband bought pine nuts from trader joe’s. We both ate from it yesterday and my husband eat more with a salad today. We both have a very bitter taste in our mouth. I also ate an apple and thought it was gone bad until my husband mentioned the bitterness taste in his mouth so we started tracking what was it that we both ate since our kind are OK. It was the pine nuts. Does any one know how to get rid of it and hol long it lasts if no remedy
Thanks
Essia
I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I bought a bag of pine nuts from an Italian Market store, from a bulk food display. I toasted some of these pine nuts three days ago and have experienced the bitter, metallic taste that everyone here has described. I will return to the store tomorrow to find out where these pine nuts have come from. I will try to get the remaining pine nuts (from this bag) tested, but I’m unsure where to begin. I have read that this bitter taste can last for 21 days. In answer to the Austrian blogger, question 24, no, I don’t feel heady. The pine nuts are rather large; they don’t seem to be the small variety that is also described here and there.
I live in the UK. My girlfriend and I have been experiencing this problem for the past few days after consuming Tesco pine nuts from China. Bitter taste at the back of the tongue whenever eating anything, especially if it is sweet.
This should definitely be investigated, anything that can affect your sense of taste for a prolonged period is potentially serious. Anyone got any suggestions as to what can be done?
Thanks
John
@Essia – the Fairway variety pinenuts left a bitter taste for about 7-8 days. The Fairway corporate guy has never returned calls, which is annoying. I’ll give them a few more chances before escalating.
@John, i saw on the web that people actually took this to poison control/department of health. There is no reason consumers should endure this nuisance ( or health hazard? ).
After 4 days, the bitter taste is lessening, but only a little. I threw a perfectly good bottle of wine away before I discovered what this problem actually is. Everything tastes like metal, or bitterness. Only a glass of Contreau does the trick. I recommend it to everyone on this list!
I have been suffering the same bitter taste all this week, and was close to convincing myself that I would have to see my doctor, suspecting an ulcer. But as soon as I read this thread I knew it was the same pine nut problem!
(I purchased mine from Julian Graves store in Eastbourne, East Sussex, UK last month, but only got round to eating some last weekend.)
Like everyone else above I would like to know how long I will have to endure this problem, is it dangerous, and yes indeed why should consumers have to put up with this?
I am so grateful to have found this site! I too was thinking there was something horribly wrong with me. I put together what I thought was a healthy mix of dried fruit and nuts and began munching on them about a week ago. The bitter taste started a day or so after I began munching. I don’t know that I would have figured this out without your help. I will throw it all away and begin again without the pine nuts. I have eaten pine nuts for years with no adverse reaction until I bought and ate these. These weren’t labels as baby pine nuts, just pine nuts. I live in Central Illinois so it sounds like these are being distributed very widely. I have thrown away the bag so I don’t know the country of origin but the next time I go to the store I will check it out and write a note to the company that is distributing them.
I bought my pine nuts at Trader Joes in Seattle WA. Horrible metal, chemical, medicine taste for 4 days now. The nuts tasted fine. Now everything is bleak tasting. I’ve tried tabasco, horseradish, garlic, & honey, but nothing will wash the taste out. I’ll be drinking lots of water, pure cranberry juice to flush out my system & taking milk thistle to protect my live. In this day & age of food borne illness…E.Coli-you’d think the businesses would be giving better feed.back. Are they toxic? I already have liver disease & would like to know if I just incurred more damage.
I ate some pine nuts two nights away and have also started to get a bitter taste as I eat. They reccomend brushing your teeth with baking powder on one website which i don’t much fancy. The Cointreau sounds much more appealing so thanks for the heads up. Does it just alleviate thte symptoms for a couple of minutes or get rid of the taste till you eat again? I’m quite worried about what will happen if i have the symptoms for a full 21 days as my taste buds are pretty sensitive so now every time I eat something i throw up. It might actually become a health hazard. I’m from the uk and got mine from asdas.
Same problem since eating a handful of toasted pine nuts 4 days ago: bitter taste after eating. ASDA WHOLEFOODS range, purchased in the UK: batch 83376M 12:25, best before 10.10.09. Produce of more than one country.
I am on my fourth week with this awful bitter taste, it has gotten a little better. I eat a couple of bites of something and then it makes me sick. I have been taking a a product called Tanalbit which takes toxins out of your body.The only good thing is I lost the ten pounds I wanted too. Is anyone else lasting this long?
An update! After one week of bitter, metallic taste my mouth has almost returned to normal. I have no idea whether this pine nut “taste disturbance” is related to the type of pine nuts (which originate in China) or some chemical which they put on to the pine nuts. I bought these pine nuts from Lina’s market in Calgary, and notified them afterward, but they didn’t take my complaint seriously. They remain on the stands. As for the my Cointreau suggestion, I mentioned it because it is the only drink which doesn’t become corrupted with a bitter aftertaste. For the record, I’m not an alcoholic who needs a drink every day, but I have to say, it was great to find some drink (besides water) which didn’t remind me that I was poisoned. It’s pretty good, too. I would like to add my thanks to those who started this string, and those who continue to discuss this mystery. It does seem more personal than “a health mystery” when you are worried about your health and what might have happened to it. I will continue to investigate this problem, by bringing my remaining pine nuts to a health authority for deeper examination. Until then, I hope you are all feeling better soon.
I am glad I searched all this out too, I ate Pine Nuts from China and I have the most rancid taste when I eat food or drink anything – the nuts are from a distributor by the name of Frieda’s, http://www.friedas.com – while I was eating them they had not bad taste, but after approx 24 hours I could not hardly eat anything becuase everything tasted horrible- I was thinking it was zinc lozenges that I was using, so I stopped them, a couple days went by and the bad taste was dissapating, then I grabbed a handful of the pine nuts and it was so apparent at that point, the pine nuts were the cause. I wish I could tell everyone what makes this taste go away, but I cannot yet, I only know what makes it worse and that would be eating more pine nuts – I will contact the distributor and let them know ASAP – and I think I will also let the FDA know – I hope everyone lets the FDA know, because things like this only get resolved when people collectively speak out
I also live in Southern California and bought pine nuts from Trader Joes recently. And yes I have this dreadful taste in the back of my mouth and yet my husband and kids are ok. To be fair I did consume more than they did. I too thought I had some awful liver problem and went so far as to run out and buy some liver detoxifying herbs! I am so glad I came across this site… I am amazed at how many people have had this experience and why isn’t this being reported on the news or something?!
I have had the same bitter taste in my mouth for a couple of days and didn’t know what was causing it. I made a salad and warned my husband that the raw shredded cabbage tasted bitter but he couldn’t detect it. I came online to try and find out if I was deficient in something etc then found your site. I ate a few handfuls of pine nuts mixed with pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds over the last couple of days. I bought them in Lidls packaged in Germany but who knows where the nuts originate from.
Sonia
I noticed other people saying the same thing: the pine nuts from Trader Joe’s seem to be causing the bitterness. I’ve had this unbearable bitterness in my mouth since last night, even though I ate pine nuts three days ago. I buy pine nuts from TJ’s fairly regularly, and it’s the first time this has happened. It is truly driving me insane.
Hi: Thanks for this – arrived here after googling “pine nut bitter fairway”.
To the New Yorkers who mentioned this( Elizabeth, JS, LK) I seem to have had the same experience with nuts purchased at the usually reliable Fairway Market, uptown. Admittedly this was a large amount consumed in one sitting, and oddly enough, I was reading the Wikipedia article with the mention of bitterness right about the time I ate them. But the bitter taste did kick in 3-4 days after the fact, and has stayed the week. I only experience it when eating or drinking anything sweet.
I picked up another batch today, will test it and call Fairway. It’s likely harmless, but it’s also a quality issue.
RC
I too have eaten pine nuts bought last week from Asda and have been experiencing this terrible bitterness in my mouth. I suffer from Chronic Fatigue and was beginning to think that this was just another symptom, so I was very relieved to find this forum.
Concerned about Pine Nuts? … Do a Google search for aflatoxin pine nuts then do one for aflatoxins. I am here also because of the same unpleasant taste after eating anything now lasting 5 days. Pine nuts were from Trader Joes.
Hi fellow suffers.
I’ve been googling trying to find an explanation for the extremely bitter taste I experience whenever I eat and you guys appear to have the answer.
I found a half pack of pine nuts in the cupboard several days ago and munched a few. I have suffered the symptoms you all describe since. I believe my nuts were from Tesco but I’ve thrown the pack away. The pack had been open since Xmas so there could be an element of the oxidation mentioned in a previous post involve. I’m certainly going to give pine nuts a miss in the future – I just hope it doesn’t take me 12 days to get rid of it!
I cannot believe this. I too have been suffering from this bitter taste after eating anything. I had no idea that it would be linked to these pine nuts that I bought from Trader Joe’s a couple weeks ago. I have been snacking on them here and there. This package is going in the garbage after I call Trader Joe’s.
Thanks to this string of postings I relinquished the idea that I had to see a doctor. I experience exactly the same symptoms as all the other contributors described. I live in Tucson, AZ and bought the pine nuts from Trader Joes (product of Korea, Russia or Vietnam). I had exactly the same ones before and never experienced this awful bitter taste. I also had a huge package from Costco (those were from China) and did not notice anything. It seems to me that either I developed some sort of allergy and from now on pine nuts will do this to me (not sure if I want to test my theory by eating them again some time soon) or that only some arbitrary bags are contaminated with something that does not do well with my taste system.
thanks again to all of you.
Relief! was going through all sorts of things in my head as have just finished a low fat/carb diet. Thought maybe gall stones or something nasty like that ( no pain anywhere was telling me otherwise!!) but would never have even thought about about pine nuts. Had a bar of Green & Blacks Milk as a treat for loosing Christmas blubber and it tasted horrid, how unfair is that??!!! Hope you all get your taste buds back to normal ASAP……
Me too – I thought I had sclerosis of the liver and like you thought I might be about to die!!! Not too weird a possibility taking in to account how much wine I drink. Anyway – I bought my pine nuts in a supermarket here in France. I think the pine nuts are the smaller variety you mention although unfortunately I have thrown away the packaging so can’t check. Would storage in fridge have any effects? which is what I did.
Amanda – France, Feb 4th 2009
Bought “baby Pine Nuts ” from Julian Graves in Wheatley’s shopping center in Bayswater, London on January 28th 2008. I have really bad bitter metalic taste in my mouth for the past week (Almost ate the entire bag)
I mentioned to my wife that i had noticed a bitter taste after eatin
ing. She had me check on line, glad i did. I bought pine nuts from
trader joes also and other nuts and made a mix that i munch on
throughout the day. I know it’s not absolute but now i’m sure
the pine nuts are causing the problem. although
in my case the bitter taste is not severe. and it says on the
package the pine nuts are from korea, Russia. or Vietnam.
I am in Shanghai, China now. I just googled “bitter taste after eat sweet” and ran across this page. This is the third time in about four weeks that I have had this bitter taste in my mouth after eating and especially after something sweet or citrus. Interesting theory about the pine nuts. Turns out I have eaten pine nuts on three separate occasions. Once in the form of toasted nuts someone brought to the offices. Twice in a pesto sauce.
I posted a few weeks ago and wanted to update that for me the taste lasted for 8 days and then very mildly for a couple of days after. I am never going to eat pine nuts again. I think that research is needed as to why this bitter taste happens.
I have had the same problem, on and off for the last few years. I normally have pine nuts with my cornflakes,firstly I thought it was due to indigestion or tooth decay but a visit to the dentist confirmed that this was not the case.
After an Internet search I came across this forum which described the exact same symptoms that I have been experiencing and that it can be traced back to consumption of pine nuts.
Like many of you I have noticed that the pine nuts from Tesco were produced in China.
Tesco and many other supermarket chains should carefully consider the country of origin of their pine nuts and other products in future.
I have just returned from a week in St Lucia at an All Inclusive resort. From the end of the second day there I experienced a bitter, almost metalic taste every time I ate or drank something. I made a mental note after four or five days that I would see a Doctor on return. However having read this, maybe pine nuts is the cause. I ate ample pine nuts with my breakfast every day with out realising they might be the cause. This is my second day back and the taste is still with me, so I am spending some time researching. Maybe it is the pne nuts after all. I’ve no idea where the pine nuts were from.
Update – bitter taste gone after about ten days ….thank goodness. Hope no other longer lasting and as yet unseen effects. In future will not eat them unless I can be assured they are not affected and this will only happen if suppliers take this issue seriously. I do not blame any country in particular, the suppliers may not be aware of the problem. Clearly some research needs to be done in to species, storage methods etc etc…. A big thanks to this BLOG.
I’ve also had this happen this past week with pine nuts imported from Siberia. No quick way to identify the species just from the kernels. Very unpleasant, strong, taste sensation.
Acid food (vinegar, citrus juice, tomato) seems to lessen the bitter sensation, so acid food it is. I look forward to the time when this sensation diminishes. Most distracting.
Has anyone done any research to see if pine nut tasters are also brussels sprout tasters (PTC) or cilantro tasters?
I have started with this bitter mouth problem yesturday. One of my managers came round to my house with a cheese roll and it tasted awfull. I didn’t want to say anything!!. In the evening we all sat down and ate a stew and it tasted dreadfull. It was then I confessed to the bitter mouth and explained why I never ate the cheese roll. Today it is just as bad. I ate steak for tea, I am brushing my teeth and gums several times a day.
Does anyone know who long this will continue. I too ate baby pine nuts from Julian Graves. It doesn’t say where they are from but the code number is 8290T4A bar code 5 0302548 092002. Perhaps its to do with a certain batch?
I posted last week with these symptoms.It has now gone after about a week and i`m vowing never to touch pine nuts again!!!. I too hope somebody looks into this to find out the cause and if there is any quicker way of getting rid of the problem once it occurs.
I ate pine nuts Sunday at dinner (also snacking on them raw while cooking), and experienced bitter taste beginning Tuesday morning — so this is my third day. Per another forum (copied below), I tried Alpha Lipoic, but have only taken 100mg last night and 200mg this morning (I’m not a big pill taker of anything). But I think it is helping some. At least I suppose it can’t hurt. Food is still bitter, but less so. I think my “bitter” taste buds on the back of my tongue seem enlarged and there is also a whitish coating on my tongue in the back. Any one else? My pine nuts were purchased at Trader Joes (From “Korea, Russia or Vietnam”) in Tucson AZ. BTW, I found that hot green tea still tastes okay (I haven’t tried Cointreau…).
This is from another forum:
I am experiencing the same thing. Ate some pine nuts last Tuesday and Wednesday and Friday morning my tea tasted terrible and then everything after that. I took 300mg Alpha Lipoic Saturday with dinner and the after dinner snack I had a few hours later did not taste terrible. Breakfast on Sunday tasted bitter, but less so so I took another 300 mg and lunch and dinner yesterday were fine. Alpha Lipoic is an antioxidant, it seems to be doing something. Try it if you’re experiencing this, it may help!
hi so glad i found you all. i have the metalic bitter taste and a dry mouth. i was searching to see if it was a thyroid problem or if i had become diabetic of did i have thrush in my mouth. You can all tell that im a complete hypercondriac. but i was really panicking its so revolting cant find a way to make it go away. I have been snacking on pine nuts just a few, say 30 nuts, in the evening as im trying to diet. my nuts are Tesco brand produce of china packed in the uk. its a 300g bag and the sell by date is september 2009. im definately going to complain have we been poisned is it a pesticide being used in china. No one has really said how long this goes on for are some of you ok now?
leanda
hi again, just read sues comments and glad to hear your symptoms have gone and you lasted a week. i shall let you all know when mine have gone
leanda
Okay, my taste disturbance is all but gone now. Ate pine nuts Sunday dinner, noticed bitter/metallic taste Tuesday AM (though breakfast was just turning rancid), threw out lunch — too disgusting, bad tastes all Tuesday through Wednesday. Googled Wednesday afternnon and found this and another thread. Wednesday evening I bought Alpha Lipoic (at the health food store) and took it once Wed (100mg) and 3 times Thurs. (200 mg each). Dinner last night was good — I enjoyed the food (beets and pasta) and only had slight bitterness after swallowing. Food is good today. If anything, there is only very slight hint of bitterness a minute or so after eating, then it dissipates. Not sure if its the antioxidant, a placebo effect, or my metabolism, but mine lasted 3 days.
I ate 2 portions of pine nuts last week and have had a very bitter taste at back of mouth after eating or drinking ever since. If i dont eat or drink for a while the taste goes away. Any cures out there??
Hello everyone. I made a few comments on this site. I had this bitter taste since Christmas. Everyone seemed to get rid of it in less than a couple of weeks but I did not. I decided to go to a Doctor who of course had no clue. I had to tell him to order blood work. I asked for a lead and mercury test. I am a very healthy person except for a high mercury level which the doctor knew nothing about. Good thing I work for Naturpathic Doctors and I know that I need a chelating agent. My theory is that people with mercury in their blood may get more of these reactions than people without toxic metals in their blood. I believe I got mercury poisoning from having a old amalgam filling replaced in
October. I am still investigating, my taste is back 90%. Please let me know if anyone gets mercury test done, I would be curious to know. Having high mercury is nothing to fool around with and most Doctors do not test for it.
I am relieved to find what is causing the bitter taste in my mouth. I bought a packet of pine nuts from Lidl in the UK I have been eating them over the last 3 days and now have this bitter taste that wont go. Now I know the pine nuts are causing the bad taste I have thrown them away. The packet says they were produced in Germany.
Same thing here. Ate a handful of pine nuts with my salad 2 days ago and today I started experiencing the symptoms that everybody is describing. I live in Vancouver, BC – Canada. The pine nuts were from the bulk section of “Save On Foods”. They tasted good, and seemed very fresh.
I also bought pinenuts from Lidl which are the brand Sirius and from Germany. I have the same bitter taste everyone ese is complaining about after eating anything. I ahve had this for 5 days and iys still going strong so I am off to the health food shop for a remedy. I’ll also check out mercury poisoning although my dentist says there are no problems with my fillings
I bought some pine nuts from the Co-op and unfortunatly shared them with my colleagues, we have all experienced the same bitter-death taste at the back of our mouths, intensified by eating. I found this website after googling our strange problem. The nuts did indeed come from China and I agree they should be taken off the market. If I dont find a campaign to abolish this disgusting product then I will try to create one. Before I do I would just like to know if anybody knows of anything that can ease this suffering of being unable to enjoy food?
Sorry, nuts were from Sainsbury’s not Co-op, definately produced in China though! Yuk, yuk, yuk.
I ate them twice this week and I am concerned because my small daughter loves to snack on them and ate heaps. I have been going silly trying to figure out the cause. If anyone can tell if they are poisonous – heck that would be a help.
thanks for posting this, my wife and I both experienced the metallic taste in our mouth and couldn’t figure out what the hell it could be. Well, we cooked in on Sunday and enjoyed some roasted pine nuts from the Farmers Market….looks like PROBLEM SOLVED!
-zack
Quick update. Bitter day #3 has started… and it’s still quite bad. I’m starting to get impatient. So far, mint is the only thing that I found that temporarily helps. Does anybody have other remedies?
I have also been suffering the same problem and was surprised to find that it was caused by the pack of pine nuts i ate a few days ago. I am in Israel, and didn’t notice where the pinenuts were imported from, but wouldn’t be surprised if it is China too.
Thanks for this great discussion. Same thing happening to me — from pine nuts purchased at the Fairway market in Brooklyn. Ate the offending nuts over the weekend and the death-metal-bile taste started on Tuesday night. I’m hoping it’ll fade by the end of the weekend. Has anyone had any luck with the various “cures” mentioned further up the discussion chain? I find that I can still taste food “around” the problem but I’d love to knock it out completely!
Bitter day #4. Still about the same, or slightly better — perhaps I’m getting used to it. It’s like the sweet component of foods enhances their bitter component. Can eat just sugar without problem, just coffee without problems, but sweetened coffee tastes bad. So does chocolate. I also confirm that salty and sour food is OK.
OMG! I’m sitting here with my mouth hanging open! Those damn pine nuts! I made a dish with pine nuts in them yesterday. I had the leftovers today, and the bitter taste has begun. I made some fresh juice and couldn’t figure out why it was so bitter. I’ve had oranges (bitter), spinach salad (bitter), rice (bitter)…I thought I was dying of something crazy. And this morning my husband asked me to try this “great” apple cider we’d bought this morning and it was so nasty to me, but I didn’t say anything because I hadn’t made the connection yet. I just bought some pine nuts while we were out this morning. Mine are “Ann’s House of Nuts” Pine Nuts. It says the nuts are product of China, Spain, and Portugal. Oh, and I started minor cold/sinus symptoms yesterday too. I will be putting this on my blog.
On day 6, the bitter aftertaste is probably down to a 20% of what it used to be. Looks like it’s going to be gone soon. A big relief.
I live in australia, adelaide, and ate at a restaurant had a salad and have been experiencing this bitter taste for the last 3 days. ill think twice about eating pine nuts
I may have found a solution – well it worked for me – vinegar! Before you go rushing off to down spoonfuls of the stuff, I ate it by grating some cheese and mixing this with generous quantity of vinegar from pickled beetroot. You will need to add extra vinegar to the juice -its got to taste like vinegar. I ate mine in a sandwich (it was really nich actually) and it worked. The day after eating, the bitter taste had reduced and after that, disappeared. Sounds a bit weird I know but my fiance is always going on about the benefits of vinegar and may he was right!
I too ate the pine nuts from Trader Joe’s this past week. I’m on day two with the bitter taste after everything I eat and today is worse than yesterday. I’ll update to inform how long it took to go away. Thank you for posting this string. I thought I had something seriously wrong with my stomach.
So glad I found this I was wondering what the heck was going on but I started munching pine nuts instead of chocolate at work this week. I guess I will go try the vinigar idea now.
I’m experiencing the same thing, got worried about it and googled. It’s nice to know I am not alone. I have recently rediscovered pine nuts and have enjoyed snacking on them. I live in Cardiff in the UK. Perhaps it would be interesting to see a distribution map of sufferers
I ate Trader Joe’s Dry Toasted Pignolas (product of Russia or Korea) a few days ago. I have had the bitter taste ever since. Was blaming it on all sorts of things. I was told by my husband yesterday that my breath was bad and an “unusual” smell. I am miserable. I hope it goes away soon. Listerine breath strips seem to help the bad taste (don’t know about the bad breath). Candy, fruit, citrus, coffee with milk, is bad. Most prominent a little while after eating. I was annoyed that I had not checked labels since I usually only buy USA foods.
thank gooodness for this website and everyones comments!! , we no longer feel alone .After eating my third bitter tasting meal of the day i decided it was time to google it as many of you have done . i got my bag of ‘cheap’ pinenuts from lidl on friday and only this morning have started suffering from ‘Pine nut mouth ‘ heard it can go on for week’s!!!
desperatley trying to find a cure A.S.A.P
you will be the first to know if we find one
=]
I also ate pine nuts from Trader Joe’s on Friday and have had the horrible bitter taste all weekend. I live in San Diego and I got the nuts from Carmel Mountain branch- I will try the vinegar solution!
I have been suffering from ‘Pine Nut Mouth’ for 5 days now, after munching on a bag from Lidl from Porthmadog, N.Wales. Has anybody thought about the manifestation of this toxin – and how it only arises after all food except water – could be related to mucus production in the oesophogus? Has anyone found any credible references discussing this strange and only symptom of ingesting possibly tainted pine nuts?
Thanks for all the info so far – the internet at work is a magical thing!
I wrote post #77. The solution that worked for me was ACTIVATED CHARCOAL. When I told my friends at work what happened, the all said the same thing: activated charcoal. Apparently that is what hospitals give people who’ve had food poisoning.
I ate the pine nuts on Thursday and Saturday. I took the charcoal at 4:00pm on Sunday. By Tuesday night, the bitter taste was completely gone.
This NOT the charcoal you grill with. This is a dietary supplement you can get at health food stores, GNC…I got mine at the Vitamin Shoppe. 50 capsules cost me @ $5.40. 100 capsules ran @ $9.00. Take 2 capsules every 2 hours.
I also called around to pharmarcies. None of them had it, but they all knew what I was talking about. So get on the phone and find this stuff!
I stumbled upon this site after having the exact same symptoms that many of the readers have brought up – bitter taste at the back of the mouth. At first, I thought I was having gastritis but after reading your entry, realize that I did purchase a bag of pine nuts from Trader Joes on Sunday and had added it to a cauliflower curry salad I had made. Glad to find a reason behind this bitter after-taste but I wonder if more should be done to look into this problem!
I ate pine nuts from China, purchased under the Kirkland label from Costco in Utah. I’ve had the bitter taste for 5 days and am looking forward to some of the home remedies helping. This is miserable.
I’ve been eating pine nuts forever and, for the first time, have just experienced this whacky taste-bud reaction. When googling “bitter saliva” I came up with a bunch of sites that indicated jaundice, dental caries, etc. But I had none of the other symptons. This morning, I noticed the bitter taste was not there when I woke up, but more pronounced after eating. Googled “bitter saliva eating” and a bunch of references came up relating to pine nuts! After clicking on your blog and reading it, I checked the back of the bag of pine nuts I purchased from Trader Joe’s last week and found that it was a “Product of Korea, Russian, or Vietnam” ;-> Thanks so much, printing your page and some of the other references out and taking my bag of pine nuts back for a refund ;->
Hi we live in Germany. My wife and I were about to head to the doctor this afternoon as we thought we may have ingested some sort of poison from the cookware in the furtnished flat we moved into last weekend. Monday night we snacked on a bag of pine nuts as we often do and we both have this rancid taste at the back of our tongue during and after eating. Not sure where the nuts were harvested from. Sweet food is worse.So glad we found this site.We are now on day 4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Like everone else I’m extremely pleased to have found this forum. Does anybody know whether the food standards agency is informed about this problem? It should be relatively straightforward to identify the pine species or local variety using genetic makers. It would then be easy to impose inport restictions. I could do such an analysis in my lab but have unfortunatley none of the offending nuts left. Anyway I’ll look into it
Hi!
Pine nut victim from the Netherlands here. Bought them at Jumbo supermarket and used them untoasted in a veggie dish with pesto.. I’ve used the pesto before, that was fine, but I threw the nuts away right after reading all this.
Everything tasted afwul after 2 days.. especially sweetened food.
Cheap red wine seems to help a bit, as does hot food: chillies, sambal. Trying cointreau, vinegar and Norit (charcoal medicine) tomorrow. Máán, wednesday I’m having a fancy engagement dinner… 🙁
Thanks for all the feedback!
I live in San Francisco Bay area, and experienced this after having Pine Nuts for dinner on Saturday. This was at the Frankie Johnnie & Luigi, Italian restaurant in Mountain view. The salad contained chicken, spinach, and tons of pine nuts. I thought I was losing my mind, when the bitter taste (accompanying everything I ate — particularly carbohydrates & sugar), started on Monday morning. I am so glad I found you guys.
Two days ago bought and ate pine nuts from Save on Food ScotsDale mall Delta (Vancouver’s lower mainland (after 24 hours almost everything tasted very bitter) including honey or Milka milk chocolate . Now is March 10 / 09 The second day .
Today I complained and they took it seriously but in this forum #67 is in the same city … they don’t communicate Hey Save on Food’s management ….. we are poisoned by your products, imagine if it was you.
For all you beginners that suffer and want to eat something that is not too bitter taste, try “PURE CHOICE” CERTIFIED ORGANIC CRANBERRIES (Sweetened and dried a little bit) Everything else other than water …. bitter tomorrow I’ll try Unicum fight bitter with it’s own enemy… and of course the pickled red beet juice .
Cheers
Two days ago bought and ate pine nuts from Save on Food ScotsDale mall Delta (Vancouver’s lower mainland (after 24 hours almost everything tasted very bitter) including honey or Milka milk chocolate . Now is March 10 / 09 The second day , still the same.
Today I complained and they took it seriously but in this forum #67 is in the same city , the same company… they don’t communicate Hey Save on Food’s management ….. we are poisoned by your product, imagine if it was you.
For all you beginners that suffer and want to eat something that is not too bitter taste, try good quality bananas or “PURE CHOICE” CERTIFIED ORGANIC CRANBERRIES (Sweetened and dried a little bit) Everything else other than water …. bitter tomorrow I’ll try Unicum fight bitter with it’s own enemy… and of course the pickled red beet juice suggested here.
Cheers
Same as everyone – ate some pine-nuts – bitter taste – read this forum and tried an experiment – have temporary cure – Bicarbonate of Soda – 1/3rd teaspoon in small glass of warm water cleared the bitterness – until I had something more to eat – note: clean teeth very well after eating, then Bicarbonate, otherwise small food fragments stimulate bitterness over again…
i am giving this a go. its not tha i dont believe you guys but i have to try it to believe it. i have eaten some pine nuts that had ‘poisoned’ my friend. i willl keep you guys posted.
I am Leila’s friend and would like to confirm that she is an utter psycho and deserves all the bitterness she will get! Whoohahaha taste it and weep Leila!!
See above message for clarifications of this one.
Hi, I’d like to add my own thanks to the growing list. I am currently experiencing this for the second time. I was afraid to google, as last time I did every page I found seemed to sugest I had a brain tumour. Glad to have found this and made the connection. Ate pine nuts on Monday and again on Tuesday. First noticed effect on taste at lunch time on Tuesday. It is now Friday and it is still there, but not quite as pronounced, which makes me think that I’ll be all clear (which is exactly what I’ll be giving pine nuts in future) by the end of the weekend.
Anyone found a way to counteract this, or speed up the process of regaining your taste buds yet?
Hi everyone – just adding my name to the list. The more names the better. I bought pine nuts from Lidl last week – think they are from germany so the country doesnt seem to matter. The last time I ate them was Sunday and the taste started on Wednesday. Hope it goes away soon
Day 2 of having this bitter taste and now I realize it is from the Food Emporium (59th and 1st, NYC) pine nuts that I ate by the handful when I came home from work the past few nights having nothing else in my house. The article in the literature from 2001 says anaylsis of the offending pine nuts showed they were essentially spoiled and unfit for human consumption. I think we should try to get these off the shelves. Of corse we will look insane while doing so. I did notice when I ate very spicy Thai food for lunch the bitter taste was less overpowering. I suppose I will have Cointreau and Thai for the next several weeks.
We bought pine nuts from Julian Graves and I mixed them with other nuts and seeds. I have not been affected but my poor husband has had the most disgusting bitter taste for a fortnight now. So glad I googled it has put my mind at rest and needless to say we wont be buying any more! Should we report this to Julian Graves, Southampton where we bought them?
Hi, I get the effect after eating any foods which contain oils & fats – meat & fish are worst, but even chocolate has cocoa butter… I’m brushing & flossing teeth after food, then swilling oat milk to absorb remaining food oils (I’m dairy intollerant). Have found hard-boiled eggs are not causing bitter/rancid effect… yet! Hope this helps someone…
Thank you, thank you, thank you……… I thought I was going MAD. I too was snacking on pine nuts while cooking on Wednesday 11th March and I first noticed the bitter taste on Thursday. Friday breakfast time was a nightmare. I was cheking everything thinking that the milk was sour or the yogurt was off. Everything I have eaten since has been followed by this nasty taste in my mouth. I really hope is goes off sooner rather than later, I don’t think I could stand it for 21 days :o( I purchased my pine nuts from the wholefoods section at ASDA. Eating sweet foods doesn’t really help, just makes you want more sweet foods. I think I’ll just stick to water for the time being.
I’ve now tried the suggested Activated Charcoal capsules (Thank You Althea) and they’re suppressing the effect – it’s still noticeable with some foods (pistachio nuts, chocolate, port) but now quite faint… hopefully, it’ll go away for good soon…
I live in Fredericton, NB, Canada. Got a plastic container of pine nuts from Atlantic Superstore on Saturday, March 14, 2009. Since eating them have the same burning sensation, as many of you do, on my tongue after any food consumption + bitter taste, very bitter. It is a third day now. Yes, first breakfast (apple) was awful. I did go to the doctor who could not figure out what is that… Now I know, thanks a lot for this info. I wish it could go away soon. Mineral water helps, try. Some sauerkraut helps along with pickles….
I’ll go to the store with some printouts of these comments to show to the Customer Services there.
How amazing and what a relief to read the above comments. A rare reason for getting a bitter taste in the mouth is having a brain tumour, so thank goodness to find a much more likely explanation. Pity, though, I loved pine nuts!
Additionally to my above comment–could these nuts also account for me feeling “poorly” in an unspecifiable way?
Very interesting.. I have been suffering from the above mentioned posts. I just a few minutes ago ate something which brought on the bitter taste once again ( actually 5 nows now)..
Every nite I feed my Macaw and Amazon parrots some Pine nuts from Trader Joes.. and I steal a few for myself. I had read that the particular nut came from China.. and T. Joes said they removed the China nuts from thier shelves 3 months ago and replaced with nuts from Russia and Korea. I believe that I have found the reason for the bitter taste. I will stop eating..and have another family start to eat to see if infact this is it. Will post again after finding the results
Thank you!!
I’d been doing searches on the internet and all I could come up was that I might have an abssess or serious head injury!. None of these apply and then I found you site and all was explained. I bought pine nuts from Sainsbury’s (UK) and the nuts come from China. Thank you again, you’ve saved me a trip to the Doctor and I shall let Sainsbury’s know. Hope it goes away soon it’s ruining my food.
I bought a package of pinenuts on 3-14-09 from a Vons in Canoga Park, California for a falafel dinner that I had with my roomates. Since that Saturday, I’ve also been experiencing that real bitter taste while eating foods except when drinking water. The package is labled from Good Sense Pinenuts and is a product of Spain, China or Portugal.
I bought pine nuts from Bosa foods in Vancouver near Boundary and 1st. I have developed a bitter taste not unlike the lidocane that dentists use to freeze teeth. It has been three days since the bitterness started…it seems to be subsiding a bit. I hope it will go away soon.
Judging from all of the comments I am reading about this, it seems this is for real…there is no way that so many people would report these symptoms in association with pine nuts unless there was a real effect. The only other unusual thing I have eaten has been coated wedding almonds bought from Michaels. That was my original hypothetical culprit, but now I suspect it was the pine nuts.
Where is Health Canada on this?!!!!
I just ate a few pine nuts on Sunday or Monday that I bought in the bulk section of my Giant food store. Have had the bitterness since lunch on Tuesday and it does not seem to getting better. It makes me not want to eat anything. I will wake up in the morning and think it is gone, only to take my first bite of Kashi and taste it once again. Are there any early sufferers who can tell me how long it lasted for them?
I bought pine nuts at Andronicos in Berkeley, CA on March 14th from the bulk section. I called the store to complain/inquire about where the nuts are from. They say it’s a company who supplies all the nuts weekly and they will call me back with info on where they are from, etc. We’ll see if they actually call. I’ve had the exact same symptoms that hundreds of people are describing on message boards online and I am getting angry. I’m on day 4. I agree with others that coffee and oranges should be avoided. Sweet things taste bad (cereal, cake). Balsamic vinegar (or probably any kind, but balsamic is sweet), makes things taste better and doesn’t leave a bitter taste in my mouth. Pour vinegar on everything you eat. I’ve been chewing peppermint gum all day and that seems to help after meals.
I live in Modesto, CA. Not far from Sacramento. I purchased pine nuts from Trader Joe’s and have been experiencing a bitter, metallic taste for three days now. Food is disgusting. I’m wondering how long this will last. I’m going to take the nuts back to the store. I’m glad I found this thread.
Happened to me too. It’s been a week and the symptoms are exactly how everyone else describes them. Has anyone gotten a blood test to see if there is anything wrong with the liver or traces of heavy metals or toxins?
Tips: Try eating things with vinegar. That’s the only thing that tastes OK. The worst is coffee, oranges, or anything sweet. I’ve also been eating mint gum and breath mints all day long. I hope it goes away soon.
I bought pinenuts from TraderJoes on Tuesday. Ate in salad that night and the next. Friday Morning had a pear and it tasted bitter. I thought it was the pear. All day after eating things didn’t taste right. I chewed alot of gum. Then came home and ate 3 cookies and they tasted terrible. Didn’t find info on this till today so this is my second Day. Everything leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, especially sweet things. I am staying away from those. Even my beloved coffee does not taste right. Most people say 4days to 2 weeks. I’ll take the 4 days!!!This is gross. My pinenuts are RAW Pignolias(Pine Nuts)from Trader Joes.They are small and say product of Korea, russia or Vietnam. I live in NJ. I love Pignoli cookies and never had a problem with those. Maybe because they are baked???I will never take the chance eating them again. Not worth it. There are alot of other nuts out there!!!!
Hi – I’m pleased I came across this website as I was really worried I had something wrong. I bought a bag of pine mix from Julian Graves (a mixture of nuts including baby pine nuts)and was snacking on them for a couple of days. The following day I woke up, cleaned my teeth only to find a stong bitter taste all over my tongue. I had a cup of tea and the same reaction. I then had a biscuit to take the taste away which worsened it. It has now been 3 days and is still as strong. I can only drink water and any food especially sweet stuff leaves a nasty taste which last about 15 minutes. It has ruined my weekend and I shall be contacted Julian Graves tomorrow. I still have the bag of nuts so may take them to environmental health for analysing. On reflection, whether or not connected, I had severe stomach pains on one of the days eating the nuts and have also had headaches which I seldom get.
Ate a small handful of Pine Nuts bought from a Morrisons store (Glasgow, Scotland, UK) which i found in an already opened bag in the cupboard whilst cooking me dinner on Friday, now on Sunday I have the horrible bitter metallic taste after eating anything. I at first thought this was caused by myself trying to cut down smoking, but obviously it’s the darn Pine Nuts. No country of origin on the bag.
These things should be illegal, or used only as a form of Torture.
Hi – I’m pleased I came across this web site as beginning to worry there was something wrong. This bitter taste after eating almost anything started last week although I’ve not been eating pine nuts as such. However, I have recently eaten on 3 or 4 occasions sandwiches from marks and spencer which contain pine nuts[avocado salad with pine nuts and tomatoes]. Not sure there have been that many in them and whether I want to experiment by eating more! Besides pesto, I’m sure I’ve eaten them before without any strange effects but in this case, no obvious way of finding the source of nuts.
8 days after eating the pine nuts and I think it’s starting to go away! Yay!
For those of you that have been affected by this, how long did it take for it to completely go away? I some pine nuts with a salad a friend made on Friday night, started to get the horrible bitter taste while eating on Sunday afternoon. It is Monday today, and everything I eat is just giving me misery. This taste is simply unbearable and am worried about any effect this is having on my body.
Ate Pine nuts on thursday from Sam’s Club (Diamond Brand) and since sunday morning (it’s monday afternoon now) everything I eat I get a metallic, bitter taste. Can’t find out where they are from, but figured I should mention this brand as well. I was going insane thinking I was dying and am now convinced it’s the nuts. It’s such a weird phenomenon.
Has anyone tried calling the FDA to report this? I tried a few times with no answer and no response to the message I left. I think the more people that call, the more reason they will have to look into this. If you search for “FDA food complaints” there is a list of region specific phone numbers to call.
I am so glad I found this! I thought I had some serious disease. I bought pine nuts from Trader Joe’s in Hyannis, MA. They were the small dark nuts instead of the big white ones I usually buy at Trader Joe’s and Costco. Glad to know what is causing this problem. I usually like bitter veggies but everything is significantly more bitter and unpleasant.
Please check this out on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_nut
Had Pine nuts in a fish and salad dish (it tasted fine) at a bistro in Bellingen, NSW Australia on friday night and on Sunday lunch got the first bitter taste in my mouth. It is now Tuesday evening and its still there. Its always there even between meals. I’m getting cravings for sweet things but they dont taste sweet. The pine nuts looked like the short ones that usually come from China. I’m of Lebanese background and often eat the long pine nuts that come from Lebanon and dont have a problem with those. I wonder if this is a one off thing that the body will adjust too or will it happen every time I eat that type of pine nut.
As per post number 123, M&S avocado sandwiches with pine nuts in them and since then (a week ago now) bitter taste on eating or drinking anything. Thought I was going mad – and Dr seemed very uniterested when I mentioned it while consulting on something else.
I ate pine nuts on Monday and exactly 24 hrs ago, I had a horrible taste in my mouth. I also have a cold so thought maybe it was a sinus infection. I am floored after finally discovering the cause. I have been eating pine nuts my whole life and this has never happened before. I guess I could stand to lose a few lbs and this is really going to make it easy. I fear food, nothing tastes good especially after I eat. I want this to go away!!!
On day 5. Taste has certainly come down, but is still there. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Never having pine nuts again.
I ate these small round pine nuts 2 days ago, and now I am experiencing this horrible taste. I am glad to find that I will be OK and it will not last too long.
I live in France, but the nuts came from Asia
I bought the raw pine nuts (pignolias) from Trader Joe’s. I ate the whole package between Tuesday and Thursday night. The bad taste started on Friday, and I thought there was something wrong with my apple. I was hoping that I wasn’t being poisoned, but I don’t think I have any enemies. I google “symptoms, bad taste in mouth” and found this. I had thrown away the package, but I dug it out of the trash. It is distributed by Trader Joe’s, Monrovia, CA. PRODUCT OF KOREA, RUSSIA OR VIETNAM. I’m going out for dinner on Tuesday. I hope this taste is gone by then.
I ate some pine nuts on Wednesday night – they were from Asda in Edinburgh, Scotland. Asda Wholefoods, batch number 90686A Best Before 16.01.10. This morning (Saturday) I experienced the bitterness from the very first drink I took in the morning and am now getting it every time I eat or drink. I’m going to try the vinegar and shall purchase some alpha lipoic acid to see if that helps too (if it doesn’t help with this hopefully it’ll keep my cholestorol down anyway!).
I’m so glad I found this site.
Thank goodness for the internet and being able to google your symptoms.
Bought two packets of pine nut,raisin,pumpkin seed and walnut mix a couple of days ago from Julian Graves.
Now after eating the stuff I have got this fowl taste in the back of my throat which resembles having eaten a bit
of the skin/pith of an under ripe banana.
Husband going to take the other packet back to the shop to complain, the packet is in date but the raisins have all crystalised and the mix looks off, I suppose it may be caused by the pine nuts, who knows.
Glad I am not the only one suffering. The only trouble is everything taste bitter, one way to loose weight though.
I’ve had the bitter taste when eating sweet food on and off for 6 months or more. I regularly dip into a tub of mixed nuts, raisins and, would you believe, pine nuts! Only today I finished off the tub, thoroughly cleaned it and refilled with nuts. Then I discovered this forum. Thankfully there are no pine nuts in the pack I used to refill my tub and I tell you, I will never be going near them again! Hopefully, my problem will be solved and I will be able to enjoy sweet foods again, especially coffee.
i ate pine nuts purchased from trader joes (rhode island) in a salad late thursday night. while eating a breakfast sandwich saturday morning, i thought i was poisoned! ever since, i am experiencing a strong bitter, poison-like taste after eating ANYTHING!! has anyone found any info from people on long -term effect, or is this a relatively new phenomenon?
I am finally feeling some relief one week after eating the pine nuts. This is the craziest phenomena I ever heard of anf thank goodness for the internet. I ate the pine nuts at the Doral Hotel and Spa in Miami and am now in the process of speaking with their risk management department, trying to explain to them to pull those nuts out of their supply. I was at a luncheon that had almost 600 people and am dying to know if i am the only one who experienced this issue. Anyway, I can eat again so my “pns” (pine nut syndrome) is resolving. So much for the “pine nut diet”!! The real issue is why the heck does this happen to some people, is it toxic, does the length of time it needs to work it’s way out the system have to do anything with metabolizing some kind of toxin or WHAT???????????
This happened to me last night after eating some pine nuts from Trader Joe’s. The bitterness, I assumed, was from the wine I was drinking. With each drink the bitterness increased so I was convinced that it was the wine. I had the pine nuts from the same package previously so there wasn’t a thought that it could be the pine nuts. Wow. This is amazing! What is the deal?! It stuck around till morning and popped up every once in a while and then later in the afternoon it got bad after eating some Cheese Nips.
The taste has been with me for about 1 month now. It is worse with any type of meat, nuts, and Red wine. The taste started after eating a Tuscan gourmet pizza, which contained pine nuts. I am not too sure where the nuts are from. I ate the pizza again a couple weeks later. Lets see how long it lingers. The bitterness seems to be from the saliva excreted when eating. Albuquerque, New Mexico
Like everyone else I am quite relieved to have found this site. I ate some raw pine nuts last week (didn’t seem to have a problem with them toasted which is how I prefer them) and a couple of days later at dinner – WHAM – everything started tasting bitter. That’s two days ago and the horrible bitter taste is with me in full force. Will be getting activated charcoal on the way home tonight. This is unbelievable – I’ve been eating pine nuts for years, I love them, and I’ve never had anything like this before. I don’t know where the nuts were from for certain, but I do know they were cheaper and I thought China was mentioned on the package.
I am having the same problem. Horrible! I bought the pine nuts at Trader Joe’s in Chicago. I ate them on Sunday in a kale salad, and Tuesday morning the terrible bitter taste began. Thank you for the suggested remedies, which I’ll try right away. I can’t eat anything without this horrid taste in my mouth. My pine nut package is already gone, and now the remaining nuts are in the trash, too. Has anyone been successful contacting Trader Joe’s or other companies about this?
I just put a call into the Southern California Trader Joe’s were I bought my pine nuts. The manager said I was the first to complain about the pine nuts. He said they would send a complaint to the buyers and to the corporate office.
I also put a call into my “scientist friend”. I’m going to ask him if he’ll run some lab test. Hopefully we aren’t all poisoned…
I’ve had the ‘pine nut mouth’ for 2 days now, I ate half a bag of pine nuts 3 days ago in a pesto sauce I made.
So far the only thing I can eat is raw pecan nuts.
Good Morning and greetings from Kajaani, Finland. I have lately bought a couple of times pine nuts at our neighbour city Kostamus, Russia, with no problems. It is known in Russian “кедровый орех” meaning literally Cedar nuts, but as a matter of fact, the term means seeds of Sibirian cembra pine, which has a magnificient reputation in Siberia for human health food. Now as bought 29. March 2009, such bag, we eated a 100 gram package, it was delicious, but already the next day four of us five got a very harsh taste in mouth, one of us did not, indeed. An elderly lady also told about stomach ache. This lady, earlier lived in Russia, told even when eating, that these are not necessarily so good!? Now the symptoms are getting over. Any way, the nut was sold in decent time, the day of package was 2. March. 2009, true enough, in the shop not in a cold place. Packen in St. Peterburgh as a trade mark “Atlanta Fresh”. I have now examined the matter from the net, and found research of the Belgian poison centre. Now I am willing to inform You about this new kind of suspicion. I really want to estimate, whether this is Siberian cembra seeds at all. I still have a bag..
With kind regards
Jukka Peltonen
Licenced Physician
Kajaani, Finland
Well, I am throwing a spanner in the works. I am from Australia, and have eaten pine nuts many times. I had some On Monday and by last night (Wednesday) I started getting the taste. I had just tried a very, very hot chilli, only a tiny bit to see how hot it was, and I have been blaming that, until I found this thread! I am off to Thailand in 6 days, and it will break my heart if I can’t enjoy the Thai food!.. I will keep reading for any ways of getting rid of this!
Same thing. Pine nuts from trader joes. Horrible bitter taste in mouth for the last week. Hope this isn’t some bigger issue or poison we should be concerned about. Anyone do any tests?
#143 was my post. Responding to #147 – I began experiencing the bitter taste when eating spicy Thai food. I had been eating a milder dish and all seemed fine. From my first bite of the spicier dish everything I ate or drank (Thai iced tea) was bitter. I’ve noticed the bitterness is worse for me with spicy or very sweet flavors and seems less pronounced with blander foods. I am on day 5 and have noticed some improvement, I think. I am taking activated charcoal and alpha lipoic acid as recommended here. As did Joanne (#147), I thought the chili in my food may have been at fault until I found this site and remembered the raw pine nuts I’d eaten a couple of days before.
Anyone with more info or remedies – please post!
I tried complaining/inquiring about the issue at Trader Joes in Northern California and they acted like they didn’t really care. The store I bought mine at said they would call me back (but never did). I called a poison control center (a doctor recommended I ask them) and they said that this bitter taste is a documented effect of eating pine nuts and therefore not considered dangerous or poison (she started reading something that sounded word for word like the risk section in Wikipedia). The poison control center suggested I call the FDA to complain. When I try that, I can never get through. I feel that just because it’s “documented” does not make it OK! I encourage others to make complaints so maybe they will do more research or put a warning on the packages.
I’m on day 4 of ‘pine nut mouth’. Seems to be better in the morning, so I’ve been eating my bigger meal then. As the day goes on the taste gets more bitter and then turns metallic by night.
My “scientist friend” said he’s too busy right now to run test for me. In the meantime I will keep hunting for more information.
I have one friend who said she’s willing to try my pine nuts to see if this happens to her. Will be interesting to find out.
Hi again,
I had my pine nuts with a friend, a salad we made at home, and she has not had the problem. I am wondering if you have to eat something in particular to set off the reaction later? It just seems strange that one person can get it and not the other.
Anyway, just a tip for any Aussies – Vegemite on toast doesn’t seem to taste too bad, with Vegemite being a pretty bitter taste anyway. It’s an Aussie thing guys… most people from other countries think we are crazy eating the stuff!
I called poison control. Was also told to call the FDA and complain. May not bother with that bureaucracy. I’m considering copying the Wikipedia page with “risks of eating pine nuts” and distributing to the stores where I shop. I’m not sure where I got mine, other than I know it wasn’t Whole Foods. I work in TV and will copy the Wikipedia article for our News Dept. However, would love to see this on the national news.
Would like to thank Roger Hyam for this site and for all the comments posted. I think it would be helpful if each of us posted how long this obnoxious malady lasts.
Just thought I would share. I have been to 2 Chemists today and explained to them what has happened. They had both never heard of it, but both suggested taking zinc. As I am sure you all feel, I would try anything at this point, and I am only in day 2! I agree with Patricia, this should really be made common knowledge to the public. I even think that doctors should be made aware of this, as how many people have gone to the doctor with this problem, with the doctor not really having a clue what caused it? There has to be some scientific explanation, which I would love to know!
#154, Doctors hardly know anything of this. I think that the only place where the matter has been scientifically examined is the Belgian poisoning center, see link on Mr. Hyan’s beginning.
Yours sincerelly
Jukka Peltonen
licenced physician
Finland
In my case, this started last Sunday, it is Friday here in Northern California and I can finally say that the “pine nut effect” seems to be nearly, but not quite, gone. Six days of most of my meals tasting terrible. One of the posters mentioned that morning wasn’t as bad and that was also my experience. Also similar to another, my problem started while eating spicy food.
I to have experienced the bitter after taste after eating raw pinenuts,going on day 5,I noticed right after eating the pinenuts,had no idea so many people have suffered the same. Bought mine at Cub Foods in Plymouth Mn a product from China,Portugal,Italy,Pakistan,Spain or Russia per label Brand name GoodSense from Waymouth Farms MPLS MN
Today is day 7 for me and I only have a hint left (if I eat something salty). I’m crossing my fingers this will be the last day. What a terrible experience!
Thank GOD. I really thought I had liver inflammation–and my acupuncturist thought I had gallbladder blockages. Just today, she told me to get a sonogram. I just pray that nobody goes under the knife because of this ridiculous pine nut scandal! I bought mine from Trader Joes on Long Island, NY. I come from a huge Italian family and never heard anything about pine nuts and this horrendous taste in the mouth. If I find out that this is just another case of big business playing hard and fast with our food supply, heads will roll. I will make sure of it.
Well I am pleased I took the time to google as i have felt really bad for the last week, didn’t think it was anything I was eating. I have had bad sinus problems recently and thought it was related to that. Now I see it was the pinenuts I started to eat last Friday. I bought these from Julian Graves in Lincoln, UK. Out of curiosity I will look when I get home to see if they came from China. Hope the bad taste doesn’t last too long as I am going on holiday in May to Greece and would like to be able to sample some nice food etc.
This may be my final post here, but wanted to share the course of my “pine nut syndrome” with others who have the symptoms:
I believe I had the pine nuts on a Thursday or Friday. The following Sunday, 2 or 3 days later, during dinner at a Thai restaurant, I began experience a bitter taste when I ate a spicy dish. The taste remained through the dinner. On Monday, everything tasted terribly bitter. This was the worst day, I think. By the following Sunday the bitter flavor was gone. At first I tasted the bitterness as I ate or drank only. Later, there was also a bitter aftertaste. Toward the end only a slight bitter aftertaste lingered. I took activated charcoal and alpha lipoic acid as suggested by posters on this site.
I too, experienced the bitter taste and inability to taste food after eating the Trader Joe’s Raw Pignolias, product of either Korea, Russia OR Vietnam, which should have been a clue. I also became very sick to my stomach and ended up in the Emergency Room where I was told that “uncured” nuts often cause this type of reaction. Trader Joe’s corporate rep. advised me to return the unused items to the local TJ store.
Thank you everyone! I ate Pine Nuts from Trader Joe’s a few days ago and have been suffering the bitter aftertaste since then. At least I’m not worried any more; I’ll just wait it out till it passes and I won’t be eating raw pine nuts anymore.
I am thankful to read all of these accounts. I began having a bitter taste on Sat. April 11. I first noticed it after eating yogurt with fruit . The bitter chemical kind of taste has continued for two days and has spoiled any and all food I have attempted to eat. I realized that Thursday evening 4/9 I had added pine nuts to a heated dish with red sauce. My pine nuts came from Trader Joe’s in Cincinnati Oh ,Dry Toasted Pignolias from Russia or Korea. I have since contacted a manager at Trader Joe’s who has not heard from anyone else. My husband has also eaten some of the dish with the pine nuts but has not had the bitter taste. I had eaten pine nuts in the past in salads. I have tried baking soda rinses, lemon juice and mouthwashes but nothing has alleviated the bitter taste. It has spoiled coffee which I normally enjoy and has made wine taste terrible. I am glad to read that some of you have seen the end of the bitter taste within a few days.
Thursday night, April 9, I had pesto at a restaurant in the Chicago area. Friday night’s meal out tasted awful and yesterday’s food was disgusting. Easter dinner today will be really bad too…..( and I’m unmotivated to cook!)
I saw on another site that pine nuts – which I love and often eat — can cause it but I hadn’t eaten them and was disappointed because everyone’s symptoms matched mine. THen I remembered the pesto ( I make mine with walnuts, so didn’t think of it at first!) I emailed the restaurant to see where they bought their pine nuts. no word so far. Can’t wait for it to go away.
Have the same symptoms as everyone else… a drink of lime juice mixed with tonic water and sugar to taste (if necessary) seems to nullify the effect (can taste things like normal) for about 1 meal, but make sure all of the food bits are out of your mouth, to avoid the taste later.
Curious to see if this works for anyone else, discovered it by accident. Not sure if it’s the lime or the tonic or the combination that actually does the trick.
OKAY! I am really happy and really upset that I came across this string. I am elated because it means I know whats happening and the cause. 2 days ago I made a salad and loaded it with pine nuts. The following morning (Friday) I woke up and everything I have eaten or drank since – with the exceptions of water and alcohol, believe it or not, tasted bitter, and then left a HORRIFYING taste in my mouth. I was terrified something was seriously wrong. I bought them from Trader Joe’s in Atwater Village – Los Angeles, and the bag says PRODUCT OF KOREA, RUSSIA or VIETNAM! Funny thing is, I had a conversation with stock-boy about how expensive these had become recently. My husband ate the same salad, but I believe he had less nuts and he is not experiencing any bitter taste. It has been several days and food tastes good again WHILE I am actually chewing, but within minutes of eating, the horrid taste returns and does not subside for about 20 minutes. This would lead me to believe its going away. I certainly hope so considering the amount of nuts I ate was approx 50. My husband had about 20. Everyone who claims it lasted a length of time seemed to have consumed greater quantity and more than once. I ate them once and have not had any since. The one thing I have found I can eat which leaves very little bitter aftertaste in my mouth is MINT ICE CREAM!!! be warned – I didn’t say NO aftertaste, and your waste line will hate you for this if you go on the ice cream diet… but its one of the few things.
What are we going to do about this? I don’t want to give up eating pine nuts…
Three days ago I ate a chick filet sandwich and thought it was the dill pickle or the chicken causing this sudden bitterness in my mouth. It’s horrible and thank goodness I googled bitter taste and found this site. I too thought I had some kind of horrible disease. My Easter dinner was totally ruined …I had to get a guest to help me cook since I couldn’t taste anything but bitterness. I plan on taking this Diamond brand bag of pine nuts to the health department in hopes of having them analyzed. I will post my results. In the meantime, I think
I will try the contreau.
Hello all. Well I am also gald to find this site and I am going one step further…I have contacted an attorney here in Atlanta and am going to go after these companies that are distributing this product. In light of the peanut fiasco in Georgia I am sure there is going to be some action on this matter. How can they keep putting a producto n the market that can do this to someone is beyond me! I will keep you posted!
thanks for posting. I ate some raw pine nuts on Saturday from Whole Foods and on Sunday replaced the brake pads on my car. Sunday night, I noticed everything tasted bitter. I thought I was poisoned by brake cleaner or dust. I guess I’ll know in a couple days. monday, my latte still tastes bitter. Also, wonder why it took that long (1 day) to take affect.
OMG this is terrible. I ate a table spoon of pine nuts on Thursdy at dinner and the taste started on Friday around 9pm. It worsened by Saturday. I too found this site. I ran out and bought some charcoal at Whole foods and used it twice sat. and sunday. had upset stomach Sunday night with alot of belching of that bitter taste. I like all of you can not eat anything either EXCEPT… I found that a chinese chicken salad (from Abes Deli In Northridge)with mandarin oranges did NOT give me an after taste while eating. I had one Sunday and had to go back there tonight (Monday) to eat. I cant eat anything else (I did NOT eat the bread and butter though because that DID taste bad like everything else). My husband and I think it has something to do with the viniger in the dressing that made it not have a bitter taste. weird. try it. its the only thing I can eat.
I called the company I bought mine from. The name of the Company is called ‘its Delish’ they are here in Los Angeles. They came to my home to pick up a sample of the nuts that I still had. I bought the pack of pine nuts at Vons in Tarzana CA. I also went to the store and had them pulled them off the shelf.
Someone from Vons headquarters called me today to follow up and said he would investigate. I also found out from the Company Delish, that the nuts originally DID come from China. There is alot of info on the net about many products from China being tainted with Chemicals, like Melamine. It is scary. Funny that this problem was caused by nuts from China and the only thing I can eat is a ‘chinese chicken salad’ with mandarin oranges! The deli assured me that they make their own dressing and the ingredients are local.
I also called an attorney today and he said he has had a few other calls similiar to this recently. I think we all need to be proavtive and DEMAND answers.
I want to be assured that there is no lasting ill effect from this (such as with melamine).
i am also experiencing these symptoms. bought pine nuts (bulk, prebagged) last week at the Vitamin Cottage in Santa Fe, NM. eaten them in two meals about a week apart, both times triggering the bitter taste. relieved to find out the cause, but concerned about the cause behind the cause. i noticed several folks mentioning sinus problems happening in conjunction with the bitter taste. the same time the bitterness started for me i began having some kind of post-nasal drip, or something similar, which caused increased saliva production at night, when trying to get to sleep – never had sinus problems until this time. anyone else finding a correlation there?
Thank god for the internet… no point in rehashing my experience as it’s the same as the rest of you have described. Please tell me if any of you have found a remedy. It’s torture.
Myself and five others, from a bad bag from Sam’s club or something. I’m on day 2. This is awful.
Same here. Ate pine nuts from Trader Joe’s in Novato, Ca. Have had bitter taste for three days. Thought it was the Easter chocolate. Or the beer. Maybe the cheese. Mostly sweets brought it on. However, everything I ate had a bitter aftertaste. I’m taking the nuts back to Trader Joe’s and will also send them this blog. The product should be pulled from the shelves. Going to try vinegar and look for the charcoal tomorrow. I’m going to check packages from now on and try to avoid any food or products from China. This has to stop. Drywall, baby’s milk, paint on our children’s toys. They don’t seem to care what they export to America.
Yes, I should have mentioned that — don’t eat sweets. It makes it sooo much worse.
Pine Nuts Trader Joes Columbus Ohio (Easton) Russia Korea Vietnam. Two of us experienced the bitter taste since Saturday April 11 when we purchased them.
When does it go away?
I have eaten pine nuts on occassion for years and never experienced this. All I could think of when I read this thread and then read the bag and saw the origin of the nuts was “agent orange, Chernobyal, and Korean nuclear tests”.
Hi everyone! I’m so glad to have found this site & read all your comments (i’m not glad that you all have the same horrible bitter taste problem though!) I thought that I must have some sort of horrible disease as well, but when I put the symptoms into the computer & I read all your comments, I remembered that I had a salad in marks & spencer’s coffee shop on monday with loads of pinenuts on it(i love pinenuts) & the day before yesterday I started getting the bitter taste & threw away half a bottle of red wine that tasted gorgeous the day before!! I’m in Hertfordshire, England. Lets all pray that it goes away soon for all of us.
Hi everyone – Toronto, Canada here – same symptoms – now on day 4 – nuts were bought in bulk in Kensington Market and made into a (delicious!) pesto. Probably the last tasty thing I have eaten.
Only water tastes good. Also thought I had a brain tumor or was diabetic or both till I found this page. Whew. Side effect not discussed too often is that my tongue feels all wrong too – sort of sore and raw although it looks normal. I’ll post again when it goes away.
I just wanted to write in that my horrible bitter taste did go away after two weeks/ I really didn’t do anything to make it stop except I stopped eating unless absolutely necessary because everything was so disgusting! I did not have any nuts left over to take to trader joes to complain- I wonder if it is a toxin or a sensitivity certain people develop to pinenuts.
Here are some photos I took of the culprits – The larger nuts didnt cause the problem but the smaller ones did – they look completely different. The bigger ones are almost as big as a peanut or a large corn kernel and the smaller ones are like fat wheat berries.
If that html doesnt work this is the url of the photo: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3362/3447792759_5d50708da6_o.jpg
OKAY EVERYONE – So I posted a week ago and have since found a wonderful item which will detox your body from the crap that these pine nuts produced. My doctor did some muslce testing and found that suddenly (I have never tested positive for this before) I had heavy metal toxin in my system. Highly coioncidental since I get tested regularly for stuff – I work with a doctor who does this. In anycase she put me on a product by STANDARD PROCESS called PAROTID – it really helps flush the system and after 2 days of taking it – the bitter taste disappeared.
I am taking the product back to the store minus a small amount which I am sending to the health dept.
I also just wanted to add that this has never happened before to me and I eat a TON of pine-nuts. I will be scared to try them again, but I am not willing to give them up either. We should be able to get to the bottom of this.
ASDA ASDA ASDA ASDA ASDA ASDA ASDA! Never going back there again. Thank you all of you as had just given up smoking and was thinking that was something to do with this horrendous taste in my mouth. Have also had really bad dry lips with it?! Hope mine goes in 3/4 days rather than the 2 weeks some of you are reporting! Good luck to all and heres to red wine (or anything liquid or foodwise!) tasting good again!
Here’s an oddity maybe someone can explain. I had a small bag of nuts and toasted them a few at a time for salads, pastas, etc., no problem of any kind. The last few (maybe 10)I ate raw just to use them up – this was when the bitter taste occured. So it seems the toasting must’ve changed the composition of the pine nut chemistry in some way. Anyone know the answer?
I just managed to track down the receipt for the suspect pine nuts I bought. They were “Chinese” and I bought them at United Market on 3rd Street in San Rafael, CA. I am in the process of contacting the market.
Hi everyone! I’m on day 4 & the bitter taste seems to be going (touch wood!) Red wine tastes pretty good again, although not completely back to normal. Hurrah!!! I’m still wary of eating pine nuts again; but I really do love them. I have a bit of a carpet feel going on with my tongue though. At least there is light at the end of the tunnel. I think it does depend on how many you ate as to how long it takes to get better. Very worrying though that the humble pine nut can have this effect on so many of us from all corners of our planet. I hope that you all recover very quickly & thank you all for sharing this experience & putting my mind & everyone else’s mind at ease.
I bought mine from asda on monday…ate them on salad monday and tuesday. Have been suffering acute bitterness since wednesday. Bloody awful!!!!!!
mine is basically gone after 6 days. Finally. good luck everyone!
I’ve been experiencing the bitter taste all day; just finished eating some leftover pesto pasta made with Trader Joe’s Korea, Russia, Vietnam pine nuts. Now I find out that is what is causing my problem. I purchased at TJ’s Crystal Cove (Newport Beach). I’m saving the half empty bag to return to TJ’s and hoping symptoms go away soon. I’ve never had this problem before, and I use pine nuts often. I deliberately stay away from Chinese product, but that didn’t help me.
Wow – I’ve had the same thing. It’s pretty mild but still a bit disconcerting that everything I eat seems to have this bitter aftertaste on it. I’m only on the second day but it seems to be fading already. Still, I am going to throw away the rest of those pine nuts and maybe steer clear of them in general for a while…
Hello fellow Pinenuteers.
Same Problem as everyone else. It’s terrible. Day 4
I just contacted the FDA. They said more people need to contact them in order to move this case along.
Please call to have them figure out what is going on.
All numbers nationwide: http://www.fda.gov/opacom/backgrounders/complain.html
California (Southern)–(949) 608-3530
I did notice yesterday morning that it was only on one side of my tongue and now it’s the entire back of my tongue.
Goodluck all.
Hello fellow Nasty Pine Nut Mouth Sufferers,
First of all, THANK YOU Roger for starting this blog. My wife and I eat lots of pine nuts and many times they’re fresh as we live is southwest Colo. and they’re abundant here. However, since they’re out of season we do also buy them from local stores. Recently Vitamin Cottage opened a new store in Durango and we purchased “organic” pine nuts and immediately notices the difference in size compared to what we regularly consume. We had them on pizza on Thurs night and by Sat AM the symptoms started for both of us. I didn’t know what it was but blamed it on bad peanuts in a Nature Valley bar. Since this has never happened in my 30+ years of eating pine nuts they were never initially suspected. By Sat night, our red wine was just plain nasty along with everything else. For us, most foods taste OK but it’s the after taste which seems to linger, on and on and on! Since I’m at work I have not been able to check the bag but my suspicion is that they’re from China which is where the “baby” nuts seem to originate from. I’m gonna try and find the stuff from post #182 and see if it helps. Here’s to recovering from NPNM and that first glass of really great red wine!
I just came down with the “Pine Nut Metallic Taste Syndrome” I got mine in NYC from Trader Joes. Manufactured in Monrovia, CA. PLEASE tell me this is going to go away in a day or so, I can’t imagine days and days….is there any cure!!!
I just spoke with Trader Joes corporate offices. They WILL NOT be pulling the product from their shelves since “It doesn’t happen to everyone, and it is not a health risk” I responded that it appears to be a batch issue, and again they will not be pulling the product from their shelves. A boycott from all of us is in order!
Thanks to everyone of you for sharing your Pine Nut Nasty Mouth stories. Now I know why I’ve had this strange, awful condition for a week and will go toss out those Trader Joe’s pine nuts. I think I’ll stay away from pine nuts for a while. And I’m hoping this thing goes away soon…
I bought pine nuts at HEB in Housotn on Sunday (Apr 19th) and ate them 19th-today. Last night I started noticing the horrible bitter taste. My boyfriend ate the same pine nuts and doesn’t have any symptoms. I will try to figure out where the pine nuts are from/what type they are when I get home. Tea is the only thing that seems to taste okay. This sucks – I’m so hungry!
Day 4 finally easing up a bit…I found some things that work I wanted to share. I made bitter greens (chard, kale etc.) I got at Trader Joes’ (ha) with chicken broth and some sauteed tofu. The bitter tasting foods register OK I guess, it was real good I ate a whole big bowl I was so hungry. Also celery is great and with peanut butter not bad at all. I even had some ice cream that tasted great and when I was done ate some celery so the bitter taste didn’t return so bad. I also drank a lot of water and took a lot of activated charcoal. Bittersweet chocolate is supposed to work well, I heard spicy food too, as they may dull the taste buds.
Comments 17, 26, 33, 39, 41, 44, 46, 47, 51, 60, 81, 84, 86, 89, 91, 111, 117, 120, 128, 135, 139, 141, 144,145,148, 150, 161, 162, 163, 164, 167, 175, 177, 180, 190, 194, 195, 196 and 199? All refer to Trader Joe’s. Of course, they are probably the largest pusher of pine nuts at this point.
I’m going through the same thing. Now I don’t have to worry that a tumor is pressing against the part of my nervous system that controls taste. My bag of “Dry Roasted Pignolias” is purportedly a “Product of Russia or Korea.” But what I notice is that the bag seems to contain two types of nuts. One is what I am used to, the candy-corn shaped seed about the size of a watermelon seed. the other is half to one-third the volume, and more of an oval shape. I have never noticed these before. It’s funny, ’cause I noticed the price of pine nuts at TJ’s seems to have gotten out of hand in recent years. I saw this package at a much lower price than I have seen for awhile, and bought them. I even felt fine munching them out of the bag!. I wonder if TJ’s is cutting their product with an inferior grade of seed from a new supplier?
The wikipedia article that has been referred to here says, hundreds of people worldwide have reported this phenomenon since 2001. That sounds pretty rare. This seems like a real outbreak, probably a new source of the seeds is my guess. Maybe TJ’s will reconfigure their product, or try to figure out the problem, if enough people complain at the management level (rather than the store level).
As a follow up to #199, it occurs to me that I never saw the dry-roasted variety of pine nuts before. I have always purchased them raw and sometimes toast them in the toaster-oven, or put them on the burner with a bit of olive oil (which I usually forget about until they’re burnt.) So the question is, does anyone else remember whether the nuts that caused their reaction were “dry-roasted?”
I am in UK and have been eating Tesco Pine Nuts from China. Have not had them for a long time and had some 2 days ago straight from packet. Have had horrible taste in mouth since yesterday made made worse when I drink or eat.
My husband and I ate pine nuts which I purchased from Trader Joes in La Quinta, California. Source: Korea, Russia, or Vietnam is what the package said. They were sprinkled on salad and cooked in a vegetarian stuffed cabbage I prepared. Two days later we both noticed a bitter taste in the back of our throats which has persisted for a couple of days now. Thanks to the internet we were able to track down the probable cause of our distress. Eating slices of fresh lemon makes the taste go away temporarily. Looks like others have had success with Alpha Lipoic Acid supplements, vinegar, and activated charcoal. We’ll start there and hope this goes away quickly.
Same story here – bought pine nuts at Tesco in south-west London; ate two/three handfuls raw, now in fifth day of bitterness (vinegar definitely makes food palatable, though the bad taste soon returns). Overjoyed to find this website, slightly cross that this phenomenon has been allowed to spread so far – Austria, USA, UK! I’m a freelance writer, and am going to try and get a piece in one of the UK national papers -if anyone would like to tell me their experiences, I’d be very grateful – CMidton@aol.com
Same story. Bulk pine nuts from Costco. Ate them on Saturday and got bitter taste on Sunday evening. Disgusting. I’ve been easting pine nuts my whole life and never had those problems. My 6yo daughter developed the same problem.
Well, I am from Savannah Georgia. I bought a bag of Diamond Brand pine nuts for an orzo salad. I have been eating the salad for a number of days. I have noticed a horrible bitter taste in my mouth, thought all kinds of crazy stuff was going on. Could not believe the info that I found on this site! I have thrown out so much food the last few days, thinking that something was wrong with it. So now I discover that the Pine Nuts are the culpret. I have eaten pine nuts for years and have never experienced this before. The nuts were from China! I will contact Diamond Foods to inform them about this unfortunate situation. I hope that this “Bitter” sensation ends soon…I love food!
Just for the new people reading this post…. I have been in Thailand for 3 weeks, and had the “nasty” 6 days before I left. Luckily it only lasted a day of my holiday… so hang in there, it could only last a week!
Good grief. This is unbelievable. I was convinced I must have diabetes or something until I did a google search. I ate a big back of pine nuts about a week ago, and since then have had a horrible metallic taste at the back of my mouth after food, but I’ve also just had an ear and throat infection and thought initially that the taste thing was related to that, except it’s gone on too long. I also bought a diet coke today for the first time in around 10 days and it tastes like pure sugar, and really vile. Normally, I’m a bit of a DC addict.
Thanks for this blog, my mind is now set at rest.
Phew…big bag of Julien Graves pine nut mix. Thought I was being especially good with my snacking…sadly the wrong choice. I feel incredibly thirsty after all food and this awful taste. I started eating the nut mix on Sunday. It is now wednesday and the problem started. Thought about everything else it could be, but now it all makes sense. Thank you all I feel happier about knowing the cause and look forward to this tase subsiding. It tastes like dandelions..eeeew!
Last time I’m checking in. Took 7 long days and many ruined meals but thankfully all gone.
Good luck all.
***I can confirm that Johnnie Walker temporarily relieved the symptoms.***
I got lucky – it only lasted ~4 days. Mine were from HEB in Houston, TX and said product of Russia. I still have some if anyone wants me to send them so they can be analyzed somehow. 🙂
I had a salad with some smaller pine nuts than I am used to seeing. That was Saturday night. By Monday evening, I noticed that food did not taste that great. Thought it was because I was possibly catching a cold. Today is Wednesday and the bitterness on my tounge and in my saliva is enough to make me gag! Especially bad taste after eating fruit. I was worried that I was possibly pregnant, jaundiced, or had some crazy gastrointestinal disorder (although I feel fine). Even though this is just a “taste”, it can’t be good for me. Must be some toxins escaping. I am going to drink a lot of water and sweat it out–hopefully I don’t smell as bitter as I feel……
Just a follow up to #193. It took us 9 days from ingesting them and 7 days exactly from when the taste first started showing up to be rid of this affliction. We’re totally “cured” now and are again enjoying food and RED WINE with no after effects. Also wanted to mention that I spoke with a homeopathic doctor who completely understood this issue. Again it has to do with how the triglycerides (oils) in the nuts effect the liver and basically it’s the livers way of trying to rid the body of this excess amount of oil. She said it’s a type of inflammation and that a few ounces of aloe vera juice would have helped substantially. Although we were cured by the time I spoke with her, we certainly would have tried ANYTHING and since aloe is natural, why not. Good luck to all and cheers!
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Me too!! My girlfriend made a fabulous dinner on Friday night and I got sick a few hours afterwards. I had diarhea that night and have had a burning sensation in my tummy ever since (it is now monday and subsiding a bit). Can’t remember having a tummy ache since childhood. I have been fatigued,achey and feeling flushed(with a lover then average body temp)ever since. After a couple of days I got the bitter taste in my mouth and realized that something had poisoned me. My friend called me on Sunday to tell me she had Googled “bitter taste in mouth” (because she had aqquired it,even though I had not mentioned that sympton to her)and it came back with the pine nut story. Thank God..I had been really worried. Now I am still worried because my body is reacting in other ways including the bitter mouth. I have put a call in to the FDA and am awaiting their return call. I am in So Calif, Valencia and the nuts were purchased at a Safeway store. My friend had toasted the nuts for our salad and they tasted fine. I do not knowingly eat things from China (for obvious reasons these days)but since I didn’t cook the meal I didn’t think about the origin. It is a shame because I love pine nuts and now I am so scared to ever eat them again. I hope that this story breaks so they find the cause and resolve the problem. I also am going to forward this blog to KFI Radio in LA so they can take a look at it. I am off to buy some activated charcoal tablets that someone mentioned, hope it works.
I contacted my local FDA office in New Jersey. The information anyone with this issue should submit to their local office is: The type of package, bag, jar, etc, all info from the label, UPC, any expiration date, manufacturer, distributor, where and when purchaased. You can find your local office from the fda main page. When I spoke to the woman she said she has heard of this before. They need to be able to get a sample so they needs as much info on the product as possible.
I’ve had the bitter mouth symptoms for 2 weeks. This is the first time I’ve purchased pine nuts in a bag (that said “all natural”). I’m going to my health food store to find out about cleansing.
Sainburys (uk) standard pine nuts, seem to have just had a bad batch, horrid metallic detergent taste in the back of my mouth for 2 days. Drinking milk helps, but have 2 micro-bio doc friends who have said it’s to do with tri-glycerine concentrations in the waxy coating of the nuts, no health hazard.
Me too. Multiple episodes…until I realized what it was. Has any body had standard blood tests (i.e., CBC and chemistries) while the symptoms were ongoing? I got my evil pine nuts March 29 ordered from Fresh Direct in New York, NY. Anyone else get them from Fresh Direct? FYI – symptoms completely resolved but the bitter taste was nasty.
I made chicken pasta salad Sunday. It had pine nuts in it. I shared it with a friend. By Monday we both had the nasty bitter taste in our mouth. I know it had to come from the pasta salad because that was the only dish we both ate. Everything in the salad was fresh so it had to be the nuts. I discared the packaging so I do not the country of orgin. I am from Salt Lake City, Utah
I purchased the pine nuts at a Smith’s Market place.
I love pine nuts, grew up with pinons on our property in Arizona. I live in Portland Oregon now and just purchased “Dry Toasted Pignolias” from Trader Joes.”product of Russia or Korea” I snacked on them while cooking. The next morning I was sure the cream in my coffee was rancid. Ugg, it’s been 3 days so far and only water and peppermint tea has no bitter after taste.
Well I am so glad I found this. Pine nuts here again, never had a problem before. Nuts purchased at Asda in Warrington UK. Tried all sorts to get rid of the taste. Hope it goes soon! No more pine nuts for me as my loving girlfriend just pointed out (she is sick of my moaning I think)
I have been eatin pine nuts for the past 3 weeks on my salad for lunch. Everything that I’ve eaten in the past 3 weeks leaves a bitter after taste. I finally started searching for a cause on the internet and found this site. I bought my pine nuts at Meijer’s outside of Cincinnati. The bag says they are a product of China. Now that I know the cause, I will NEVER eat pine nuts again! I hope this taste goes away soon.
i had bought some pine nuts from holland and barrett’s in newport south wales uk 2wks ago.i opened them on monday and had some which were fine and then finished them on tues evening.on thurs evening i had a cheese sandwich which tasted absolutely vile and since then have had a horrid bitter taste in my mouth which is blighting the taste of everything in its path!
so glad to find this forum,obviously not though for all of us suffering like this.i have also eaten shed loads of pine nuts in the past as a snack and have never experienced this problem,and can say with absolute conviction that i will never eat them again!!!
surely doctors need to be made aware of this problem and not be so dismissive,as i’m sure you all agree that it is a big worry,and i thought that i had an ulcer or the suchlike.
am on day 2 and already totally cheesed off !!!
good luck to all and may our bad tastes go as quickly as they came.
i’m off to try the vinegar!
Hi this pine nut thing is definitely going global…I had some pine nuts on a salad in Dublin, Ireland 3 days ago and I like everyone else I now have a really bitter taste in my mouth – hope it doesn’t last 3 weeks like the previous poster! This thing seems to be escalating, it’s a tad worrying, lets hope a bitter aftertaste is the only effect…
I too have eaten pinenuts a couple days ago and have had a bitter taste in my mouth ever since. I did not relate it to the pinenuts but after reading everyone’s experiences I see that it is most likely the cause. I can not tell you from whom or what country the nuts came from only that they were purchased from our local grocer in bulk.
This blog hit it right on the head and I am greatful for everyone’s input.
Same problem, bought a salad from a local takeaway last week and two days later EVERYTHING tastes disgusting. I’ve just been reading the previous posts and whent to the obsurd lenth of gargling vinegar….. had coffee after that and it tasted….. not great but not as bad as it had been. I plan to gargle again before dinner to see if that will help.
One other question I would like to ask… (I noticed on some other sites that people with “O” Blood type tend to be more effected. I am “O” negative.) Is there any link between being “O” Blood type and this awful taste ?
Kersty from Australia.
Like most of you, I have been worried about what this bitter taste in my mouth could be and have been very relieved to find this blog. I bought a bag of pine nuts from Waitrose – ate a few big handfuls on Saturday, following which everything I ate had a slightly bitter taste but I put it down to being on a sort of detox diet (where pine nuts were recommended!). Since Sunday night, the taste at the back of my mouth has been really vile. The nuts were from China.
As far as blood type goes – I am A- and am in to day 4 of my bitter experience after eating pine nuts at a restaurant – I did a salt water rinse, which seemed to help for some things but anything made with flour was the worst(bread, crackers, tortillas,ect) good luck all
Wow…all this bitter experience gets blamed on a tiny little pine nut. I am so glad to have found this site because I ate these little nuts last Wed. and here it is 6 days later and I still have an awful bitter taste after eating – especially bagels, bread, etc. I guess it could be a way to lose some weight but I can’t wait for this to go away. My girlfriend had some of my nuts and thought she had the Swine Flu or something. It’s so wacky!
I can’t tell you how relieved I am to have found this site! I’ve been going nuts (ha ha!) all day – wondering about this horrible taste in my mouth and throat. I had pine nuts from Trader Joe’s in my orzo salad on Sunday. I had a handful of raw pine nuts before I toasted the rest in a pan. I can’t wait for this to be gone. Nothing tastes good. Better said, everything tastes horrible! I’m wondering what I should do? Call Trader Joe’s? The FDA? I still have half a bag.
Jeannie- I would see about getting the pine nuts tested. I called my Trader Joes to make them aware of the situation as they have never heard of it. But once I knew my pine nuts were the culprit (thanks to sites like this), I unfortunately threw them out. They still refunded me money (which I wasn’t asking for- I just wanted people to know what could happen if they bought them). I hope you’re all feeling better. For me, after about a week, the major bitterness was gone. Second week, just slight remnants of bitterness…now, just the back of my throat feels a little funny- I don’t know if that’s related or not though.
Hi Everyone, thank god for this website, I’m going crazy with this taste in my mouth. My passion is cooking, lately I’ve been unable to taste my food that I’ve prepared much less eat it. This bitter taste in my mouth started on Friday BUT I don’t recall eating PINE NUTS! However I do practically live at Trader Joe’s, shop there all the time I wonder if it was in a spread that I bought, been going through my refrigerator all morning, dont’ see anything??? I guess I’m off to the vitamin store to try the Lipoic Acid and activated charcoal, if anyone has a cure please write I dont know how much longer I can handle this, it’s AWFUL!!
Three of us had cheekly helped ourselves to our bosses pine nuts over the past week!!. We are all suffering terribly! We all agree that the nasty taste is almost unbearable and hope that it goes away soon. I love my food and this is day two of this disguisting taste, so bad i dont want to eat or drink anything! If it doesnt go away before the weekend i wont be happy at all and will reside to my bed!
Oh, me too! I couldn’t understand why I had a funny metallic taste after eating a pasta dish last night when my friends who ate with me didn’t get it. I have it again today after eating some salad so have googled and found this. Now I remember I had a spoonful of pesto which the others didn’t (I was the chef). Hope it goes away soon!
OK, Yes, I am very thankful for this website, since I really was loosing my mind with why I can no longer enjoy food or wine!
So, now, let’s hear from people who have had some success in getting this to go away. What works? What does not?
I bought my pine nuts in bulk at the health food store in New Haven, Connecticut (USA), so I don’t know their origin. I toasted them before adding them to a spinach salad. The bitter taste emerged about 24 hours later. I’m relieved to find this info…
This has to be one of the strangest things I’ve ever experienced. Last Monday I made sundried tomato pesto for my family. The pinenuts that I used were different from those I have typically used before, a variety from Siberia it turns out. I’ve had a terribly bitter taste in my mouth since Wednesday afternoon even though the bad taste hasn’t afflicted any other member of my family of four. The good news is that I had blood work done (a routine checkup that coincidentally occurred at the time of the pinenut ingestion) and all of the tests (diabetes, glocose level, liver function, thyroid, etc.) were normal. So this doesn’t seem to be a serious problem, only a temporary (and yucky) inconvenience.
So weird, same thing happened to me. Ate 2-3 handfuls of bulk pine nuts from Wegmans in Penfield, NY about 2 days ago and today I have the bitter, nasty taste in my mouth that is made worse while I am eating or drinking and right after. I would not describe it as metallic though – more it tastes like dirt? At first I thought it was the bagel and cream cheese I bit into this morning, but then realized that all food tasted equally nasty. I will come back and let you know when the taste goes away for me….
i ve had some pinenuts from tesco’s uk. i thought i’d try em cause they were bout 2-3 quid in the baking section and 4-5 quid in another section. Everything i have tasted in the last few days have been bitter it didnt really click till today and decided to search it on google.. pretty mad
So happy to find the cause. Had pine nuts from China last Sunday and Monday. 5 days further, still have the bitter taste in my mouth. Apparently this can last for more than a week. A couple of days to go. Never had problems before. By the way, I live in Amsterdam.
Just wanted to add pine nuts bought at Leader Price in Paris to the list …
It was so great to be able to find this information so quickly. The bitter taste was driving me crazy, but I had completely forgotten that I grabbed a handful of pine nuts out of the cupboard while I was cooking a couple of days ago.
Hello..I how strange.. I also ate pine nuts 6 days ago. Since then I have had this weird taste in my mouth and nothing taste good..hate it so..so I’ll get some vinegar tomorrow any other tips would be welcomed too. Of course I can’t not tell you what orgine the nuts came from but I did buy the bag at Tesco in Edinburgh (UK)….I hope we all get to the root of this and get our taste back!
I cannot believe what I’ve just been reading. Just googled ‘bad tast in back of throat’ and checked out this website. I was reading through the comments that people have made thinking to myself ‘well I haven’t eaten any pine nuts’ when I just remembered a salad I had in Pret-a-Manger in Brighton on thursday 14th may – it had a pesto dressing, which of course contains pine nuts!! Unbelievable! Hopefully my liver will get rid of all of the nasty toxins and this bitter taste will go! I have noticed a slight numbing of the tip of my tongue also and would like to know if anyone else has had that symptom? Crikey, you’d think you would be safe with a few pine nuts!
I am so relieved to find that other people are having this problem! I have been buying pine nuts from Tesco and ate them several times last week. The taste is vile, and I thought that eating or drinking something strongly flavoured like coffee, would relieve it but it just made it ten times worse.
This is hilarious! I bought a pack of Baby Pinenuts from Julien Graves in Amersham this weekend, because they were half price, and pinenuts are so expensive. I’m doing the South Beach Diet, so have been adding pinenuts to everything, but now, not only am a suffering serious cravings because I’m on diet, but everything I DO eat tastes like metal! I am miserable! I’ll contact Julien Graves to let them know.
I found a really interesting theory on another website, which suggests that ‘baby pinenuts’ are actually just B-grade and old: “If you have ever tasted the resin that comes off pine tree’s it is similar to the bitter taste, so i think if the seeds are picked too late, if they are old or oxidized they will start to absorb the resin as the tips of the seeds are particularly bitter and even crunchy. Yesterday morning i roasted the pine nuts and had a very bitter taste all day.
So i think if the seeds are cooked they will cause an even stronger bitter taste much sooner. Everything tastes awful.” Interesting…
Thanks for all your input. Isn’t it peculiar with the global reach of this problem that the media is so silent? Must not be part of their agenda.
I’ve written an article about this that will be in the Daily Mail tomorrow (Tuesday May 19) – the Good Health section. Can’t say the supermarkets seemed very bothered about it when I approached them; hopefully the publicity might make them a bit more concerned.
My daughter and I experienced the same symptoms after eating pine nuts and then pesto (which I made) with pine nuts I bought from H.E.B. in Pasadena, TX. I even took off work today thinking I was very sick with stomach aches, horrible bitter taste in mouth, and dizziness. Thank you all for your posts and information. At least I know I’m not really sick. But I’m with most of you that said this should be publicized. It’s disgusting, even if it’s not life-threatening.
I’m so relieved to find this page! Ate pine nuts from Trader Joe’s on pasta and then again on a pizza we ordered. (double whammy – it was a pesto pizza.) i’ve had this awful taste in my mouth for at least a week and a half now with no sign of letting up. i have a bitter taste in my mouth almost constantly, and it makes all foods i eat taste bitter. it’s across the back of my tongue. i also was getting worried about diabetes!!! jeez!
off to the store to try the aloe vera recommendation.
We have experienced the same symptoms. Bought pine nuts at H.E.B. in Pasadena Tx on Fairmont Parkway on way home from work. Ate some out of bag and made pesto on Sat. My 10 year old daughter also had alot. She began having bad stomach aches Sunday, as did I, along with the horrible taste, runny nose, and dizziness even while laying in bed. I even took off work b/c I didn’t know what was wrong with me. Thanks for the info which has stopped me from freaking out, but heavy metal poisoning doesn’t sound so good either. I called H.E.B. and a mgr. said they’d pull the product, but hadn’t had any other reports. We’ll see. Also left a message with the FDA.
I too thought I had got some awful disease after Googling the bitter taste phenomenon. My condition lasted about a week, and I suppose if there is an upside then it means I might eat a bit less and lose an ounce or too of weight. What I want to bring up is whether the problem is with less fresh nuts, and if so would refridgeration prolong their life. Should supermarkets be keeping them in the chillers? Any clues?
I have just read in the Daily Mail about the bad taste left in the mouth after eating pine nuts. I couldn’t believe it as I have been suffering for the last few weeks and thought I had some sort of stomach disorder and even mentioned it to the doctor who agreed. As I have eaten a handful of pine nuts from a sainsburys packet (from China) and have had chicken with pesto and pine nuts I am beginning to believe there must be a connection.
Thank goodness for the information so freely given, I was just revving up with determination to get some answers to the vile bitterness at the back of my throat – I feel rescued from oesophagal nastiness and a painful death. I bought my pine nuts from Waitrose and in the bag there are little and large ones, I now regret decanting them into a jar and throwing the packaging but possibly I can go back and check their origin. So, only 7 days to go huh! Could be worse.
Thank goodness it isn’t just me. I mentioned it to my doctor and she had not heard about it before. I had pine nuts in an Italian restaurant-just a few scattered on the top of pasta- and suffered for two weeks, horrible! I read somewhere that pine nuts from China could be the cause as they are not so stringent as we are with public health.
I have had this horrible bitter taste for two days. Like everyone else had googled and ruled out jaundice, pondered the brain tumour and denied acid reflux. But, I have eaten pine nuts – yesterday and the day before. It is horrible. We went out for supper last night and it all tasted horrible. Today also, everything tastes bitter. I have booked a doctor’s appointment for tomorrow (which I will now cancel). I’m getting married next Thursday and would like to be rid of it by then. Sorry if this is too much info, but my fiancé said he could detect a bitter taste when we kissed. Shock horror. I too have thrown away the packaging, but the nuts were a new variety, Waitrose’s own version of a brand containing chocolate buttons, dried fruit and pine nuts. Steer clear!
Finally an answer, I thought I was losing my mind. It started suddenly and everything tasted sour, but just in the back of my throat and only after eating. Otherwise fine. Thought I might have OD’d on multivitamins! I have read it lasts 10-20 days. Hopefully it will help me lose some weight for the suffering!
Day 4 for me. I ate pesto from Vapiano in DC on 18th and M St. Bitter taste doesn’t go away for anything. Had some beer last night and since it’s bitter anyway, it was fine for me. But I hope it goes away soon. Keep you posted.
I cannot thank you enough for this post! I share these symptoms, they just started today; I too was sure I was dying and so Googled “everything tastes bitter” and this was one of the top hits. I ate pine nuts from Trader Joe’s on Saturday night and might have been, well, *enthusiastic* about them. I cannot believe the bitter, metallic taste in my mouth. I’ve been fascinated by these comments here. This post has been very helpful; I linked to it in my blog post about it tonight as well.
I think I’ve now been hit by this too, with symptoms starting a couple of days after eating about 35g of Sunbeam pine nuts in a couple of pasta dishes. I’ve sent an email with the barcode and, I think, the batch number to Sunbeam and am waiting to see what they say.
Me too! This is crazy. I had the small ones from Trader Joe’s.
Hi there, this is fabulous. I am completely off eating as everytime I eat or drink something, I get this vile bitter taste in my mouth. I decided to google it and wow – I am not the only one. I had visions of my Dr laughing at me had I come to him with something like this. I have been eating pine nuts in my salad for the last few days and just cannot get rid of the bitter taste since then, so it all makes sense!
@Jordan
My son and I ate pine nuts from Trader Joe’s Wednesday or Thursday night and both of us have the same bitter taste you describe. Strange but very helpful information.
Hello to all! I wrote an e-mail notifying the restaurant I ate at the other day to let them about the pine nuts and they replied that they are going to try to change their storage habits. This way the pine nuts will not become oxidized. Anyway, I have no more bitter taste in my mouth after eating anymore. I would say today I am officially free of the symptoms. This means it took about 7 days-(one whole week!) to go away completely. Good luck!
Wow – I am also happy to see these postings. I ate very few pine nuts from can of mixed nuts on Wednesday noonish – Thursday noonish my hummus tasted bitter so I thougth it had gone bad. This is Friday and as long as I am not eating, I am mostly okay. I can vaguely taste the bitter in the back of my throat, but just slightly. BUT when I put anything in my mouth, I instantly have that horrible bitter taste. So I did not eat all day. Around 8:00 I made cream of wheat and the first 4-5 bites were awful, but knowing I needed something in my stomach, I kept eating. The bitter taste became less obvious as I ate, altho still there. Then after eating for 15-20 minutes the bitter taste was strong. I tried eating some salt. This seemed to calm the bitterness for a few minutes. I have been all over the web and like others saw brain tumor, nerve damage, diabetis, etc. I am sad to hear this might last for 7 days, but hopefully this is all it is – pine nuts! Who knew? Thanks for all the input. Very helpful and hopeful. My doctor had no clue why putting food in my mouth would cause such a reaction. No one else has described it like I have. I would like to know if any of you have/had the kind of experience I had.
I’ve eaten a handful of pine nuts from Trader Joe’s the last few days and I’ve been having a bitter taste since last night. I can’t eat anything without getting the taste. I got them at the capitol hill Trader Joe’s in Seattle, and was surprised with the good price. You get what you pay for.
I ate some nuts (Trader Joe’s) about 10 days ago and within 3 days I had it. I thought there was something wrong with the meat I was eating but then noticed it was everything I ingested except for water that caused it. I then began to think I was either nuts or very ill. I have experienced the problem for about a week now. One day was worse than all of the rest but all of them were bad. I sure hope this goes away soon. Another example of what you deserve for buying stuff from the CHICOMS.
First they poison our pets and then they send us something to do us in.
yeap 4 of us have been struck with pine nuts biteer mouth.
bought in south of france, not sure of the where they were from but they were small.
any ideas of how to be rid of this ??
tried washing my mouth with bicarbonate soda…it helped for a while…but it does not go away
hope it does not last a week
thanks for all the info on your site
I’m having the same problem, but I purchased SunRidge Farms pine nuts, which are a product of the USA. I bought them from Trader Joe’s.
What I don’t understand is that this issue is already known since 2001 and nobody seems to know yet what exactly causes it. I eat pine-nuts frequently since about 5 years, but only since a couple of months have a problem with them. The nuts in the regular super markets are all same size tiny Chinese I guess. We’ll have to go for the Italian nuts to see if the same problem occurs.
My daughter and I have both been suffering from the same bitter taste…its awful! I bought Pignolias (pine nuts) from Trader Joes.It says they are a product of Korea, Russia or Vietnam. Sorry TJ’s…no more pine nuts from you. What a relief to know its nothing serious, thanks for all the postings!
Wow–am so thankful for this site! I had some small raw pine nuts Friday evening(Dell’Alpe, distributed by Rubenilli– no country of origin–bad sign!) while making supper– started having “the taste” Sunday afternoon. Yuck! I have found that lettuce with Catalina dressing isn’t so bad…
me too. I had a salad on Sunday 5pm including pine nuts bought from Tesco. That evening and ever since I have had a bitter taste in my mouth. Every meal since and including last night’s salad (which also included pine nuts) have been spoilt. Wine tastes eugh. Chocolate and fruit too.
Aha! This is the answer to my problem! My daughter and I had a pasta salad the night before last that I made with pine nuts from the local grocery (refrigerated section) and we are both suffering from everything tasting bitter starting this morning. Does anyone know whether the whole batch will affect anyone who eats the nuts?
I too recently had pine nuts and am suffering from a bitter after taste, from both food and beverage. I ate the SunRidge Farms brand of pine nuts. I still have the package, but there is no reference to country of origin. Unfortunately I have not found any remedy for this malady. Perhaps the passage of time is the only remedy.
Same thing after eating a handful of pine nuts from M & S! Sometimes the internet is just great!
This is incredible– I have been freaking out for several days, thinking I have lead or mercury poisoning. I ADORE pine nuts, eat them frequently. A few days ago, I purchased a new container (Dell’Alpe brand) and have had an increasingly awful metallic taste in my mouth, but only with food. Every thing tastes awful… needed to go a diet but this is a drag!
Glad to say after a week since first eating the nuts, my taste is almost back to normal. I did find that along with the lettuce/Catalina dressing mentioned earlier, I was able to also eat eggs (no salt/pepper),vanilla yogurt,slices of mild cheese, milk, bananas, and peanut butter without the “dreaded taste.” Hope this helps.
Celery was manageable too.
Thank God I have an answer!!! I have been going crazy trying to figure out why I have this metalic taste in my mouth. It started about a week ago, and I really thought something was seriously wrong with me. I am not the type to run to the doctor, but was about to make an appointment to figure out why I couldnt get rid of this bad tast. I recently purchased a bag of pine nuts from Trader Joe’s and began snacking on them. Boy I wish I never did! I had no idea pine nuts could do this to you. I am so happy I know what’s causing this. Hopefully it will not last much longer. I swear I’ll never go near them again!!!
I’m in Western Australia and I am currently experiencing the disgusting ‘pine mouth’! It started a couple of days ago, and after searching the net I was amazed to find the link of ‘bitter taste when eating’ to pine nut consumption! I hadn’t eaten pine nuts for years, but decided to add them to pasta 3 days ago. Thank goodness its just pine nuts and not some serious illness, but this foul taste is driving me mad!
@Mike in Cairns, Australia
Hi Mike – I’m in Perth, Australia and have had the same symptoms for 3 days after eating Sunbeam brand nuts too.. Hmmm. Will also send the batch number to them – of interest it is F450 2. The bitter taste is ruddy awful!
YEAH! – I’m not gonna die!! (at least for a while). Ditto on all the above, ours were Pine nuts from Von’s. They tasted great in a sauce and by the handful. Two days ago I ate some lunch meat that immediately caused the bitterness – I thought the meat was bad, threw it out and prepared myself for the inevitable food poisoning. But the bitterness continued and the worries started. Then last night my wife complained about a bitter metallic taste & unusual for me I agreed and showed sympathy. She Googled it and saw only nasty things like heavy metal poisoning – not good – then today found the Pine Nut connection. Thanks all for the posts – bummer about the pine nuts – cuz we really enjoyed eating them!
I have been getting all these symtoms on and off the the last 6 or 8 months or so. Was going to make an appointment for the doctor. I asked my dentist and he was not sure what it was. So I am also on the list for “Pine Mouth”. Ate them on salad for two days last Tuesday and Wednesday. Everything I chew has a horrible bitter taste. I have been making some protein shakes and the taste is not as bad. Tonight I had salad with vinegar and olive oil and feta cheese which was ok. After I ate that I had a bite of beef and it tasted horrible. I bought mine from a Bulk Food Store in Dearborn Michigan. When I called them they said that they don’t deal with China. Leaving for vacation tomorrow and I guess taking my “PINE MOUTH with me. Bummer!!!
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.
This is really unbelievable that it is so simple a reason and it seems so widespread so quickly. I haven’t had raw pine nuts in months maybe even a year and decided to make some pesto on thursday. Bought Trader Joes pine nuts. I have been suffering with this awful bitter metallic taste in my mouth ever since. I dread having to eat or drink anything but water. I assume its not an allergy and I’ll just have to wait the 7 – 14 days for it to go away. At least there’s hope that it will go away
WOW. I have had pine nuts my whole life. This is the first time I ever had such a strange reaction. Did not even know it existed. Ate some pine nutes from Safeway’s nut section.
Wow, me too. Just returned from a food feast in Kauai (The Taste of Hawaii) – usually fabulous, but I found after everything a bitter taste in the back of my mouth – didn’t matter, fish, salad, desert or wine. I was concerned as even my eggs this am left a taste, so before making a Doctor or Dentist appointment went to Google – and viola found pine nuts. I opened a new bag Thursday night and had some to munch on. The bitter taste started Saturday lunch and got worse – the pine nuts are from Costco and they are from China. I have purchased them for years, but always froze them but due to lack of space in the freezer these were in the pantry until opened. I don’t know if that was the difference or maybe the previous bags were not from China. Thank you all for your postings.
As a pine-mouth sufferer now in recovery, I thought people might be interested in these two articles, one from the UK’s Daily Mail (written by me), another from a Dutch newspaper.
Here’s the link to the first article:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1184261/Pine-mouth-puzzle-Why-nuts-leave-bitter-taste.html
Here’s the text of the second, sent to me by Danielle, a Dutch pine mouth sufferer:
The latest article about the subject was in the newspaper Het Parool this Saturday. It’s from our best known culinary journalist Johannes van Dam. It contained some new information which I never read before, so I will try to translate it for you:
Pine nuts
About pine nuts I hadn’t said the last word: it’s a complicated matter and most sources don’t tell everything they know, especially now there’s talk of a disgusting, perhaps unhealthy taste. From Jan Timmer from Hilversum, who has been importing pine nuts from all over the world for years, I received a letter, that I would like to share with you.
“The Chinese pine nut of all pine nuts has the most characteristic taste. China collects the nuts in amongst others the province of Jilin in Northern China, where one also buys the ‘in shell’ kind (without taking the shell off). The cones (pine cones) are collected by climbing into trees and by chopping them down. The nuts are taken out of the cones and what’s left is de pine nut in the shell, which is taken to a processing factory (MeiHekou). In China the pine nuts are roasted and salted in the shell and the pine nuts are a wanted product in de local market: not with us.
“In the production process the unshelled pine nut is roasted, after which the shell opens a little. After that the nuts are all manually taken from the shells and selected by their size and that’s what we consume here. Why manually and not in a different way? Because the soft nut is not to be damaged because of oil separation, that would enhance a rancid flavour. We should not suggest that a chemical process is taking place, that is not the case.
“Now something about the mentioned taste disorder. Since the product is very rich of oil, a strong taste can be developed. In most cases the reason is that the road from reaping to consumption is not well conditioned in the country of arrival. The best way of keeping pine nuts is putting them in the fridge. In 9 of the 10 cases the reason for a bitter taste that remains is rancid flavour.
“The European pine nuts are much more expensive, have little or no characteristic taste and are treated in a different way. It’s better to buy the Turkisch Bergama quality or the Afghan-Pakistan pine nuts, much longer and with a perfumed taste. However the political climate has become a problem for exportation.”
I’ve never seen such an extensive and good lecture about the pine nut. I have the impression that it’s important where you buy the nuts: the worse the pine nuts have been produced and the longer the way between production and sale, the bigger the chance the taste will be bad. A nuts specialist who checks the products he sells seems a better option to me than a supermarket. Keep them cool and vacuum is the least we have to do.
Johannes van Dam
I would never have believed this could be true.. but with a particularly lengthy bout of sour taste which made everything I ate taste disgusting.. I realized that I had sat and eaten pine nuts from a bag 1 day before.. and also realized that on previous occasions I had snacked on pine nuts with similar results – I always keep a bag in the cupboard for making pesto – but like the taste so started to snack on them. I will not be doing this any more.. the last session took nearly a week to clear so I could taste again, and the problem has not come back!
I also started having a bitter taste in my mouth while eating or drinking. I also ate pine nuts, but never in a million years did I think it was from that. I take Byetta and just started a new pen. I also have some problems in my mouth. I still don’t know what it’s from, and its still bitter. Should I just wait till the dental thing gets taken care of. It’s really disgusting. Is there anything I can do if its from the pine nuts?
I just looked on the pine nuts, they are from China and I bought them in BJ’s. it is the brand Berkley & Jensen, which I think is there store brand.
I have had pine nuts before…always cooked..no problem..have developed a bitter taste only after eating them raw a couple of days ago and it comes on only after eating or drinking..thanks to this site I dont seem to have to write my will just yet! Dont know where mine were from but they were on special! Apparently the taste does go away but it takes a couple of weeks..aaarrggh..my birthday in a couple of days and off to a swanky restaurant!! Worst luck
Thank goodness for this page. I ate a salad at Itsu in Canary Wharf on Monday which had pine nuts in it. Everything I eat tastes bitter. I hope it goes away soon.
I am in the same boat as all of you. I just wanted to mention that my pine nuts came from Arizona. My mom purchased them at a local grocery store that has fresh and local products. So, it seems that it is not just the pine nuts from over seas. They were however sitting in my cabinet for about 3 months before I ate them…so maybe that has something to do with it???
Thank God for the internet (or maybe it’s Al Gore). Where else could you find out about Pine Mouth. My wife and I have had this for a couple days. My wife made a salad with Pine Nuts in it about four days ago. Everything now tastes like Yuk! Don’t know where the nuts came from but I do know where they are at now…in the garbage. Who would have thought all of us would have had the same experience. Thank-you all for sharing.
I made a dish for a saturday cookout that had pine nuts and I finished the rest of them when i got home. About a cup of them. I noticed this bitter taste in my mouth on tuesday after eating some sprouts and thought the sprouts must be bad, but then noticed everything was bitter. I though I over dosed on multi-vitimans. So glad to find this blog and know I am not dying.
A gigantic THANK YOU is in order to all of you who have posted comments on this site! I literally thought there was something seriously wrong with me! I had a few pine nuts sprinkled on my salad at a pizza joint in Downtown Denver Friday night. By Sunday evening I had to throw away my ice cream after two bites because it tasted so terrible. Monday, I tried eating again and got the same sensation, an awful bitter taste starting at the back of my throat and working its way through my entire mouth after one bite of ANYTHING? Dry cereal, plain chicken breast, crackers, pasta, you name it. I went to WebMD and was horrified after I typed in my spmptoms and things like cancer, diabetes, acid reflux, even pregnancy popped up as possible conditions. Just when I was about to pick up the phone and schedule a doctors appointment a co-worker told me about this pine nut thing. Relief! I guess I will just take this with a grain of salt and consider it a wonderful opportunity to partake in a one of a kind weightloss program! Can anyone explain why my boyfriend, who ate the same salad I did, hasn’t had any sort of reaction?
Oh my god I had pine nuts on Saturday night and everything I eat tastes bitter. I’m fine as long as I dont eat any thing. How extraodinary. I have also noticed my skin is itchty and Im not sure if that is connected or perhaps I really am the only one is really suffering from some terribel disease…
I turned to the internet to try and find out why everything I have eaten or drunk over the past week or so tastes really bitter. I was amazed to find all these comments about pine nuts because I have been eating them too! I’d never really tried them before and I liked them so much that I ate most of the packet myself. I threw the packet away so I have no idea of their country of origin. I just wonder how long the disturbance in taste will continue. Not too much longer I hope 🙁 Wont be rushing to eat them again that’s for sure!
Wow, Down here in Australia, I think we must be the first sufferers of Pine Mouth. My missus and I ate some pine nuts in a pasta. The bitter taste struck almost straight away, and now 4 days later is still around (although fading slowly).
We had pine nuts from a local Australian Grocer and the packet did NOT denote the country of origin, although did say the were imported (not helpful). I have noticed almost everything is leaving a bitter taste, but it is more intense when eating sweet things.
I’ll repost when the bitter taste goes away (if ever)
Thanks for setting this up
Me too. The pine nuts were from Trader Joe’s in Los Angeles (Silver Lake). My nuts were a few weeks old. I had used them before with no issues, so I definitely think freshness (or lack thereof) is part of the equation. I made pesto with them, and was eating extras by the handful while I made it. I toasted all of the nuts I ate, so it’s not about them being raw. My wife had some of the pesto and has suffered no ill effects. I asked at the store, and they are NOT from China. The package said, “Product of Korea, Russia, or Vietnam”. A person on another blog said that TJ’s nuts are only packaged in those countries and are sourced in China, but according to the folks in my TJ’s, that’s untrue; I verified that they are actually sourced in one of those three countries. The TJ’s folks were very sympathetic, but basically said to get action, I’d have to email the corporate types from the TJ’s website, which I plan to do. Like some others here, I feel a mild irritation/swelling at the back of my tongue and the back of the roof of my mouth—like a very mild soar throat. I have tried eating aloe, but it doesn’t seem to help. I’m only on Day 2, so I imagine I’ve got a couple crappy weeks in front of me. No way I’m passing on pine nuts for good, but I will definitely be sure they are fresh and sourced either here in the US (New Mexico is a producer) or in Italy.
Wow. I am so glad I have diagnosed myself. I have had it for 2 days and live in Australia. Never normally cook with pine nuts, however did last Friday. I also ate them before cooking them. It hasn’t affected my husband in the same way as me, but he didn’t eat them raw. I bought Sunbeam pine nuts.
I, too, have Pine Mouth – again, thank goodness for the internet. I just got home from an Alaskan cruise on Princess and had some pine nuts from the buffet in my salad a few days ago and everything has tasted weird ever since. I also caught a bit of a cold with a lingering cough so I thought that might be the cause – along with all the other dreaded causes after doing the internet search. Glad to know it will go away in a few days – feels like I have grapefruit in my throat – ew!!
Yep. It’s pine nuts alright we just made the worst pesto ever!!!
Yes I too found this website by Googling the information. I had some pine nuts on 10th or 11th June and then by the 12th I had a horrible taste in my mouth. Its now 15th and I still have it, I only hope it goes soon. Some foods do seem to make it worse, i.e.chocolate, wine and anything fatty really. It was driving me mad, but thought I would add my comment to this – the more names the more we might find it gets discussed more and people are aware.
How lucky we are to have the internet. I have now cancelled my doctor’s appointment – as someone said unusual tastes in the mouth can even be due to brain tumours!.. I have been eating pine nuts in my salad but can’t identify their origin as I bought it at a fruit shop packed in a Chinese container.
Has anyone else had a headache as well? My last handful of pine nuts was 2 days ago – so I guess I have a long time to wait. It is true that foods with sugar and carbohydrates are the most affected – which takes the pleasure of fruit and wine out of my life temporarily. It is gratifying to read there are no poisons etc but why is our body reacting with warning signals if this is not the case?
I had Pine Nuts from Whole Foods they were Flavor Tree brand $6.00 for smallish bag on Saturday. Made pesto Saturday night and Monday had the worst bitter taste in my mouth, like I swallowed bug spray, everything tastes bad, especially coffee, wine and anything sweet. I am praying this goes away quickly. After reading about “pine mouth” I checked the package and saw they were from China. What the hell is this? I hope it’s just a nuisance and not a true danger, meanwhile i will NEVER, EVER eat pine nuts again. Sad, bc I love a good pesto and just bought a basil plant 🙁
This ridiculous, I now know everything there is to know about pinenuts and bitterness. Thank all for sharing now, does anybody know how to get rid of the bitterness without wait 2 weeks!!!
Regards, G.
Wow i am so glad I found you guys . I also have been having this weird bitter taste in my mouh for dys and i thought that i was related to a new medicaition that i am taking for hypothyroid..and I was about to ask my doctor about it when i read that pine nuts can cause bitter taste in mouth.. so last sunday thats about 5 days ago i made 2 salads for a tea party that i wasgoing to and i love pine nuts so i ate a whole bunch of them …Now i understand where this bitterness is coming from….
ok so i am not going to die….
So I TOO Googled ” Metallic taste in my mouth” and here I am. I get it bad after drinking something.. Coke tasted awfully it was like I couldn’t taste the sugar? But even water is leaving this bad bad taste in my mouth. Eating does not seem to be any different.. but i do have dry mouth and have a sinus cold right now.. BUT i have not had pine nuts that I can think of…no pesto, no salads with pine nuts.. and its kinda freakin me out now.. other then diabetes (dont have it) or jaundice (dont have it) any other ideas? for some reason it strikes me as a important symptom to a bad diagnosis
Same here! I purchased some pine nuts about a month ago and used some of them in Pesto shortly after purchasing with no problems. However, I stored the rest in a cabinet and just the other day I decided to put them in some rice. Of course, they taste so good I was eating them raw while cooking. That night during dinner, I noticed that my mouth had a tingly, almost numb feeling, which I thought was odd. Now, 4 days later, I’ve got the bitter taste in my mouth, which intensifies when I eat. Since I threw away the packaging, I have no way of knowing where they came from, but it seems to me that the freshness (or lack of) is the culprit.
I eat toasted & raw pine nuts regularly (from Trader Joes)& store in freezer and this is the 1st time I have had this reaction (exactly as described by many on this site). I read all the posts and one issue not addressed is whether the bitter taste is rancid oil from the nut (seems unlikely that the taste buds are still reacting 5 days later & only in combo with carbs) versus a more systemic (perhaps liver as some have intimated) reaction that is triggered – why lasting so long – most food reactions do not take this length of time to resolve. Although relieved to know what this is, I am not fully so because it is not clear that it’s not toxic to some degree. Many plants produce some toxic substances (to animals that may eat them) as a protection (to the plant) and I am wondering if this is related -perhaps older or a different variety recently. Perhaps a more general lit on plant toxins that could be relevant? Perhaps Hyam could comment as this is his area of expertise? Thanks to all!
I had pine nuts on a salad at a wedding on Saturday night. I never eat them, and didn’t think anything about it…they tasted good. By Monday I had a yucky, bitter taste in the back of my mouth…can’t get rid of it. I spent some time online trying to find the cause, and found out it was likely the pine nuts!! I have emailed some friends who also were at the wedding and ate the salad with pine nuts, and asked them if any of them have this bitter mouth problem. I’m assuming that is what it is…but I was worried I might be getting thrush or something. Whew. I’d rather know it is temporary and will go away on its own. Don’t think I’ll be eating pine nuts any time in the future.
I have this same issue. And so does my mom. My whole family (me, hubby and two boys–mom and dad) went on a 7 day cruise. My mom and I had pine nuts in our salads AND pasta several times on this cruise. And we both have this awful taste in our mouth. I’m happy I’ve found an answer!
This is crazy–it just happened to me, too! I had been eating tons of apricots off our tree and one day they just tasted TERRIBLE, and then everything did, so I thought my body was fed up with apricots. But now that I’m reading this, I recall that I ate pine nuts just straight out of the bag for a couple of days in a row right around that time (about 5 days ago?). The ones I ate had been in the fridge for a while. It didn’t happen when I ate the first half of the package…I wonder if they went rancid between then and now. Geeze, I hope it goes away soon. I started with a lemonade cleanse for the past 2 1/2 days because I thought it would help, but I decided to discontinue it due to heartburn–and the first thing I ate still tasted bad.
I bought my offending pine nuts at TJ’s also, and they say Russia or Korea.
Same thing happened to me, i had a pine nut ice cream on sunday , and my after taste started on tuesday, i hope this doent take long to go away…im glad i searched the internet
I have had the same symptoms, 5 days since I ate pine nuts, only a small handfull actually while I was still shopping at one of the Safeways in Santa Rosa. Hope it goes away. Has anyone gone to a doctor? What causes it…?
“Pine nut mouth” is better than that brain tumor I was worrying about for sure. Last week I bought Good Sense pine nuts from Dominicks made in “Spain or China or Portugal” (so China probably). They were marked best before Aug 25, 2010. I made pesto and served it to about a dozen people. Delicious! Two days later just one of the guests and I had an incredibly nasty bitter taste after eating any carbohydrates (Atkin’s diet here we come). Black coffee and dark chocolate aren’t as bad, because they’re bitter anyway. Salty, sour, or savory foods are better than sweet. Three days later we’re just starting to be able to taste things again, with only a mildly bitter aftertaste (cranberry juice is still awful).
So best I can figure a small percentage of people have a delayed temporary taste reaction to something in certain chinese pine nuts (or russian pine nuts per the Finns). It reminds me of the genetics of supertasters and propylthiouracil. Are there any toxicologists or geneticists out there that want to study this?
So that’s what it is! 2 days ago 24-June 2009 on my way home from Wimbledon I got a takeaway salad, with pine nuts added, from a salad bar at Paddington Station. The bitter taste thing did not start until 24 hrs later when I drank a glass of red wine -revolting and today 26 June everything is bitter and metallic tasting. I thought the milk was off and the eggs that I scrambled. Guess I will just have to wait for it to go.
Wow just like the 18 other comments I was making myself crazy trying to figure out why most all foods were leaving bad metallic taste in my mouth. Thanks to you all for sharing Pine Nut Mouth experience. I made pesto two nights ago and now am suffering along with my kids
8 days ago, last Friday, I ate homemade pasta salad with pinenuts we had toasted (unsalted, purchased at Rockridge Market Hall, Oakland, CA; brand name: Sun Ridge Farms, sunridgefarms.com). Nibbled on some toasted nuts before they were added to the salad, ate the salad a couple of times that day and the next. The nasty metallic, bitter taste came on Sunday afternoon) and has stayed with me ever since. I get it when I am chewing food or drinking and it persists a while after eating/drinking. Bread, wine, cheese, and coffee are particularly yucky. Tea, plain water (delicious!), and potato chips are better. I’d love to know exactly what it is about the pine nuts that causes the disturbance. I eaten pine nuts all my life with no problems up until now. Seems to be getting a bit better now.
How long have others been affected? What foods/beverages have you found don’t tend to trigger the metallic taste for you?
I had “pine mouth” a few months ago from bulk pine nuts bought from an Italian supermarket. I too thought I had some serious nervous disorder or poisoning with symptoms like the bitter metallic taste, headache/neckache, and a numb sensation in my mouth. Thankfully, the taste went away after about 7 days and the other symptoms maybe 2 days after eating them. I don’t think I will ever knowingly eat pine nuts again, but all I can say to those of you with it right now is mint tea and green tea were the only things that tasted half decent during that time. You can always use walnuts to make pesto too.
Another case of possible pine nut bitterness in the mouth. This morning I ate some Honeynut Cheerios and had a terrible bitter aftertaste. They weren’t really bad while I was eating but the aftertaste is just hanging on. I don’t usually eat pine nuts but 2 days ago I went to a Lebanese restaurant and had Lebanese ice tea which had a tablespoon or so of, you guessed it, pine nuts. They were so tasty I ate them all. I’ve had them before with no after effects so maybe it is a different type flooding the market lately.
Everything I have eaten in the past 2 days had a subtle bitter taste. After throwing out some of my food, thinking it had gone bad, I started to worry about my health. Surely not everything I was eating was bad.
And sure enough, this is a known issue. I do eat a fair share of pine nuts, but this has never happened to me before. Whew.
Same experience here! I ate pine nuts right out of the bag a few days ago but hadn’t connected it to this awful aftertaste until I googled it. I would really like to know what specifically it is about pine nuts that causes this, though. Good dissertation topic for someone!
Same here. I live in Kazakhstan and bought mine at the local fruit and vegetable market. The seller said they were from Altay on the Russian-Kazakh border. We made pesto which we ate Friday night which was delicious. On Sunday morning I ate a blackcurrant which tasted foul. The taste to me is rather like the thin inner shell of walnut. Very unpleasant eating fruit or drinking fruit juice. But the reaction to the nuts appears to have been delayed? We unwittingly ate more pesto Sunday lunchtime! And I’ve only now just googled! Thanks for the forum. Really hope this weird aftertaste goes away soon.
Sadly most of us now will probably be reluctant to try pine nuts again!
So now it’s been 10 days since I ate the pine nuts and 8 days since I started having the bitterness/nasty taste in my mouth right after eating. It’s much better now with food, but mineral water and coffee still taste disgusting. Happily, I can drink red wine again! And plain old, sweet tap water has never tasted so good :-)).
Yuck! How can I get rid of this awful taste? Had pine nuts this weekend, now I have this awful taste in my mouth. It’s much worse with any carbs.
Yes! This is my story too! I eat pine occasionally without this reaction, but after I ate about half a cup (in a batch of stuffed grapes leaves) over the course of two days, I got this reaction. Lesson learned.
WOW – I recently went on a trip and bought pine nuts at Trader Joe’s and have had this awful bitter taste in my mouth for 2-3 days now! It’s so alarming that I decided to google why I was having this reaction. Thank you for this post – saves me a trip to the doctor!
Had a handful of “Haddon House” pine nuts (which the company confirmed are grown in China) Sunday, June 28, and another the following night. Came down with bitterness Tuesday, June 30, at lunch. It’s crazy. I am telling everyone I know and I’ve written a letter to the FDA. This may be “harmless”, but it’s something that should be more widely known and discussed.
Sunday night i made my first delicious homemeade pesto, Monday night I came down with the “bitters” haha! Thank goodness for your site i am sure i am not dying. I am not sure the origin of my bulk pinenuts from the supermarket but I do know that they were the tiniest pinenuts i had ever seen… I don’t think I will be eting pinenuts again any time soon, it’s not worth the days of icky tasting food 🙁 Here’s to hoping i will only have a few days left.
Who would have thought that a simple whole food could do what we are all describing with the delayed onset that occurs after eating pine nuts? I have never been allergic to any food product in all my life. (Just turned 60) I consider myself pretty common-sensical. I also have eaten pine nuts before with no problems. But just a few days ago, I snacked from a container of them I was using to make pesto and lo and behold, two or three days later (after unknowingly continuing to consume them in the leftovers)the annoyingly bitter, almost like you chewed up a dry medicine tablet in the back of your mouth, has overshadowed anything I eat. I told my husband that if the taste distrubance continues, I’ll lose lots of weight, because food is just not enticing. Nice to find this thread. I am a foodie and amazed I have never heard of this before. Thanks for the thread.
Loved the “I thought I was going to die” comment – same here! Thank goodness for the internet. I had pine nuts 2 nights ago. Have been getting a bitter taste in my mouth whenever I eat something salty/savoury. Peanut butter this morning was particularly bad. And any form of savoury cracker. Sweet things don’t seem to be so bad, although I am always aware of it in some degree. No one else in family affected and we all ate them, also, it was an opened packet and this didn’t happen before. Possibly Sunbeam brand (I am also in Australia) but thrown packet away so cannot say for sure.
Thanks everyone! Was starting to think I must have some rare disorder! I’m a raw food vegan so eat a lot of pine nuts and this is the first time I’ve ever had a reaction like this. I had quite a few on Monday – it’s now Friday – and they were lovely whilst I was eating them but now I keep getting a really awful bitter aftertaste in my mouth after eating, especially anything that’s normally sweet tasting. Got my pine nuts from a very reliable raw food provider so I’ll let them know. I am concerned that there has been a contamination of some kind, though. Have we ingested some kind of toxin?
Arhhh – How many more days until I get rid of this (I think it tastes like bug spray -not that I have ever tried it)horrible taste. Club soda and fruit juice tastes TERRIBLE – It must have been the pine nuts that I ate two nights in a row! They had been in my cabinets for over 3 weeks and I just threw them in a recipe – oh well
Thank goodness I am not completely insane. I have shared your experiences. Had handful of pinenuts the other day as a snack. Normally I throw a few on a salad. And now I have this horrible horrible taste in my mouth 24 hours later.
Thank goodness I didn’t have a weird stroke or something.
God bless Mother Nature for playing this funny trick on us! Ha!
Thanks a lot for this information, we had pasta with pine nuts 4 days ago and started getting bitter taste in mouth since then, i never imagined that pine nuts can cause it, i was thinking this is due to may be travelling or change in dringking water or something else. I am not that worried now. Thanks again, does anyone know how to get rid of it?
hmm. one small handful of pine nuts has so far put me off food for 2 days. everything tastes foul. it is better than the various types of poisoning, toothe decay, and brain tumours that i thought i may have been suffering from tho! avoid the black and gold label pine nuts in ausrtralia-it does not say on the pack where the nuts are grown, just that they are packed in australia. cheers and thanks for the info.
I’m so glad I found this site -it’s put my mind at rest. I went to a Bella Italia restaurant for lunch on Monday and ate a linguine with pesto and lots of pine nuts. On Tuesday I started getting a bitter taste in my mouth after eating and drinking and today it’s worse, hence looking up “bitter tastes” on web and finding all this about pine nuts. I too have eaten pine nuts before but there were more than usual in this linguine.
I live in Germany and made myself this delicious pesto 3 days ago. I was really not getting what was wrong with me, now everything makes sense. I only hope it goes away soon, this is disturbing coz I cant simply ignore it.
God bless the internet!
Well, I don’t know about “thinking I was going to die”. Bit extreme. I thought I had a sinus infection or something. 😉
Well I glad that I found this.
I’ve been having salads at work after my shifts at the pub and have been adding pine nuts as they are so tasty…… and now all I can taste is a bitter bile taste. Very strong and horrid.
Thank you for your research, i’ll givethem a miss.
S
Add my name to the list. I had some pine nuts on Monday the 6th, and Tuesday night dessert had a funny aftertaste. Woke up Wednesday and everything I ate tasted bad. Fruit seems to suffer more, bread and vegetables less so. Watermelon tastes nasty, strawberries taste better, but still have an aftertaste.
I got the pine nuts from Whole Foods in Los Gatos, California. I think the sign on the shelf said they were grown in California, the packaging doesn’t say.
I thought my bitter taste (which has never been experienced before) was due to putting a topical medication on my chin (for acne) and possibly accidentally a minute amount on my tongue. However, I wondered why the taste had been lingering so long. Well, the pine nut theory doesn’t sound so nutty since I consumed some from Trader Joe’s about four days ago. From what I can tell, the taste is the worst with coffee, wine, quiches. How long does this last before finally leaving the system?
This is now the second time I’ve had this. Bloody awful. Both cases of the metallic taste in my mouth came on about a day after eating pine nuts. The first time was just over two years ago, a day after eating a pack of Tesco pine nuts in the UK. I remember googling it at the time and, though there was less information then than now I did come across a few suggestions that it may have been related to pine nuts. I wasn’t sure of the cause, but was relieved when the foul taste went away after about a fortnight. But now it’s back and I’m fairly sure it is pine nuts that are to blame. Two days ago at lunch I bought a pasta salad with a generous helping of pine nuts from my local supermarket in the Netherlands (Albert Heijn). Last night at dinner in a restaurant I was convinced that the red wine I was drinking was off – tasted vile, but, so did the food. It’s exactly the same as it was two years ago. Coffee this morning was disgusting. Ah well, lesson learned: I’ll never touch pine nuts again.
I had pine nuts 3 days ago and have the same bitter taste in my mouth. I eat lots of pine nuts and never had it before, although this time I hooved half a packet. I think they were Sunbeam and the packet was opened. I did not get it when I opened the packet and ate them. Therefore I suppose it either happened because I ate too many or because the packet was already opened and Sunbeam brand. Not sure. It makes me think twice next time I feel like eating them!! Too bad because I love eating pasta with Broccoli and Pine nuts…… 🙁
@Nancy Roberts
Hi! You’ve described my symptoms exactly (yes, gross grapefuit in throat sensation!)… How long did it take till this finished? (I’m going on 2 weeks) 🙁
Sarah
@merideth
I bought mine at Whole Foods too.. I can’t believe this! I bought mine in Denver – where did you get yours? I think I might call Whole Foods to alert them to this – could be it a bad batch of pine nuts?
sarah
Just returned from a trip to France. Had pine nuts in an appetizer (delicious: melon and proscuitto atop raspberry reduction sprinkled with pine nuts). Shared it with my husband and on the flight home everything tasted awful and continues to do so for both of us. Glad it didn’t happen at the beginning of the trip and ruin all the great food I ate!
Made a dish last week with toasted pine nuts in a mixture to put over pork chops. Dish was great! But, snacked a bit on the pine nuts that were left over (SO tasty), and on Friday started getting this bitter taste when I ate. It was getting a little better last night, so I was getting less worried. Woke up this morning and it was back — my coffee tasted nasty! Well, I had a whole handful of Pine Nuts last night. Got them at the supermarket last week. I think I’ll stay away from them from now on… GROSS.
I live in Oslo in Norway, and today me and my boyfriend got pine-mouth. Its terrible!
We ate raw-food dinner 2 days ago with alot of blended pine nuts. I wonder if the bitter taste will get get even worse before it peaks and goes down again. We are the first ones I have heard of getting pine-mouth in Norway. Thank god my liver is ok and for Google;)
I’ve been making homemade pizza with pesto and pine nuts for a while now and all from the exact same jar of pesto and container of pine nutes. No problems for months. But I developed a cold and sore throat and used Ricola Natural Herb Cough Drops and Cēpacol Honey Lemon lozenges for the throat pain and ate a pizza with just a little pesto on it with pine nuts. The next day, very suddenly, while eating peanut butter, I developed the bad taste in my mouth. At first, I thought it was from the Ricola Natural Herb Cough Drops since I had never used them before. I googled Ricola but found the pine nut discussions instead.
I am an anesthesiologist and I wonder if there is a common link between us all. Since a few have posted that wine tastes particularly bad, I’m guessing that many of us drink alchohol. Maybe our livers aren’t able to detoxify the pine oils. I enjoy wine, particularly Sauvingnon Blanc. Maybe I’m on the heavier side of drinking and my liver is maxed out?
Need to hear from non alcohol drinkers out there.
Update on the pine nuts from Whole Foods in Los Gatos. I just got off the phone with them, and apparently the pine nuts were from China, despite the sign on the shelf saying California. Sigh.
I posted on June 28, and intended to re-post sooner… After learning that oxidation might be responsible for this, I decided to counteract with anti-oxidants. It may be a total coincidence and the pine nuts may have just run their course, but by evening the bitter taste was better and the next day it was gone. I had eaten a whole bag (4.75 ounces of the nuts) and was on Day 2 of the bitter, metallic taste. From the amount of nuts I’d eaten, I was afraid I’d have many “bitter days” ahead of me! I drank several glasses of pomegranite blueberry juice and ate fresh blueberries throughout the day. The pomegranite blueberry juice especially seemed to lesson the bitterness. I’d be interested in hearing if others try this and whether it helps them!
I bought a bag of pin nuts two weeks ago and made pesto sauce, with no problems. I then proceded to eat the pinenuts almost every day since, sprinkled on salad, with no problems. Then two days ago i had handful of nuts then a drink of orange juice. It was horrific!! I definately think they are onto something with the oxidation. I had no problems with them until i was at least three quarters of the way through the bag! Now every thing tastes horrible!!
This is the stangest thing ever, the same bitter metallic taste after eating anything that started 3 days ago may have been caused by pine nuts (Dell’Allpe brand w/ good thru date of June 2010…country of origin not listed). They were purchased last Saturday and used in a pasta salad, I seem to be the only person affected. The salad called for toasted pine nuts which I also snacked on, then on Monday snacked on raw pine nuts (tasted perfectly fine, eat them all the time and know they weren’t rancid)…2 days later the bitter meatllic taste started. I am going to try counteracting with anti-oxidants (eating the blueberries and drinking blueberry/pomegranite juice the previous person mentioned to see if it works). Here’s hoping, anything to get rid of this bitter taste, everyone else’s descriptions have been accurate it’s just awful!
I drank lots of orange juice yesterday to get a load of vit C to help my body detox. Its definately made a diference!! The bitter taste hasn’t gone completely but its now barely there. Its only certain foods that are trigering it now.
I have renal failure and I am on dialysis so I immediately thought that the foul taste at the back of my throat (particularly bad when eating or drinking) was caused by my kidney problem. It came on right out of the blue and I feel well with no accompanying symptoms. My husband and I went to dinner on Saturday night and the “foul taste” started on Sunday. Nothing like the metallic taste I sometimes get with my renal problems but something I have never had before. I googled my symptoms “foul taste in the back of the throat particularly when eating and drinking) and pine nuts was the first post I opened. I rang the hotel where we had had dinner and sure enough, the chef had put crushed pine nuts in the cous cous. Nice to know it is not yet another symptom related to the kidney problems and that it is only temporary. I will be interested to see how long it lasts.
Unbelievable! Have been perplexed by this horrible taste for 2 days and in desperation turned to Google to find out which awful disease I have. Thank goodness for the internet, I ran downstairs and immediately checked my pine nut packaging!Sure enough product of China but well within date and eaten raw 2 days ago. Will certainly be aware of this for the future but have been veggie for 20 years and never experienced this reaction before when eating pine nuts.Grateful for the reassurance from comments, will be interesting to see how long it will take to return to normal. Has taken all the fun out of chocolate, although maybe a good diet tip!!
I hadn’t had pine nuts for years. Last Tuesday on a whim asked my hubby to buy a pack at a well known health shop. He came back with a 300g pack at a cost of £8.99 – almost fell off my chair!!! Sprinkled these culprits over the salad that evening. Shock! Horror! 2 days later I had the most foul bitter taste in my mouth. Have never experienced anything like this before. It just seemed to get worse especially when eating. In desperation I started scooping tablespoons of honey out the jar – but to no avail. Eventually resorted to googling the symptoms as I thought I had some horendous disease. What a relief to read that it is due to the pine nuts I had eaten nearly a week ago. Needless to say no pine nuts will ever pass these lips again.
I’m suffering ‘pine mouth’ right now. Very weird. How come I’ve never heard of this before? I’ve had the same symptoms once before in my life, but they went away after a couple of weeks and I never worked out the cause (I figured it was just some viral infection). I was getting so sick of it this time around I thought I’d research this strange symptom online before going to see my doctor. No ailment came close to describing it until I found this blog and read related links.
If it is just a taste – why won’t it go? And why does it get worse when you eat and drink? It’s so strange. But i feel better knowing there’s an explanation (and I had a load of pine nuts on a salad the day before it started so it makes sense).
Anyway, I just want ti to go NOW. I’m sick of wine tasting like liquid metal. That being said – maybe I could patent the pine nut as a cure for alcoholism!
I’ve eaten raw or cooked pine nuts my whole life and never experienced anything strange. Two days ago I noticed a nasty bitter taste when I ate breakfast. I thought it was the food. By the third or fourth meal when I was experiencing a bitter taste within seconds after chewing food, I realized that it was happening every time I ate. Like others here, I was anxious and Googled bitter taste and saw the pine nut connection. I had just bought a package of pine nuts from Trader Joe’s here in Oakland, California and eaten about a 1/4 go 1/2 cup of them. It says on the package they’re from “Korea, China or Viet Nam.” These symptoms began a couple days after I’d eaten them. I can’t wait for it to be over–makes eating extremely unpleasant. The confusing thing to me is that I’ve eaten pine nuts (including from Trader Joe’s) hundreds of times without ever experiencing this. I am truly relieved to know it’s not a horrible illness, but it sure is a strange thing.
This is my second forum post today about a horrible bitter taste in my mouth due to pine nuts! There is something awful going on for a lot of us that involves these nuts from China… I bought some 3 weeks ago from the bulk bin in Whole Foods (Cary, NC, USA). They tasted yummy to me. I’ve used them in meals and for snacking. But one night last week everything tasted bitter for one meal, and starting yesterday afternoon, everything I have eaten tastes extremely bitter and awful. And the awful bitter taste has stayed with me constantly since yesterday. I was able to calm it down a little this afternoon with hot black tea – sipping very slowly. Brushing my teeth helps for about 20 minutes. But I dread getting hungry again. I am also having some acid reflux and esophageal pain, which is not normal for me. I am a wine drinker also. Cab Sav is my fav. I admit, my liver may be contributing to this problem. Is this only happening to drinkers? I am going to try a homeopathic remedies starting tonight. I’ll post again if it helps. Good to know I’m not alone…
About a week ago I started noticing a bitter aftertaste whenever I ate sweets. Since 2 days ago, the bitter taste is very strong, and constant. Until reading these posts my imagination was going wild. But after reading many similar posts, here and on other sites, I am quite sure it’s the pine nuts. I purchased the offending nuts from a bulk bin at Whole Foods (Cary, NC, USA) 3 weeks ago. I have called to let them know about this issue and they confirmed that these pine nuts were sourced from China! My contact says he will be spreading the word about these nuts to more branches of the Whole Foods chain. And also says I can get my $$ back. I am currently trying several homeopathy remedies to see if it will help the bitter taste go away faster. Going on vacation in 2 days- don’t have high hopes for enjoying my taste buds by then…
About a week ago I started noticing a bitter aftertaste whenever I ate sweets. Since 2 days ago, the bitter taste is very strong, and constant. Until searching the internet, my imagination was going wild. But after reading many similar posts, here and on other sites, I am quite sure it’s the pine nuts. I purchased the offending nuts from a bulk bin at Whole Foods (Cary, NC, USA) 3 weeks ago. I have called to let them know about this issue and they confirmed that these pine nuts were sourced from China. My contact says he will be spreading the word about these nuts to more branches of the Whole Foods chain. And also says I can get my $$ back. I am currently trying several homeopathy remedies to see if it will help the bitter taste go away faster. Going on vacation in 2 days- don’t have high hopes for enjoying my taste buds by then…
@Jonathan
I hardly ever drink alcohol, and I don’t think I had any around the time the bad taste started. So maybe there is nothing to the alcohol theory, or maybe I’m just a weird non-drinker who got hit with pine nut mouth. A single case is anecdotal at best of course, so data from more people would help.
For what it’s worth, I’m a vegan, although I doubt that is relevant. That is the only unusual or uncommon aspect of my diet that I can think of.
Just some more information on my story. I filed a complaint with the FDA. Then (at the suggestion of the FDA) I took the pine nuts back to Whole Foods and got a refund. A day or two later, the FDA called back to ask if I would consider giving them the pine nuts so they could analyze them. I told them I had already taken them back to the store, and they said they would get them from the store.
So, if you still have your package of pine nuts, don’t throw them out right away, because the FDA (or whatever appropriate agency for those not in the USA) may want them.
I ate pine nuts two days ago and is experiencing the same bitterness in my mouth. The taste is like a rush on the tongue right after you eat something. According to some postings, it lasts up to a week! Yikes!
I am relieved to know that it isn’t a serious illness. I haven’t had any other “symptoms” to go a long with this either.
I bought these from Meijer (it’s their brand) and the package says that they are imported from China and Portugal.
Is it a chemical thing? I am a science teacher and I am curious to understand exactly what is going on. Do I smell or is my breath offensive to others? I don’t know… you know how garlic seeps from your pores after you eat it? Is it like that?
I feel fine otherwise. Very interesting situation!!!
I found your blog while searching for this exact subject – I bought a bag of Pine Nuts from a health food shop here in the UK. I’ve always enjoyed pine nuts but this time, like all of you here, the day after eating them I have developed this awful (and constant) bitter taste at the back of my mouth. As the pine nuts were the only different thing I had eaten, I decided to google to see if their was a connection. Obviously, there is/was (much to my relief!)
Oh, and yes, the pine nuts in question were from China. I’ll be keeping an eye on this blog to see if the FDA find anything interesting .
This is a relief – knowing that there’re others out there with the same weird bitter taste, which is exacerbated when eating. I live in Melbourne Australia and have been an avid snacker of pine nuts for a long time. I bought a packet from my usual retailer and over the last 3 days or so have been snacking on them at my desk at work. Last night my grilled salmon had a slightly bitter after-taste. Thought it was the fish. My muesli this morning tasted horrendous and so did lunch (leftover salmon and grilled veggies). At dinner a few minutes ago the yummy (well it LOOKED yummy) beef stew my husband made tasted awful. My husband assured me it tasted really good – and i believed him. I immediately hopped onto Google thinking i might have some rare organ disorder (liver, kidneys or something). Was a relief to find this site with other sufferers. I’m going back to the supermarket where i bought the offensive pine nuts and will be checking to see if it came from China. I don’t drink pomegranite juice, but will give cranberry juice a try. Should i be alerting some relevant food authority in Australia about this?
I also had the same thing happen after eating pine nuts
Since a few days every wine I drink tastes bitter. A quick google search brought me to this site, and lo and behold: I put pine seeds in some vegetable dish some time ago. Bought them in Holland (Breskens). No indication of origin to be found on the box.
@Jonathan
hey, i’m researching for mom. she is experiencing the same symptoms and has eaten pine nuts this past wkend. she def does not drink alcohol. not even a sip, so ur liver isn’t the prob. at least not in this instance. the taste for her hasn’t gotten better yet and we are hoping for a speedy recovery. she says anything sweet tastes horrible. as a matter of fact sav blanc is my fav wine too, i wouldnt necessarily categorize it as sweet but i’m sure there are plenty of other flavors that taste horrible as well. hope i helped:-)
@Meredith
could be acid reflux. came up with that after a few searches and alot said GERD.hope that helps and doesnt sound too serious
I have had “pine mouth” on and off for weeks now. I get temporary relief by gargling with store brand mouthwash from CVS, etc, mixed with equal amount of peroxide and some water for dilution. Rinse mouth and throat for 30-60 seconds.
Same here, Salt lake city utah. bought the pine nuts at costco. bitter taste for several days now.
Me too!!!, I can’t believe it…well,I honestly can say that I feel much better now knowing there are so many of us!!
I went to the doctor and he thoughtand -as I didn’t have any other symptoms- that all that bitter taste was in my imagination…I going to go back there and tell him!!
Exactly the same as Val and Jonathan.
Have been suffering for 5 days now and the bitter taste seems to be getting worse not better. I really want to enjoy food with the odd glass of wine again…
I bought ‘Autumn Gold’ premium quality pine nuts (produce of China) from an Asda store in Middlesbrough.
Does it go away?
I have been making myself and my wife salads for lunch for over a year now. I use mixed greens, spinach, mushrooms, sunflower seeds, PINE NUTS, cherry tomatoes, goat cheese and diced turkey or chicken. Two months ago I started having a oily/metallic taste in my mouth. My wife has not had any problem. I went to the dentist thinking it could have been a cracked or failing tooth filling, but the dentist gave me a clean bill of health. He said it could be from sinuous drainage. Wanted to know if I had any allergies and if I was taking medication. I do have allergies to tree and grass pollens and have been seeing an allergist for treatment for almost two years now.
I went on a three week vacation. No pine nuts and no weird taste. Last week I started making salads again and the oily/metallic taste is back! The pine nuts came from the bulk food section of the Ballard Market.
I just got this too after eating a salad with pine nuts 24 hours ago. Pine nuts were bought three days ago from a retailer in Footscray Melbourne Australia. Not sure of the country of origin though.
Weird thing is my wife had the same salad and she hasn’t had any symptoms (yet)…
As with everyone else had this terrible bitter taste in my mouth which I couldn`t get rid of, thought it might be something serious and was planning to get a doctors appointment but thought to google, in a bit of trepidation! `symptom bitter taste in mouth` – and besides reflux and poss diabetes this was what came up and as I made a pesto pasta today for lunch sprinkled with toasted pine nuts and ate the leftovers again for tea this seems a likely candidate. Mine were bought from Lidl and I`ll be checking the packet ( if I can find it in bin!) for source details and contacting the company. I dread to think what night be on them….
I’m in Australia. At pinenuts in a salad on Thursday. Didnt get the bitter taste until Saturday morning. I was a little worried. Grateful to find this thread.
Ok, so after eating two handfuls of raw pine nuts three days ago, yesterday I noticed everything is tasting bitter after I eat or drink. So last night I went online and found this blog. It seems the nuts I ate were from China, or Brazil bought at a Tom Thumb in Texas. It must be from eating a large quantity because everyone in our family ate them on a salad the night before and nothing happened. I dont think it has anything to do with alcohol or what foods we eat. I have been drinking a lot of grape/cranberry juice and will start taking the Vitamin C. Anything with antioxidants sounds like it helps. Not sure how long to expect this reaction. I dont think our pine nuts were old though, so it must have something to do with them in large amounts. It doesn’t seem like the medical community has any of this figured out either. We might have done that for ourselves. Now if we can find out how long it lasts and what can get rid of it faster. Let’s try the fruit and juices with help with antioxidants, cause I think this is like having oxidant poisoning from the nuts. Let us know if any of you that experienced this a while back still have it or it is going away? This is a terrible way to diet when everything we eat tastes this bad!!!
I too was a victim. Been a pine nut fan for years, but this had never happened. Did buy some and also had some in a restaurant meal. Annoying taste. Glad to know I’m not mad and don’t have to sit in a doctors office to likely hear a vague mis-diagnosis. I’ll go and find some vitamin C and hope it goes. Thanks.
Me too!!!!! I’ve been to the dr twice now and had medication for thrush. When the taste was still there after 2 weeks, got mediation for acid reflux! Still there though! The dr assured me it wasn’t thoat cancer (!). I eat pine nuts and pesto loads and had quite alot since this awful taste.Oh no!!! I’m driving everyone mad. Convinced other people can smell it as the taste is so strong, I keep eating mints but they are making it worse!!! Coffee is gross and pesto is even worse!!! What to do???? Mine came from Tesco. The only thing I noticed when I bought them was that they were 70p more than last time I got them. Didn’t check where from. No more for me that’s for sure!
What a relief! I also thought something was seriously wrong with me! I’m a veggie and have been adding pine nuts to my salads in my work cafeteria for the last few weeks. I even ate them today unfortunatly…. Not again though! Anyone know how long it lasts? It’s pretty nasty.
I’ve had “pine mouth” for two days now although at first I thought it was from salmon. Thank goodness it can’t be as a few days ago I ate pine nuts for the first time in my life. I’m so relieved to have found this page or I may have never eaten another salmon again. Also, my husband just read that this metallic taste can last for a few days or a few weeks. I’m on my way to the grocery store for pomegranate antidote. Does anyone know if this has any long-term effects? How about those who ate the nasty nuts and developed no symptoms? I think I’ll call the health department.
Oh! What a relief to know I’m not crazy! I live in Canada. Two weeks ago I ate at a local restaurant which uses pine nuts in a couple of my favourite dishes. Then, three days of bitter metallic ick. Didn’t make the connection until I ate there again yesterday, and woke up today with that same taste again. Finally googled it and found this site. Thank GOODNESS!
Me too. We make our own pesto. Purchasing 365 Brand pine nuts from Whole Foods. They are imported from China. This is the first time this has ever happened, and it is terrible. It starts to go away after about a week. I reported it to the FDA and to Whole Foods. I seriously doubt it is rancidity (oxidation). I ate some plain (before they went into the pesto) and they tasted and smelled fine. We store all nuts in the freezer. Whole Foods people said that they were aware of the situation. It may be that they are coming from a different species of pine. I am so paranoid about ANYTHING coming from China, but when this occurred in the UK, the nuts were tested for pesticides and other residues and tested negative. So it is probably a naturally occurring substance in the nuts (actually, seeds). Now I have to find a source of pine nuts that do not come from Asia.
After a week of staying away from pine nuts, I finally ate something that did not give me an after taste. So I guess it lasts about a week. I did drink a lot of grape/promagrante/cranberry juice. That was the weirdest thing ever and glad to have it over I hope. I did find out my pine nuts were the small ones. Good luck all and hang in there.
I almost never drink alcohol — had a glass of wine months ago — and ate a handful of pine nuts from Wegmans grocery store in DeWitt NY four or five days ago. Never again. Am now two days into the foul taste and very grateful for all the postings.
Sounds like these little nuts are causing bitter taste syndrome all over the world! When dining in Jacksonville, Oregon on Saturday, I had a pasta dish with pine nuts. On Monday morning while eating breakfast with my fellow travelers, my food had this horrible acid like taste, like it had rubbing alcohol in it. I thought it might be the chemical wash on the silverware, but I could not finish my breakfast, though no one else complained. The delicious clam chowder at Crater Lake Lodge ended up tasting so bitter, I could barely finish it, and the bread, butter and water also tasted acidic. My husband never said a thing about his food. Weird, I thought. The same happened this morning with my coffee. How thankful I am for Google and finding these feeds so at least I know there is not something seriously wrong with me. I hope it does not take a week to go away. Have any of you experienced any other symptoms?
What a relief to know that this is a current problem for many people. YUCK! (I miss my healthy taste buds, as I love food!!) I bought some pine nuts from a bin at a grocery store because I needed them for a recipe, and noticed the “Imported from China” labeling, which made me hesitate. I eschew anything grown there! But I didn’t have time to make another stop (though my second source would’ve been Whole Foods, which has similar nuts apparently). So glad I found these posts; otherwise, I would’ve gone to my internist to have to check me out and would’ve spent a lot of time and money and energy worrying about what could be causing it! Good work, all! Please keep reporting this problem to the FDA and to the source of your pine nuts.
Add me to the list. I’ve eaten pine nuts all my life with no side effects, but three days ago got the bitter taste (worse with sweets) for the first time after eating pine nuts in my green salad. Nuts were from Trader Joe’s in California–most probably from China. I’m not a big drinker, so it isn’t my liver. And, interestingly, my wife hasn’t gotten it despite eating the same nuts/salad. I read the comments from a medical person in another forum that the taste may be related to the cadmium in pine nuts. Hope the FDA posts something soon because this appears to be a new and annoying problem for many of us.
Ok, there seems to be some global problem going on with pine nuts this month!! Im from Dublin, Ireland & came down with a dreadful sore throat on Sunday so bought loads of healthy food to boost my immune system; pine nuts, 4 punnets of Blueberries, Bananas, Muesli etc. I ate about 3 handfuls of pine nuts on Sunday. Today, Wednesday (3 days later) my tongue tingled & my muesli this morning and everything I have eaten since tastes vile!! I thought my throat was getting worse so googled the symptoms and came across this discussion. I have had a punnet of Blueberries a day since Sunday & has made no difference to my taste buds. Interesting, how all the above postings are in the same month and regarding the same food 3 days AFTER eating those bloody pine nuts. Mine are from China as well & have never had this problem with pine nuts before. I am amazed & relied to read all your reports, thank you all very much for taking the time to vent about this horrible problem. I would LOVE to know why? Is there a Doctor out there reading this who may offer an answer?
This is amazing. Interestingly, I had pinenuts from the same container early in the month and had no reaction, but I had cooked them. This time I cooked them and had snacked on a handful of raw ones while cooking,they are from China and were bought at the Giant Eagle. A local grocery store in Pittsburgh.
My boyfriend and I are also suffering from this really yucky-tasting issue… I am 17 weeks pregnant, however, and am really hoping that there is no serious side effect on the baby from this. How the hell was I supposed to know that PINE NUTS could cause this? I also hope the FDA puts out some info soon, because now I am worrying that I may have inadvertently hurt my baby.
I purchased PINE NUTS from a supermarket in Brisbane(Australia)about 6 days ago and over the last few days whenever I eat anything have been experiencing a sour metallic like taste at or about the back of my tongue. Incidently, I had never eaten PINE NUTS previous to this.
On the container it stated: “Packaged in Australia from imported ingredients.”
Add another to the list! I ate pasta (pine nuts & feta etc.) at a restaurant in San Diego 5 days ago and have been bitter ever since.
So glad to have found this site. I had dental work recently and thought
the cement for the crown was leaking??? Or my old fillings were breaking down. I’ll call the restaurant tomarrow. I imagine we’ll hear something soon about this in the news media. It’s just too odd!
Hard to believe this! I have had an unpleasent taste in the back of my mouth (when/after I eat) for two days now – so I came on line to see what might be causing it. I had a salad containing pine nuts in London(England) earlier this week from a place I ususally go to for lunch. Can anybody say how long it tends to last?
Glad to know its not the plague. I purchased pine nuts from Sun Harvest in Austin Texas. I ate a handful raw, and toasted the rest and served them in a dish to 10 guests last night. Now several of us are experiencing this issue.
This has just happened to my 12 year old, I was worried that it may have been diabetes. The pine nuts were bought in the supermarket in Sydney(Australia) and the taste disturbance occured about 3 – 4 days after eating, 10 days later it’s just starting to clear up, what a relief, so odd as we eat pine nuts all the time.
how strange. i would not have made the connection, if i hadn’t seen your comments. i also had just eaten some small chinese pinenuts, very few of them, which i had bought at a local supermarket here in paris france.
is that a normal reaction or should i worry about it. the taste is unusually bitter and constant.
Me too!! I have had a bitter taste in my mouth towards the back of my tongue the last 36 hours and thought I would google it to see whats up. Guess what, I had pine nuts and arugula salad about 72 hours ago. Whats up with the pine nuts? Never happened before. Thanks for helping me out.
Hi – We had baby pine nuts 3 days ago and are now all suffering from ‘pine mouth’ I was really worried and thought I had a mouth infection or something, the taste is so disgusting (just like what I imagine poison to taste like) We got our pine nuts from Julian Graeves and it is the first time this has happened. I can’t believe that suppliers are getting away with this! THis should be made general knowledge! Thanks for your blog (at least I know what it is now)
OMG! I have been freaking out for a few days. Had this strange bitter taste on back of tounge – only noticable after eating something – everything kind of taste the same – very annoying. WELL! I have been eating a bag of pine nuts (nothing else to munch on). Packed in Australia. Imported from China. Thats ther last time I ever eat Pine Nuts again
thank you so much for posting this!
I had a pasta, spinach and pine nut salad from Monop on Friday and have been experiencing the bitter taste after eating all weekend. Like others, I was sure it was a horrible disease.
What a relief to find out I am not the only one and on the positive side eating has become so unpleasant I am hoping to lose a few pounds.
@Anne
I am also in San Diego and have been quite confused about the persistent bitter taste in the back of my mouth. To make things worse I had been out with some friends the night before the bitter taste started and had a few drinks. I went to bed feeling a little funny, and woke up in the middle of the night sick to my stomach. I blamed the alcohol even though it made no sense. I am a chemical engineering major, and attempted to use my chemistry knowledge to diagnose/treat the problem by gargling vinegar, antacids, milk, olive oil, water(the universal solvent), etc. Nothing worked. This and these post have made me think it must be a localized physiological reaction. Very unusual. I ate the pine nuts two or three days before this occurred and I had bought them at CostCo less than a week earlier. They will be going back soon.
Am I pleased I found this web site. I no longer think I have a fungal mouth infection and can stop using Listerine. YUK! I live in South West Scotland and I bought Crazy Jack Organic pine nuts from Tesco. The leftovers are now in the bin. On checking, the packet says Produce of China. NEVER AGAIN will I buy this product – its not worth it!
I have had a horrible bitter taste in my mouth, so I Googled it and found your site. Friday I bought and ate Berkley & Jensen All Natural Pine Nuts. It says on the back, “Product of China.” How long does this last, I wonder??
Everyone hang in there it did go away after almost a week of everything tasting horrible. I do think the juices did help make it leave sooner but that will be the last time I eat them by the handfuls anyway!!! Good luck
Yesterday I started a REMEDY which seems to be working. I figure if oxidization is the problem with the pine nuts, than I would eat powerful antioxidant foods. I ate a few cups of organic wild blueberries, and drank green tea (strong brew) steeped with slices of organic ginger. There was an almost immediate relief/improvement.
My pine mouth symptoms started 4 days ago – – a couple of hours after I ate pesto made from pine nuts I bought at “The Bulk Barn” on Leslie Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was so foul and relentless that i googled my symptoms and found sites like this. Looks like I’ll be making walnut pesto from now on instead. I’m hear that it is only Chinese pine nuts that cause this, but I’m even afraid to try my regular mediterranean pinenuts now. GOOD LUCK EVERYONE…try eating good organic blueberries and drinking strong organic green tea brewed with ginger. It definitely helped me!!!
I just found this site after googling bitter taste after eating and bingo I had eaten pine nuts a few days prior!!!
I have been suffering for 5 days and it seems to be getting worse. Has anyone been given an antibiotic for this?
I ate some pine nuts yesterday – that were probably questionably too old. Have been having that bitter taste on my toungue every time I eat something. Amazing how many people there are out there with this experience….
Umm, wow. So, add me to the list as well. I don’t buy pine nuts, but a friend was making pesto and gave a bowl of nuts to her two year old. Of course the child made a game of feeding most of the nuts to me…
Most everything has tasted like a cross between poorly shelled pecans and rotten iced-tea for the past two days.
Too bad there is a club to join, but I’m glad I’m not alone!
I bought a big pack of pine nuts that was not sealed or covered from light from Wellingtons in Ottery, South Africa about 2days ago. Today started experiencing a bitter taste on the back of my tongue after i ate something! It’s really awful but so glad i found this page, i thought i was going diabetic of had juandis or sumting!! 🙂 Try eating pineapple or beatroot it seemed to help a bit…
I bought mine from Julia Graves too ! baby pine nuts. I am still not sure it was the pine nuts becasue i had them at lunch time and the bitterness only kicked in that night. I must say it scared the life out of me when I looked at what it could be ! i do hope it was just the nuts. What am i meant to do about it ?
@Craig Hi Craig, I’m writing a story for The Daily Beast on pine nuts and I was wondering if you could give me some more information regarding your dinner party and how many of your guests experienced symptoms. Thank you so much!
I bought pine nuts in Czech Republic in healthy food shop, eat only few and the horrible bitter taste appears the second day. I’m so happy I found this website as I was starting wondering which doctor to see first. Hope it will go away soon
I thought I was going crazy. I made a big salad with pine nuts on Monday night. Wednesday I woke up with this terrible bitter taste in my mouth. I went out with friends that evening and ordered a glass of wine…I wanted to send it back (that never happens!!!)it was awful. I too, typed in bitter taste and took some comfort in the pine nut theory. Today I started taking Prilosec thinking it was stomach acid causing the bitterness. I’m leaving on vacation and hoping this will go away soon.
My wife and I both consumed pine nuts yesterday evening purchased from a local supermarket. Shortly afer doing so, both of us commented on a disturbing bitter taste on the back of our tounges. We both felt the pine nuts were the culprit– since the taste started almost immediately after eating them.
I never heard of this before I googled pine nuts and bitter taste. Ugh! I hope this does not last too long..
I spent all day today with a bitter taste on the back of my tongue. Every time I put any food in my mouth, after I swallowed it, BITTER. Everything tasted so bad that I kept trying sweets to combat the taste, but even sweets left a bitter after taste on the back of my tongue. After reading all these blogs about Pine nuts, I had an A-HA moment. The bag of pine nuts I had been snacking on were still at my computer desk, right in front of me. These were distributed by Western Foods Corp., and sold by Shoprite. And marked made in USA. Now I don’t know if the packaging was made in the USA or the food was made in the USA, but I suspect I was eating Pine Nuts, imported from China and packaged in the USA. Since there was no country of origin on the package, I can only draw my own conclusions, from my symptoms. Thanks for relieving my mind and letting me know there would be an end to this bitter problem.
I’m from the UK, but spend a lot of time in Galway in Ireland. I noticed that each time I’m there, for five days or so after returning to England, I have this horrible aftertaste when I eat. I had wondered whether it had something to do with a change of water supply. Thanks to a Google search and this site, I now realise that it’s got to be pine nuts! Whenever I go to Ireland I cook a tagliatelle with a sauce for family there that includes them – normally I don’t eat pine nuts. I buy them invariably from Waitrose (renowned for the high quality of their food). I’ll check with their head office to see where they source them, and post again. Thanks so much for this information. I was quite worried that the taste was a symptom of something seriously wrong!!
Well I must say I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one to be experiencing this, but I’m shocked by how global the problem is. I currently live in St Petersburg, Russia, and had pinenuts in a salad in a restaurant on wednesday – since yesterday morning everything I’ve eaten or drunk has tasted disgusting – so pleased to have worked out what it is! Does anyone know if anything is being done? Surely it should be being worked out which pine nuts it is and getting them withdrawn from sale?
Had pine nuts monday in pasta-leftovers tuesday and a big handful of pine nuts weds. The bad taste started saturday morning. I fear I am in for a long bout. Anyone find the “remedies” helpful?
Wow that’s so weird, for a moment I thought I am dying lol… I ate pine nuts before and this is the first time I am experiencing the bitterness. Everything tastes horrible, how long will this last?
Oh my God, I am sitting here feeling sick with the intense bitterness in my mouth that suddenly appeared two days ago. 2 minutes ago I jumped online to search out a reason. It is only there when I eat or drink something and then fades away eventually. So I’m fearing dental disaster or worse when I find this site and discover that packet of pinenuts that I bit into two days ago, first time I’ve eaten them for years and they turn out to be severely out of date, and slightly rancid and yes,of Chinese origin! This site is a relief and a revelation! now I believe those damn nuts are totally to blame.
What a relief! I,too thought I might have diabetes!As I Have had a history of gestational insulin dependent diabetes with my third son. My family and I went to the Hunter Valley NSW Australia and on Sat night I had a very delicious gnocci gorgonzola with spinach and lots of pine nuts. Over the last 2 days I have had the bitter taste at the back of the tongue and of course I was throwing out food thinking it was “off” I am keen to ring the restaurant to let them know and ask where do they source their pine nuts from.Although they might think I’m a “nut job”Thx
This sounds like a pandemic!! My husband and I had some pesto 3 days ago and both of us noticed a horrible bitter taste after eating anything since then. I’m so glad to have found out that we’re not alone. I’ll definately try taking a lot of vitamin c. This is ruining our mealtimes!!! Good luck everyone:)
Hi… I also thank you for this web-site. I’ve eaten pine nuts now for the last 4 days on and off, what a nasty, metal, taste in my mouth. I read somewhere that people who have 0 blood type experience this affect more than others after consuming pine nuts, any comment on that? Maybe we could use this as a diet medication, you really do not want to eat cause you know the taste is coming!
Thank GOD I found this site – I’ve been going ‘nuts’ with worry over this.
I simply cannot believe how bad this metallic taste is – PLEASE tell me it will go away soon.
Made Pesto with Pine Nuts bought from large Fruit Shop in Oakleigh, Victoria – am about to toss the lot.
THANK YOU to this site – I am so relieved to find out why.
Today I made banana bread. The mashed bananas tasted bitter. I thought straaaaange – they are so ripe they should be sweet. Continued with recipe including brown sugar. the finished product was bitter. So was a stew I made. My late. everything I have passed over my tongue bitter. I ate a handful of pine nuts yesterday. Just bought them. I guess I will throw them out. Makes me nervous. And I too am interested in how long it will last – guess I’ll find out.
UPDATE!! The problem subsequently passed it took about 6-7 days after initial taste disturbance….(will not risk eating PINE NUTS again!!)
Cheers RAY #1
AT — yes for sure – we should get the word out…. who knows what could be happening inside of our bodies fromt these tainted morsels!!!!
Me again! OK I just realized that this thing started or appears to have started in JANUARY – AND WE ARE STILL EATING THEM..
I have enjoyed Pine Nuts before this week and NOT had a problem. It must be certain ones.
I have had the metallic taste in my mouth since last night. My husband and I both experienced it while eating dinner, we couldn’t figure out if it was the wine or the meat that was bad. I went online this morning and found this blog, guess what we had a dish with pine nuts two days ago! I live in Lincoln, Nebraska. I’ll have to check the packaging on the nuts if I still have it. My husband is fine this morning but it is still affecting me. I have type O blood but he is AB. I hope this goes away soon.
thank you all for the info i to thought the worst,sad to say i have been eating handfuls of the darned things all week,they are going in the bin pronto!!!thanks
Previously I had been eating the Chinese pinenuts moderately s without having the bitter taste.But of lately, the last 2 months, I have been eating lots of this same Chinese packed Pines nuts in quatity, something like 200 or 300 nuts daily. 5 to 6 weeks ago, I sudden realised that my mouth was very bitter with a metalic feelings. My taste bud was almost not normal as I began to eat fruits like the apple as if they are flat.
Just last weekend,Saturday,(8th of August 09) I passed on the balance of my bottle of pine nuts to my son who too ate them.I also told him of my whole month of bitterness in my mouth. Then when he returned to Sydney on Sunday, I gave him a new bottle of 200 gms of nuts
to take back and to share them with his family.
Wednesday night, he rang me to tell me that he found out why my mounth has been bitter. For he and his wife ate those pine nuts and they too felt the bitterness. I spoke to his wife last night, and she told me that she ate only a mere handfuf, and the next day or so, she felt the metalic bitterness too.
This shows each person reacts differently, It took me a long time of a period of about a month with lots of eating to feel the effect. I would hade eaten perhaps 400 grams by then to that effect.
Two weeks back, I saw my GP and he gave me 7 days of free try on some sample of pills. I took only 6 of those. Last week I saw him again, and he said I have a silent reflax, a “throw back from the stomach”. He describe a drug for me to take.
I refuse to take it. I consult another retired GP friend of mine, and he reckoned that I have taken some food constantly that have upset my balance of diet.
Thanks God, my Son came down last week and I gave him those pine nuts to eat and take a bottle back to share with his family otherwise, I will still in the dark as what causes my bitterness.
One more thing I found out, the beer taste extremely good as I offered him and myself had my first taste of beer after a long time of no beer,
perhaps 6 months back.
I have made three spelling mistakes.” quatity”.. “mounth”… “hade”.
Please amend to: Quantity, Mouth and had.
Thanks.
Jude.
Well beer is a litte bit bitter Jude – so the taste could not be spoiled too much. LOL …. So today is the third day and I still experience mild bitterness when I eat however it seems go be getting better.
Crazy. I’ve been googling for a couple of days now and only just came across the pine nuts problem. I had pine nuts in Costa Rica last Tuesday and late Wednesday I was getting the bitter taste from everything. It seems to be dying down a bit now but I was starting to lose my cool.
also experiencing the same metallic taste at the back of throat having consumed pine nuts. again i have been getting it after eating for the past few days. pine nuts were purchased in cork, ireland.
My goodness and I thought I was getting some kind of disease. I had a hand full of raw pine nuts on Monday and some with pesto; on Tuesday, the horrible taste started. Today is Sunday and I am still experience the bitterness in my mouth whenever I eat something. The nuts were packaged in the USA but a product of Chine. I am glad I found this site.
My whole family is currently experiencing this phenomenon. Each of us thought we were the only one until one of us began discussing it. We immediately assumed that it must be something in our water since we were all experiencing the same bitterness. After a Google search, we realized we had all eaten my wife’s delicious homemade pesto. The pine nuts were purchased from the Trader Joes Market here in northern California. Thanks for posting this website.
I have had pine nuts before and have experienced no problems. Now I have bought some in Estonia and everything tastes bitter.
Pine nuts did taste different this time and were really small.
Count me in, too. I bought the pine nuts in a South Florida store (which is now pulling the nuts from its shelf), ate some on Thursday, and started getting the odd taste on Saturday. On the up side, I guess I’ll lose the few pounds I put on over the past couple of months!
I am so grateful to have found this page. Today is my third day of experiencing this horrid, bitter aftertaste and I was getting extremely concerned! I purchased Badia brand pinenuts at Publix, made pesto on Thursday night and also ate them on a salad for lunch on Friday. My husband and I went out to dinner last night and I had a glass of champagne that tasted absolutely awful. It was like drinking bitter, liquid metal. There is no information on the packaging or on the company website as to the origin of the product, but I plan on calling the company tomorrow to find out. I will definitely try pomegranate juice and hope that this ends soon. I am shocked at how widespread this is, but I do feel relieved to know the cause and that I am not alone.
Since eating pine nuts last week, my blood sugar count and my blood presure has gone up. I have had a couple of headaches in the back of my head and felt like I might have a stroke. Trying to eat healthier,I began eating salads making them declicious with lots of pine nuts. Everything taste bitter, or metalic now. I checked the back of the bag and it’s a product of China. I’m not sure if that should be a concern or not. All of us could be having an reaction to this kind of nut. Even if we’re not allergic to this nut we could be experiencing a reation in the form of taste whenever we eat something or more reactions. I would suggest that every one of us report this problem to the store or resturant you got the pine nuts from. Maybe there needs to be a recall.
I’ve had the bitter metallic taste for 3 days now, after having a tapas dish with pine nuts in a Sydney restaurant on Friday night (Australia). I’m going to try the Vit C and antioxidants, and will also ask the Chemist/Naturopath about Alpha Lipoic Acid and Activated charcoal.
Has anyone discovered what is the actual metallic taste? Can nuts accumulate heavy metals? Is it aflotoxins/fungus in the raw nuts?
Has anyone out there had the bitterness from toasted pine nuts, or is it only from consuming them raw??
Curiously, Vegemite is tolerable. Most other foods aggravate the horrible metallic taste.
This is too weird…I have noticed a bitter taste in my mouth only after eating or drinking something for the last few days…I googled “bitter taste in mouth after eating and drinking” and found this. And of course, I made a HUGE batch of pesto with all the basil I harvested from my garden Thursday evening….argh! My pine nuts were from the bulk section at the Sunflower Market…I think I’m more upset about all my basil going to bunk pesto than the fact that I have a few more days of this!!! Never had this happen before, either….weird!
I even went as far as to see the doctor due to this bitter/metalic taste. I am please to as to find this post, as I have been consuming pinenuts too. Thinking back I have had the larger ones but bought some from a bulk food store and they are definately the smaller variety. They even tasted a little wooody when eaten. Just wondering how long this will last and will avoid the little pinenuts from now on. I too am a diabetic, not sure about the sugar levels rising but will see what effect if any they have on BGL’s.
I have just managed to get rid of the horrible bitter aftertaste from Julian Graves Baby Pine Nuts (country of origin not specified), eaten 8 days ago.Like other correspondents, I had to avoid wine, coffee and acidic fruits, like raspberries and strawberries. Pineapple juice helped but every moring I woke up with a horrible taste in my mouth which lasted all day.
I took a copy of last week’s comments from this website to Julian Graves – the assistant said they were aware of the problem but had tested the products and not found anything conclusive, so would continue to stock them.
Given the amount of people contributing to this discussion, I think a warning on the shelf is the minimum they and other Health food shops could do.
It is now a week after my initial experience with the bitter taste and gradually my taste buds have returned to normal. The first few days were the worst. I think everyone does have a slightly different reaction. My husband was only affected for a day. The local grocery where we purchased the pine nuts was very understanding after we pointed out what had happened and pulled the supply from their shelves. They reported the problem to their supplier who questioned whether I was just having an allergic reaction. Not so, I’ve eaten them many other times with no problem. Now however the grocery is searching for a new source for pine nuts, they found three other suppliers but all only had pine nuts from China! What has happened to other sources for them?
I’m so thrilled to have found this blog! I’ve been going crazy with this bitter taste in my mouth. I had a dinner party on a Saturday night added raw pine nuts to the salad, which I’ve done numerous times without a problem, but this time, not so lucky. For the past four days I’ve had the worst taste in my mouth. BITTER! Everything I’ve eaten tastes horrible. I started to think there was something seriously wrong, but all the information I found didn’t fit my symptoms. I have no idea where my pine nuts came from, more than likely its China. Misery loves company, and boy am I glad I have a lot of company.
WOW….this is weird….we are all experiencing the same thing. I thought something horrible was happening to me and then did what everyone else did and seached online. I too had pine nuts on Sunday and it started 2 days later and still going. I’m not sure the origin of them but will check that out! I eat pine nuts a lot and have NEVER had this problem. Does anyone else have any other symptoms?
Yeah – I’m on day two. Also I’m in Sydney. It’s misery. Two things I love are cooking and eating. I’ve barely eaten since this started, very suddenly, yesterday morning, while eating a few mouthfuls of leftovers from the delicious pasta and roast veggies with pine nuts dish i’d cooked the night before. The three serves I had the previous night were fine, but i got one bad nut on the second day and everything’s been bitter metal since. I can barely eat. Thank god for the internet! Advice to fellow sufferers – avoid red wine like the plague.
And to answer your question – I fried the pine nuts. Mind you , that might be slightly different to roasting. They’re Chinese ones. I’ll stick to Italian from here on whatever the price. Pine nuts feature greatly in my cooking.
ps thanks for the vegemite tip. I’ve found preserved lemon tolerable too. I think it’s salt-related. Salt seems to ameliorate things a bit. I have a feeling grapefruit juice works too but need more testing…
@SarahL
My gosh! I’m glad to find this page too! I have this horrible bitter taste when I eat or drink anything so I’ve been casting around to find an explanation before I go to my doctor looking like a hypochondriac. And as it turns out – i bought a bag of pine nutes from Trader Joe’s and have been putting them in salads, on pasta, or eating them plain. When I get home tonight I’ll have to look a the bag and see where they are from.
WOW, I can’t believe how many other people have this problem and it all seems so recent… Since yesterday I have had a horrible bitter taste in my mouth so I asked my daughter to google ‘bitter taste in mouth after eating’ and found this… Last week I bought a Pine nuts in a punnet and have been eating them by the hand full as I have been trying to eat healthy and since then I have had this taste in my mouth. I was wondering what was wrong with me.
This blog is incredible, but the taste in my mouth is horrible. I, too, thought I was about to die until I googled “bitter metallic taste in mouth” and realized I had eaten pine nuts in a salad the day before. I have been eating and loving pine nuts forever, not sure why this happened this time. Sadly, after reading all of these postings, no one seems to have any remedy? Stay away from Swiss cheese with pine nut mouth, quite possibly the worst encounter yet!
YUCK!!! My minty fresh tooth paste even tastes horrible! I brushed the heck out of my theeth and tounge and still it is funking up my mouth… It does go away though, right??? This is so weird, the delayed reaction, I had bulk the pine nuts Monday (a lot of them granted) and now I wake up today, Thursday morn, and everything taste so nasty. My three year old ate them too I wonder if he is feeling the effects? He still seems to be eating to I kinda doubt it. Does everyone who eats the weirdo nuts get effected?
The supplier to the grocery store where I got my pine nuts said that these symptoms were a classic reaction to rancid fats. When I looked afterwards at the remainder of my pine nuts it looked like some were darker than others. I wonder if someone in China has been mixing bad nuts with good ones. The supplier said this was only the second report they had. Not everyone may figure out the connection so please report it to get this problem solved!
A follow up to my comment of 08/19 – I looked at my bag of Pine Nuts and they are the TJ’s brand Dry Roasted Pignolias, product of Russia or Korea – same as the Trader Joe’s product that others have documented here.
Hi all,
I have also been experiencing this strange bitter taste in my mouth after EVERYTHING I eat. I searched the internet and didn’t find anything that was too helpful. After reading this blog I remembered that I ate raw pine nuts the night I started to experience this symptom. I purchased these pine nuts from a privately owned store in Brooklyn. I called to see where the pine nuts are from but the owner wasn’t there so I couldn’t get a straight answer. How long will this last?
@Shiney
Omg i have just commented on another site about this , i never reply or comment but this is crazy. What scared me was everyone seemed to have symptoms 2 days later, i made my pesto last night, and 2 hours later my symptoms began, (i threw alot of pine nuts in my pesto) first time i used them i usually dont use them. I too love cooking and eating, i hope it goes away fast, oh and white wine was not too good a choice either. Still shocked at this whole experience, i was so scared i was sick, tahnk god for these blogs.
Thank Goodness I have found the reason why I have this awful rancid poisonous taste in my mouth. I thought I had digestive problems or my liver was packing in. I ate pine nuts with pesto and chicken and then had a handful of pine nuts on their own and have had this taste for 2 days now. How long does it last and does anyone know how to get rid of it? I am going to my friends 40th birthday party tonight where there will be lots of food and drink and I wont be able to enjoy any of it. Word of advice avoid coffee! Looked at my bag of pine nuts and the are from China brand name is Forest feast.
Hi – having the same disgusting experience after having eaten pine nuts toasted in a salad and then raw a couple of days ago. They are from “Fresh and Wild” and were bought in Camden in London. It doesn’t say where they come from on the packet – rather it just states ‘Product of Various’ although they are supposed to be organic(!). Not a great start to my holiday next week…..
@Shiney
My follow up… I am still getting a mild taste disruption 9 days after consuming the offensive pine nuts. When it seemed to be at the peak (2-3 days), I tried a small teaspoon of apple cider vinegar before eating big meals & I wasn’t getting such a strong bitter metallic aftertaste. It could also be coincidence!
Well, so glad to find the cause! I too am veggie so eat a lot of pine nuts (relatively anyway!). I ate some last weekend bought from Morrisons Supermarket, country of origin unknown. As all above have said, soon after got a rancid taste, which has lasted 3 days and occurs whenever I eat something. Really horrible and annoying. Glad to have found this blog!!
Wow! Am i glad to have taken the time to look into this! I thought I was afflicted with something serious! I had pine nuts from Whole Foods Market on Wednesday and have had this bitter taste ever since! It has made me not even want to eat anything since it’s the only thing that I can taste while I am eating or drinking! Even strong foods like jalepenos don’t knock out the taste! Thank you for taking the time to put your findings on this blog! What a relief!
I am so glad that I found this website too. I started having bitter taste in my mouth 4 days ago. Initially I thought it was the cucumber salad or the broccoli and also suspected the basil in the home-made pesto sauce that I ate two days in a row. I goggled the cause for this annoying taste and really thought I have something serious with me!!! I feel better after I found these posting here.
My pine nuts is of Flavor Tree brand, it’s packed in USA but it’s from China and Portugal. I am going to call Whole Foods to ask about this.
How do I get rid of the bitter taste?
Just had a spoonful of peanut butter…it tastes like metal…so did everything yesterday and the day before. I remembered that I had a whole handful of roasted pignoles from Trader Joes…I am so glad to run across this blog. I thought it was the new vitamins I was taking. No more pigging out on the pignoles!!!
I have been using pine nuts from Costco in my salad( From China)for a long time and have only noticed this bitter taste after eating the last few weeks. I do not take any edications and I started getting worrried until I googled it and perhaps there is an association between pine nuts and bitter taste in my mouth. Of late,I have been snacking more on pine nuts that are left out in my office drawer. Shall I toast them? Shall I keep them in the refrigirator. Is there association between how much pite nuts one eats and the bitter taste?
@Angie
I had the same brand from Publix and the same results. How long does it take to go away? I am taking this article and the rest of the nuts to Publix…
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A. here. I bought pine nuts from a FreshMarket bulk foods section and had them pan-roasted/fried in some olive oil a few days ago. Yesterday I bought some bread with walnuts and went on and on about how the walnuts must be bitter, then at lunch thought something else was bitter and last night when some birthday ice cream cake was bitter, started to get a little worried.
Thanks for posting the pine nut information. It will save me a trip to the Doctor’s office.
Again – thanks for the blog… I make my owm mix of nuts and seeds all the time… that both my husband and I eat.. I also buy my pine nuts from Costco – I toast them and have not had a problem before. Infact the weird thing is – I used one half of a bag – had no reaction – then with this other half bag – ate some about 2 days ago – and only today have this taste after almost everything I eat. Not too bad after almonds for some reason – now realise why the red wine last night was a bit sour… Husband has no problems.. going to try lots of horseraddish on my burger tonight!
I ate raw pine nuts purchased from Sunflower Market on Friday and woke up Sunday with a horrible taste in my mouth. Like others, everything tastes horrible. Going to the doctor tomorrow to see what he says, but I think I have the answer.
This is truly a bizarre occurance. I made a big batch of pesto with, you guessed it, pine nuts, and from China! When does this taste go away? The rancid fat theory does seem to make sense. Coffee seems o.k., and milk and peanuts. Beware of wine, eggplant and zuchinni. Asparugus is a bad offender. Good time to start that diet.
I Love food and can not get over the fact that everything I eat taste bitter! Dished myself some veggies for lunch – eggplant and zucchini included – needless to say – it all tasted terrible. How long will this torture last?
Glad to have found this and interesting that others have had a delayed reaction. 9 days and still bitter?? I miss coffeeeeeeeee. It tastes horrible.
I’m having the same problem and I am glad to find out the cause. All of these are posted in August 2009. What brands have you all been eating? Maybe there should be some calls to the companies who distribute them.
I am on day 2 of what I’ve termed “Metal Ass mouth.” The food tastes ok, but the aftertaste is terrible. And lasts for hours. It is so bad I have vomited from the taste. Fortunately, that tastes better.
Just found this site and discovered the bizarre pine nut mouth phenomenon. I, too, am in the throes of the bitterness. Ate about a quarter bag of Trader Joe’s pignolias (bag says “Product of Korea, Russia, or Vietnam”), and they tasted delicious at the time. Several days later I noticed the grossness in the back of my mouth. I’ve been hawking lugies ever since (been about a week, I’d say), desperate to get rid of it. Doesn’t really work. This did not happen to my partner; he ate the same dish and did not get the taste. Someone on this post surmised that there was a link to alcohol consumption–I don’t drink, so that theory doesn’t hold. Interestingly, my toothbrush has developed this gross inflorescence all over the bottom of the bristles during this period, while my partner’s (stored right next to mine) looks normal. Not sure if it’s related, but it certainly seems suspect. Anyone else have this happen?
@Mike
Dave – what’s the answer? It’s Tuesday and I still have a weird taste, although not as bad…
I’ve been having the same bitter metallic after taste in my mouth for the last few days. I got my pine nuts from Trader Joes last week. Nothing I do will make the taste go away. Ugh!
Add me to the list. Made a big batch of pesto saturday night, and then also had some on sunday along with a handful of nuts. Bitter taste started Monday afternoon and comes on like a fire hose after every meal, lasts about an hour. Yuk. I don’t think I will have a stomach for pine nuts again. I bought them out of a bulk bin at a nice large grocery store. Make it go away!!!!
Hi
I was 3 weeks pregnant at the time, so like you am hoping this as no long term effects. If you hear of any other information please post. Thank you
bizarre, I”m on day three of this awful bitter aftertaste (only after eating and drinking) and this is after eating a whole bunch of pinenuts whilst hunting around the kitchen for a snack… I usually don’t eat them so can’t say if it’s an ‘off-batch’ or what have you… my partner bought them so not sure where they’re from – somewhere in Stoke Newington (e.london) or nearby though.
I am experiencing the same metal mouth bitter symptoms and have made pounds of pesto with pine nuts this week. My family seems unaffected but I have been eating pesto by the spoon and pine nuts by the handful. The taste after eating any food or drink is terrible.
Same, same, same! Awful bitter metallic taste and I know my dental hygiene is excellent, so when brushing and cleaning my tongue with my scraper did nothing for the taste, it was time to hunt down the answer on the internet.
I ate 1/4 of a bag of pine nuts raw, bought from Albertson’s under the brand name “Melissa’s” and wouldn’t you guess it … they are from China. Now I have eaten pignolia’s since I was a little girl and never had this problem and admittedly, I have never noticed where the nuts came from, so I don’t want to jump to conclusions and say it is because of China-brand, but damnit if everything else China produces is bad for you – like toothpaste with antifreeze in it, then it makes sense.
So does this mean as long as they are not from there, they are still okay to eat? Or am I doomed to a life without pine nuts?
Ive got it too! so glad i found this site. i love pinons and had some in a salad on thurs, fri and sat as well as ate handfulls during the day. ive never had this before but it has been the worst the last few days. Tastes like bile in my mouth! I started worrying about everything from liver failure to brain tumors! My pinons were from Trader Joes and are a product of China, not sure if that matters. I hope this goes away soon!
Add me to the list of August pine nut mouthed people. I ate them on a pizza at a restaurant in Melbourne on Sat night. My case isn’t as severe and I only taste the bitterness when I eat my morning toast with honey. Will go and taste some wine now as a test.
I am so glad that I found this site. I ate two hanfuls of pine nuts the other day that I purchased from Costco and have had a bitter taste in my mouth-kind of like the after taste of grapefruit-since I ate them. I had myself with liver failure-or sinusitis or something worse. I just checked the bag and the pine nuts from Costco are from China. That’s the culprit. Thanks to all that have contributed to this site.
I ate my pine nuts three days ago and it’s been two days of misery now. I found this page and was amazed that all the comments were made so recently. Must be the same batch of pine nuts. My husband is eating some now as an experiment.
I purchased mine from the bulk section of a Whole Foods in Massachusetts, USA. Tomorrow I’m going to bring them back .
I too have been suffering from a horrible bitter taste in my mouth – and was worried I had a leaky filling (at best) or something sinister (at worst). Googled it and I can’t belive it because I too ate pine nuts on Tuesday evening and I started with the taste yesterday morning after eating a banana. I thought it might be that the banana was off, but it has not gone away and is really bad after eating – the apple I ate an hour ago tasted disgusting. I’m at work at the moment so don’t know where they came from, but will be checking it out when I get home. They are the brand I always buy and I’ve never had this before. I think they are organic Jack’s brand. I’m not looking forward to eating my lunch as I know it will taste horrible. What is the link with diabetes? I’m not diabetic (I don’t think) but wondered if perhaps I should have my blood sugar level checked in case I might be – especially if there is a link between the two. I hope it goes away soon. p.s. I’ve also had a terrible headache and felt queasy.
On day 5 of the Pine Nut Diet. Lost 5 lbs.
Am I the only one suffering with halitosis because of this horrible tase?
My husband and children have kindly told me that my breath is stinking now! Off to the dentist next week to see what they can recommend – unless anyone else has some positive ideas.
I believe I too, am a pine nut victim. I recently made pesto with pine nuts purchased in bulk from Whole Foods Market and have an extremely bitter taste while eating or drinking anything. With all of the concern recently over the safety of products (food or otherwise) coming from China, this is quite worrying to me. What is in these pine nuts that is causing this? Mine were not rancid – I could tell from the flavor. Could there be a toxin that is affecting the liver?
I laughed out loud when I read Roger saying he thought he might die. I googled this “bitter taste after eating” as a first step before seeking medical attention myself. Especially because I recently had oral surgery. And when I saw the mention of pine nuts it didn’t register with me because I don’t eat much pine nuts. Normally. Except about 6 days ago when I made a beautiful farfalle with butternut squash, sage and PINE NUTS. Thanks to all for posting your stories. My pine nuts came from Trader Joes and they say “procuct of Korea, Russia or Viet Nam” Don’t know what to make of that but the last thing that tasted good was that meal. Who knew? ps Mike, you’re funny
I am in Boulder, Colorado and have been having the same bitter aftertaste after eating for over a week now (this is 8/28/09. I had bought pine nuts from Lucky’s, which is a
Sunflower market. They did taste a bit odd, not horrible. I noticed how cheap they were, so does that mean they are Chinese? They were in a small bulk like 4 oz. I also have had low back pain, and gas. I hope I can find the receipt to track the thing.
this is me in Colorado again.
I got them at Safeway on 8/17, not Luckys. Sorry Luckys. Regardless, I’m not having pine nuts again, unless the pinoles are from New Mexico. The bitterness seems to be subsiding. I had to throw out a lasagna with them in and on it. It was the worst tasting thing I’ve ever made and I’m 49. My back pain started the day before. I’ll be more carful if I ever blog again.
Count me in, too. I ate a couple of handfuls of (presumably Chinese) pine nuts from Winco Foods in Eugene, Oregon on Friday, and started noticing the bitter aftertaste last night. Really, really nasty. I can’t enjoy anything I eat.
Taste starting to go now after 5 days – couldn’t eat anything on Saturday or Sunday as everything tasted rancid. Have lost 4lbs – so not all bad! Will never eat pine nuts again. I am writing to the company (Crazy Jack’s organic) to complain and advise them about the ill effects. They were product of China when I checked. I will also tell everyone I know to avoid eating pine nuts from China. I’ll let you know if the company relpy.
Thank-you everybody for this precious information. we ate pine nuts from china some days ago and had bitter taste in the mouth – no matter what we ate – for at least four/five days. amazing… but at least now we know the reason !
Marco
I’ve experienced the same symptoms! I served a lovely salad with endive, arugula and pine nuts last Sunday. I didn’t notice the bitter taste after eating until last Monday night. The bitter taste is finally subsiding, but now I have a very painful canker sore on my tongue. I purchased the pine nuts at Shop Rite…they were the store brand and I didn’t save the package, so I’m unable to find out where the nuts are from. I’ll never eat them again.
yup, same thing just happened to me. Two days ago I ate raw pine nuts and everything I eat now has a weird awful aftertaste. Is this really from the nut and not some Chinese pesticide residue problem? I ate Melissa’s Pine Nuts – from LA CA but processed in China.
Unbelievable! Just googled “bitter taste when eating” and noticed this pine nut blog…I had just made a rice salad with pine nuts. They tasted so good I gobbled the leftovers in the bottle. Checked, just now where, they’re from. Brand is Hadden House with no origin mentioned but googling it and it turns out to be from… China! I am interested in the idea of some toxin from China because I too noticed how particularly fresh and good these pine nuts tasted. Does anyone have any other thoughts about the China connection?
This is so bizarre. I have had this weird bitter metallic taste in my mouth after I eat or drink anything for the last two days. I’ve never experienced anything like it before. I also googled this “symptom” this morning and found this blog. I ate raw pine nuts two days ago, but mine were out of the freezer. I had purchased them from the bulk foods bins at Whole Foods weeks ago. I don’t know the country of origin.
I too am experiencing this. The symtons started yesterday and I am experiencing nausea with it. I can’t eat anything. I served pasta with pinenuts and alfredo sauce three days ago. I will never eat them again. I hope this goes away soon. I almost called my doctor so thanks for this site.
I made a huge batch of pesto using two cups of pine nuts and all the basil from my garden. We had the pesto for dinner last night and my husband and I are suffering from the horrible bitter aftertaste. My kids and a guest are symptom free. I got the nuts at Zehrs. They looked small and cheap, but tasted ok. I am going to throw out the rest of the pesto. The package is gone, but I am going back to the store to check out where they came from.
Wow this looks like an epidemic of metallic tasting pine nuts. I’m on day three they tasted fine when I cooked them. I had some for lunch that I didn’t notice a reaction to but then when I had some for dinner it was shortly there after I felt nauseous it passed fairly quickly but soon after I developed the metallic taste in my mouth, very much like the after taste of grapefruit or of bile. I have never eaten as much pine nuts as I did that day and I will never be touching them again. It looks like for most people this last from 3-10 days, I’m hoping I’m on the three day side.
I read one of the comments from the beginning from a Louise who said she had hi mercury levels after going to a natureopath and was wondering if that could be the connection. I recently had to get an immunization for a class and I know that they have mercury in them so I’m thinking she might be onto something. Up to that point I never had any reactions to pine nuts.
@Louise
I recently had an immunization for a class and w few days after ate pine nuts which has resulted in the metallic taste, I know these immunizations have mercury in them, I think you are on the right track. What did your natureopath suggest?
Color me pine-mouthed as well. I just got done with my annual pesto-thon last weekend (when I make the year’s supply to freeze), and just noticed the bitter taste a couple of days afterward.
Now the thing I’m wondering is if it was caused by the new batch (pine nuts purchased at Trader Joe’s), or if it was the leftover last year’s batch, which I was using up by making pesto-stuffed mushrooms. I ate a lot more of the year-old batch over the past few days than the new. Perhaps a year of sitting in the freezer did something to the pine nuts?
I too have had a bitter taste in my mouth for 3 days now. I ate at least a cup of PINENUTS while watching TV. I don’t remember them tasteing to bad, but everything starting tasting bitter two days later. I can not get rid of the awful BITTER taste.I’ll probably put on some weight as i keep trying different foods to get rid of the taste in my mouth.Mine were bought at Costco,but the pkg says Washington, i’m guessing just the packaging was there.I’m dealing with this by sucking on a SEE’s sucker, that way the flavor sits in there for awhile. Guess I better brush good after this remedy.
I, too, purchased pine nuts at the Whole Foods Market in Philadelphia and had about two small handfulls and then had a strong over powering bitter response to any food I ate for about three days and a lingering effect that is still present now about ten days later. At first I could not figure out what it was and thought it was a spoiled sweet pickle that I ate soon after the nuts which already turned very bitter! After spoiling a wonderful dinner party where I could not even drink what everyone else said was a great red wine, I started to look over the internet and quickly discovered the descriptions on line fit the experience I had and so I have decided to follow it up further and see if I can get some of my expert friends to take a look at the phenomenon. I will tel you know what I find out!
I am from Australia and found this site by googling bitter after taste. I ate pine nuts on Monday in a salad and by Wednesday morning I was experiencing the same symptoms as described by everyone else. I don’t know where the pine nuts came from as it was in a restaurant meal and my husband had something different. I was really worried so I hope it isn’t any dangerous pesticide or whatever.
i, like some of the other posters, googled this subject this morning for all the reasons mentioned. i purchased my pine nuts from publix in the bulk section so not sure where they came from. did notice, though, they looked like “baby” pine nuts. they are normally on the larger size. just curious about anyone else who may have purchased their pine nuts from publix. i, too, love them, but now will be leary to buy and eat them again!
Wow, me too! I googled bitter taste after eating… and yes, I did eat pine nuts last week. They were the dry toasted ones from Trader Joe’s… “Product of Russia or Korea.” SO strange, who would’ve guessed?
Wow, me too! I googled “bitter taste after eating”… and yes, I did eat pine nuts last week. They were the dry toasted ones from Trader Joe’s… “Product of Russia or Korea.” SO strange, who would’ve guessed?
Flipping heck! Thought I had cancer or something awful, but thanks to Google I too can share that I, after eating a new batch of pine nuts (from China via Tesco), have a rotten metallic and bitter taste in my mouth after eating or drinking. So a few more days of this yucky taste to follow eh? BTW I’m in England.
I made orzo salad with pine nuts about a week ago, and ate a serving of it for lunch for three days in a row. Ever since, I have had the bitter taste whenever I try to eat or drink anything. I bought a package of raw pine nuts from Kroger, and they were labeled ‘product of China’. Anyone know how long this lasts?
So everyone knows, it does not hurt you (to my knowledge), and it does go completely away after 6-10 days, depending, I would assume on your body type. NO MORE PINE NUTS FOR ME, UNLESS THEY ARE ROASTED…
Reassured by this site.Fresh pesto made Wednesday 2 and still with unpleasant taste on Saturday.Crazy Jack organic pine nuts the culprit,last time I go near them.Glad to read that the symptoms recede apparently quickly.I’m in London,England.
Well this is a worldwide (I am from Australia too) epidemic and I am relieved to have found the reason for this awful taste in my mouth when I eat. I had pine nuts in a restaurant meal for lunch on saturday and started experiencing this awful bitter aftertaste in my mouth on Saturday evening.
Hank, What difference does roasting make? and thanks for the time frame, at least I know it will end.
I am from Australia too and had a handful of pine nuts that I had roasted and now have this after taste two days later. It is awful cos I love my food so much. My pine nuts were sunbeam which are usually a really good brand but I won’t be having pine nuts for a very long time now.
@Hank
OMG!!!!! I bought the pine nuts from Sam’s Club. The brand is Amport Foods….also from China. They are the smallest pine nuts I’ve ever seen. Everything I eat creates a strong bitter taste on the back of my tongue. Went to a wine tasing festival today…it was worthless. Wine is worse than food. Pesto did it for me too, it’s been about five days. it would be nice to know why they produce this reaction before we assume it’s harmless.
Hi, I’m from England and I bought some ‘Autumn Gold’ approx 250grm bag(product of China) from ASDA last Tuesday and ate half on Tuesday and other half on Wednesday. Thursday got the bitter/metallic taste every time I ate or drank. It is decreasing now, but by no means gone. I found that the sweeter the thing I was eating/drinking the worse the reaction at the start. I have been able to eat jam on toast today and the after taste didn’t happen for a while. I told ASDA but they said that they would only be taking it off the shelves if they were instructed to by head office etc. Why hasn’t there been anything about this on the news since it’s international?
I have just googled bitter taste in mouth and came to this site. I ate pine nuts with a ceasar sald on Wed and noticed the bitter taste the next day. Its horrible and I am terrified that it won’t go away!!
My pine nuts were bought in Dublin, Irl, but I will never be eating them again.
Same here, googled bitter taste in mouth. PINE NUTS! i work im a chef in a restaurant and starting getting this now that i think of it right after i had my snack of toasted pine nuts…get this…from china! its been 2 days and the bitter aftertaste hasn’t gone yet. when will it end 🙁
to add…bought through SYSCO foods in Toronto, Canada
I love pine nuts, and bought the same kind as I usually get … but this is the first time I have “pine mouth” and it is horrible. I’m glad though that I’ve found the reason for what is going on — I’m hoping that it goes away soon. Thanks for the information.
Wow…I was googling the topic “bad tast in mouth after eating” and came across this site. Was concerned about what it could be? Then I saw ‘pine nuts’…Really? I just made a wonderful pasta dish with pine nuts in it a few days ago. I used a mixture of larger pine nuts (that I had in the freezer), but had to supplement with additional, much smaller nuts from Publix. I’m sure both were not spoiled, I wasn’t the only person who ate them, and everyone loved the dish. I started to get that bitter, metallic taste yesterday morning. I am relieved to think it is something this simple, but I sure hope it goes away soon. Yuck. I’ll definitely avoid pine nuts from China, but I like them too much to avoid all together. Thanks so much for researching this for the rest of us, Roger!
I bought Melissa’s Pine Nuts from Lucky on Saturday and had a salad with them and snacked on the rest of them Saturday night. This morning, Monday, as soon as I ate anything I had a bitter after taste. It’s actually gotten worse as the day has progressed. My husband made this great dinner and I can’t eat it because it’s gross to me. I seem to be OK with drinking things, as long as it’s separate from eating. This can’t be good. Has anyone had any other symptoms before the bitter taste began? I had a splitting migraine most of Saturday night and Sunday. I had initially attributed this to a release of toxins from a deep tissue massage I had on Saturday morning, but now I’m wondering if this was a result of the pine nuts, instead.
My wife bought pinenuts from whole foods and we are experiencing bitter mouth taste! What’s up! I am slightly worried…These nuts are not right!
WOW – how incredible is the internet! I started having this awful bile taste in the back of my throat yesterday and again this morning. Finding out that pine nuts is the cause saved my sanity! I bought a container of pine nuts from my local Italian market – Castellano & Pizzo – in Tampa, FL. The nuts were bulk packaged by the store and don’t contain any source information – but I just threw the rest of them away. They didn’t taste bad, but I bought them a few days ago and was snacking on them before I planned on making pesto with them to use up the end of my garden’s basil. Glad I didn’t do that! I did find something that kind of helped. I gargled with apple cider vinegar and salt. It tastes bad, but seemed to help afterwards. This taste is the most awful taste I’ve ever experienced and I hope it goes away soon.
Thank god for the internet! This started yesterday for me and I thought I had been poisoned! I ate the pine nuts on Monday and on Tuesday, about 24 hours later, I started to feel the symptoms. Everything tastes incredibly bitter to me and now my tongue is getting a little numb. I’m sure not looking forward to days and possibly weeks of this. I purchased the nuts from the Clintonville Community Market in Columbus, OH.
This has to be a neurological thing. These nuts were ingested two days ago, and the symptoms didn’t start until 24 hours after eating them. I’m not sure if I should see the doctor. I’m afraid she’ll just blow me off.
Just made a Dr. apnt because of bitter metallic taste in mouth. Was sort of relieved to read about pine nuts. I bought mine at Mrs. Green’s Health food Market in NY. My symptoms started Saturday right after eating pesto I made with the nuts. Ate it again on Tuesday and got worse!!! Anyone know if this is a new problem or are only some people sensitive like an allergy?
About 4 days ago my husband was complaining about a bitter taste everytime he ate or drank something. I sort of igored him as he always has something going on. About a half day later i started having the same symptoms. Every single thing i ate and drank brought on a terrible bitter taste. It takes about 5-10 minutes to go away.I still have it. We started looking on the internet for medical reasons which none fit us. When i came accross this site i couldn’t believe it. Just before we started having these symptoms i made a large batch of pine nut pesto.WE had some of it in a dish we made for dinner. I usually make almond or walnut pesto because it’s cheaper. I freeze a large batch and have it over the winter.If this is really true i think i should have the food and drug inspection check it out. How can we be protected otherwise. Anyone agree?I guess this would be a good time to go on a diet because i sure don’t feel like eating anything!
can’t believe what’s happening – i’ve eaten pine nuts for years, by the bagful. then i bought a packet at a service station in france 2 weeks ago for munching in the car, and they tasted horrible and bitter. i looked at the packet to see where they’d come from and it was China! i only had a handful and junked the rest. But the bitter taste in my mouth hasn’t gone away yet, especially if I eat anything sweet. And this is 2 weeks on! But a thousand thanks for this site – I’d begun to think I’d jaundice or worse.
Trader Joe’s Pine Nuts “Product of Russia or Korea” did me in!
Us, too. We ate pine nuts from Trader Joe’s which were listed as sourced from China, Korea, or Russia (all three listed as possibilities, but not sure in which order… it’s been a while).
Four days of mouth-hell for her, and about a week for me.
In any event, never getting those again, and now looking at Trader Joe’s sourcing MUCH more closely.
@Hank
The pine nuts I ate were roasted, and I got pine mouth anyway. I don’t think roasting them makes a difference.
BTW, it’s Friday and the bitterness is starting to subside a little (ate the nuts on Monday). It’s still there, though. Besides tasting the bitter after eating, it shows up while I’m sleeping, too. Also, I checked with the store and found out they were from China.
I have found that things that are already bitter, such as coffee and IPA, are still palatable. All is not lost this week!
I have experienced the same symptoms as everyone else. One point that appears to be different is that I purchase the nuts from Costco and they have been in my freezer for awhile since it was a large bag.
Strangely I have eaten from this same packet of nuts in the past without this reaction.
I’m glad I found the answer to what I have been experiencing. I had pine nuts yesterday from Trader Joes that say product of Korea, Russia or Vietnam. If I get any more pine nuts, they will be from the good old USA. I still wonder why they have this effect on people. I used to really like pine nuts.
Rhode Island – So now that we have Pine Mouth..what do we do, is there anyway to get rid of this bitter taste. And I was blamimg the basil!!!!
If anyone out there has found a way to get rid of this please post a remedy ASAP!
I, too, have been wondering why I have this strange taste in my mouth- but only when I eat something. I just started taking a new medication so I thought that was it (and was bummed that I might have to stop taking it) until I found this site. I was snacking on pine nuts while making pesto and I ate the pesto in 2 meals thus far. I did toast the pine nuts so that didn’t seem to effect them. I purchased them in Madison, WI, the brand is Fischer- Culinary Touch. I love pine nuts and I have never had this problem before.
me too,wow amazing how many people have the same bitter taste going on,i bought some pine nut’s ,they were small and looked a litlle grungy,i had never seen them look like that before,i didn’t think too much about it.since i ate them everything taste bitter.
I bought mine at BJ’s. Made in… CHINA! I had this happen about 4 months ago, Googled it and could not find the reason for it. It lasted for about 5 days. Now I got this again. I used them in pesto and ate as a snack. My husband had the pesto with me, but has no simptoms. Does that mean that not everyone reacts to it in this way? Thank you, thank you, thank you for this blog!!! At least I know it’s nothing serious (I hope)
I was thinking of writing to Today show or something. It is strange that no one is talking about it. Someone needs to investigate this.
Thanks God for this blog. I thought there was something terrible going on with me. I made basil pesto a few days ago and added the pignolia nuts. A product from China. I bought it at The food Emporium.They taste good when you first eat it but a few days later i started getting the bitter taste and allergy outside my mouth.
Rich in Sweden! The misses has made pasta with pine nut an pesto twice in the last week. Twice in the last week I’ve had pine mouth! Bitter metalic taste after eating or drinking anything. Thought I had a virus or something as I’ve had a soar throat for a couple of days. Bloody nuts, going to the shop tomorrow to contact the packagers and complain. One of lifes little mysteries?
well I’m relieved to hear all these testimonies about this bitter almost metallic aftertaste whenever I eat or drink. Same thing … 3 days of symptoms after I ate pine nuts earlier this week. I bought them in bulk on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada at local food chain. Would very much appreciate any insight as to what is the cause. Pesticides? I will NEVER eat pine nuts again.
I found more info re: pine nuts
Pine nut
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Risks of eating pine nuts
The eating of pine nuts can cause serious taste disturbances, developing 1–3 days after consumption and lasting for days or weeks. A bitter, metallic taste is described. In general, a minority of pine nuts on the market present this problem. Though very unpleasant, there does not seem to be a real health concern.
This phenomenon was first described in a scientific paper in 2001.[6] Since the article, experiences of the phenomenon have been reported by hundreds of people worldwide (US, Canada, South Africa, Finland, Iceland, Germany, Ireland and many more).[7][8][9]
Other publications have made reference to this phenomenon as “pine mouth”.[10][11]
Thanks to the guy who suggested the Activated Charcoal capsules. My experience with this horrible affliction had certainly lessened considerably by the next morning after taking 2 capsules every two hours the day before. For all of you suffering, try it, it couldn’t hurt. My taste is still here, but minimally. I am going on 10 days now. I purchased the nuts at Ralphs here in Southern California and sure enough they were imported from China.
So grateful for all the information and comments. I too had been experienceing (now all the time, whether I eat or drink something) the bitter taste continuosly lingers in my mouth. I first noticed it a couple of days later after eating a date. It was a very pronounced bitter taste. I thought something was wrong with the date. But then it re-ocurred after eating other foods. Very noticeable after drinking cofffee. These pine nuts were purchased in Lakeville, MN at a Rainbow Foods chain in the bulk section. Will let the store now of this research.
Hi all, just thought I’d put an update (my original blog was 6th Sept)as I am still suffering a bit from pine mouth. I thought it had gone almost, but it seems to have come back, I’ve not eaten any more pine nuts since (as if I would !) nor had anything with pesto. Maybe something else triggered it off again – I have eaten almonds in chocolate since. Relieved to see that it can last for weeks as it’s just one week for me. Thank you so much for setting up the blog, people who haven’t got it just don’t understand.
i woke up with an awful metallic taste in my mouth this morning and it wont go away. Then I read about pine nuts causing it and remembered I ate some the night before last. Please tell me it goes away soon because its awful. It was my first time to eat pine nuts and NEVER AGAIN!!
Add me to the latest pine nut club. Had them on September 10th for dinner (Costco brand from China), and it has only gotten worse over the last 4 days. We have a big work retreat coming up including great food and wine this weekend, sure hope it will go away by then. NO MORE PINE NUTS! They should put a warning on the label!! Any type of cure, would be appreciated. Will buy some charcoal capsules tomorrow to see if that helps, but I’m willing to try just about anything…this taste is terrible!
Add me to the list of Costco culprits! I made a huge batch of pesto (like 6 quarts) Saturday and munched on pine nuts the whole time. Sunday night I had the most horrific heartburn and yesterday and today, the metallic taste (just in the back of my mouth) and only after eating ANYTHING! I’m a chef, and this is a sucky thing to be dealing with! I am thrilled and shocked to have found this information out!
Thank you!!!
Verry Interesting! My wife complained of bitter/metallic taste after eating for the past two days – sure enough after making pesto the night before and snacking on the pine nuts, sold as organic from China. No one else in family has experienced this, we ate some of the pesto but she ate the most pine nuts. Now she’s wondering how long this will last. Great to see this blog, looking forward to try to figure out the “pine mouth” cause.
It is amazing what I am reading, I am having the bitter taste for the last 5 days and has not gone as yet, I decided to google as my husband had it as well and I could not belive it from where it was coming, it made sense to me as I had used some small pine nuts on pesto few days ago and it is really annoying, Inever had it before. Let’s hope it will disappear
I’m now on day 7, big food and wine weekend starting tomorrow night and the “pine mouth” is still with me. I’m sorry to see that there is a lot of company out there. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Erin the chef for a quick recovery….can’t imagine how difficult it would be to do that job with having this taste always in your mouth. Good luck to all!!
Okay – this is really strange. I have eaten pine nuts my whole life 40+ and I had boughten some pine nuts from Sprouts in San Diego. What an awful taste. It went away when I went on vacation, but lo and behold, I cooked with the same batch of pine nuts on Tuesday and the bitter taste is back. I am going to contact the store to find out where their pine nuts came from.
I know how you feel. I’m a home chef & known by my friends as a culinary wizzard. I love food & especially combining sweet & savory foods. Nothing tastes good. Hope this goes away soon. I made lots of pesto & munched on pine nuts earlier this week!@Erin
Hi there
I posted here on the Sept 6th about my experience with pine nuts.Just thought I would let you know that the taste will subside.
HOWEVER, it has taken nearly 2 full weeks for the bitter taste to go away. I still have a little residue left but nothing like it was before. The only good that has come out of this experience is weight loss – couldn’t bear alcohol or sweet things.(Every cloud…..
Don’t despair – it will go away, but be patient.
Sun Nuts, most recently purchased at Cost-U-Less, St. Thomas, USVI, same thing. SunNuts Company, Davis,CA. After reading up on this here’s what I’m thinking: the combination of Almonds and Pine Nuts may be triggering this reaction in some people. I am going to do an experiment if the taste ever leaves my mouth. I have been purchasing these same nuts for several years from same source. Only recently did I start eating almonds…
WOW!!! I own a restaurant and we use pine nuts in a wide variety of items on our menu. We have them toasted and on hand in the kitchen in an open container for cooking at all times. A great quick snack for a hungry grazer! Over the past month or so I began to suffer off and on from the exact same syndrome. I did a web search and found only medical reasons for my symptoms… until I got a call from a recent guest expaining that she had experienced the same thing and simply calling to tell us of her finding regarding these little buggers. I was beginning to think that I would go crazy if I lost my taste for delicious food and especially my favorite wines! I am so happy that I now know the culprit. I have snacked on Pine Nuts from time to time and I am amazed that this is the first time that I have been effected like this. The supply that we currently have on hand is indeed the smaller variety from China but I suspect that we have sourced them from China in the past with no issues. Anyway… better safe than sorry, we will specify “non-Chinese” Pine Nuts from here on in and send the rest back. Just getting my taste back to normal after about 7 days Nut free.
Thank you, thank you thank you.
Great blog.
A prayer for a wonderful nut that because of this problem many people will stop consuming!
Well, I also joined the club on September 12. I snacked on quite a few pine nuts while I was preparing for a dinner party (thank God I didn’t serve anything with pine nuts in it that night). The next day, everytime I ate or drank anything other than water, I got that horribly bitter taste. Like my saliva was in fact pine pitch. It got worse over the past five days, but it seems that it is finally getting a bit better. I did eat more than a few handfuls.
When I checked the packaging (after digging through a bag of trash) I found that they were indeed from China.
I’ve never had this happen before and am thinking that eating them solo and in a great amount did the bad trick.
OMG! I have been having bitter tastes for the last two days that let to nausea and vomiting! I have been trying to figure out what has been causing this, and though I will go for a blood test on Monday just in case, the pine nuts make sense! I made pesto with a new batch of pine nuts from Whole Foods. I have called them to ask them if anyone else has had this issue. Thanks for posting this!
Hi,
I got pinemouth right now, and it really is a big relief to have all this information on the net. It is comforting to read that lots of people have had it as well.
I’ve read some reactions on the net of people who haven’t had the experience yet. They think the pinenuts give off a bitter taste emmediately, but that is definately not the case. I had a handfull of pinenuts during work and 8 hours later my mouth tasted like I had laced it with cocaine or something.
I’m on my 4th day of pinemouth and already am going crazy. I’m a very impatient person… The only thing i can bare is very hot water and unsugared coffee.
I’m considering to wash my tongue with soap, because i read the taste is caused by fatty acids from within the pinenut. The only thing that I know of that could break down fat is soap. So…
I can’t bear the thought of having to deal with this for 2 weeks.
It’s so horrible because you can’t ignore it, even when you have your mouth opened or shut, or whatever, the bitterness penetrates through all your desperate attempts to distract yourself.
Never eating those little delicious fellas again.
i posted on this during the week. i ate the nuts saturday night, got the yucky taste on monday and it was gone by yesterday (friday)…so its not that bad for everyone!!
Re: Costco / Kirkland Signature Pine Nuts – legal options.
I too have been affected by these pine nuts from Costco. In my case it is especially bad, because I taste wine for a living. I am in touch with their legal department. Anyone else who has been affected by persistent bitter taste after eating Costco / Kirkland Signature pine nuts (or other brands imported by Gold Harbor out of Seattle, Wa), please contact me at the following email address regarding possible legal options.
bittercostco@gmail.com
Cheers,
Boris
I am a cooking teacher. While putting away food after Thursday night’s class (9/17/09) I popped a generous handful of these tasty morsels in my mouth. Friday evening just after eating a mushroom dish, I had a very bitter taste in my mouth. Later when I drank green tea, the same taste. Yet again, after some yogurt. Like you, I resorted to some hypochondriacal self-diagnosis, and came up with gall bladder disease. Googled “symptoms gall bladder disease” and found no correlative symptoms. Then I Googled “bitter tast in mouth” and came up with a wealth of hits, yours among them. Thank you for your extensive research and input!
Same thing here. I had pine nuts on a nice vego pizza 3 nights ago and I have had a bitter mouth since. I have had this happen before but did not put 2 & 2 together. Thanks for your help. I no longer think I have any of the miriad of life threatening illnesses that have been running rampant in my mind!
Add me to the list. I had just bought 6 pounds of pine nuts to make pesto and had a two small handfulls when I first brought them home. I started having this bitter taste in my mouth and after goodling for causes of bitter mouth found this blog. My pine nuts list their origin as China. My wife has noticed that some things have tasted different, but the affects don’t seem to be as strong for her. I love pine nuts so will probably return these and hope to find some that originate in this hemisphere. Has anyone brought this to the attention of the FDA?
Thank God for google. I thought I was going nuts. Now I know it was the “nuts” pine that is from Trader Joes.
I made pesto the other day three of us ate it and no problem. I reheated it yesterday all same three people ate it and I was the only one who, about two hours later noticed that everything started tasting bitter. Everything. Woke up this morning and it’s back. Thanks guys, I love pesto, make it often but will watch where I buy them. Can’t wait for this bitter metallic situation to be gone, yuck!
Thank you to everyone for these postings. I guess, for now, they may have saved me a trip to the doctor’s. I made pesto last Saurday’s lunch. The bitter taste started Sunday evening after dinner. No one in my family has it so far. I got the nuts at Costco in Portland Oregon in mid-August 2009. I think I am going to send Costco an e-mail to check all these reports.
I purchased a fresh bunch of pine nuts from Trader Joe’s last Tuesday. The package notes the origin as any or all of the following: Russia, Korea, Vietnam. On Wednesday I used them to make a garlic pistou for a pizza pie. While cooking maybe I had 5 nuts, no more and they tasted fine. I had one slice of the pizza that Wednesday night. The first bitterness manifested during lunch time on Friday. I thought something was spoiled. That was the beginning of the unpleasantness. It’s all very bizzare as I have been enjoying pine nuts raw and in recipes like forever! Now, I am afraid of them. In the future, when I muster enough courage, I will purchase some pine nuts of Italian origin and conduct an experiment. Perhaps after the holidays when I am apt to need to lose a few pounds!
I ate handfuls of pinenuts on Friday night. On Saturday night, I woke up in the middle of the night drenched with sweat from head to toe, but no other symptoms. A few hours later on Sunday morning, the bitter taste set in, after I ate just about anything. Today is day #2 and it’s still very bad. I am finding that tomato sauce makes it far worse. I was really beginning to worry about it all until I found this post when I did a Google search. It seems to go away for most posters about a week or so after it began, so here’s to hoping!!
Wow! I just googled the question (Sour taste in my mouth for three days)and arrived here. Yes, I have eaten small pine nuts on Saturday and Sunday. Taste still here today. Glad I asked. Are we getting poisened?
Count me in. Thought I was getting an ulcer. Just looked at the package and lo, it’s from China. Also, this taste has followed exactly the time frame of consumption. My wife didn’t get the symptom though!
Ditto. I toasted mine before using them to top a kale recipe. Four of us, age 23 to 63, ate the nuts but I am the only one dealing with the bitter taste. Thanks for the insight.
Same story here- My wife, and twins ate a handful of Trader Joe Pine Nuts Monday before last. My son still has the bitter taste going – his was so bad he could hardly eat anything without complaining of the bitter taste. I did not have but 4 pine-nuts. So the scientist in me wanted to see if I could recreate the symptoms. I had a large handful on Sunday and a partial handful on Monday as I did not have any bitter taste yet. Well, today is Tuesday and the bitter taste is now in full bloom- usually starting at the back of the tongue (I think that is where the bitter receptors are). It would be interesting to find out what the metabolites are from pine-nut ingestion that cause the bitterness.
Wow, too bad I just ate a handful 30 mins ago :(.
I had an inflamed mouth last week, and I used all sorts of mouthwash and losenges, anti bacterial and antifungal but it only slowly went away.. then the other day after it had mostly subsided it my mouth seemed to inflame a little bit and get itchy.. and I realized I had just eating some ‘baking pine nuts’ from safeway. Then this morning, after a week of probably popping a small handfull of nuts every day or two, after I ate my cereal I had a bitter aftertaste in my mouth and wondered what was up with my cereal, guess I know now!
Just a quick note – the bad taste will go away – it just varies from individual to individual as to how long it takes. Mine took about a week to dissipate. Some things that helped me…gargle w/apple cider vinegar and salt, take charcoal capsules and alpha lipoic acid tablets, stay away from sweets and wine.
Good luck to all afflicted with this horrible malady.
re pine nuts
I have had the same bitter after taste in my mouth for the past few days and couldn’t figure out what was causing it. I too ate some pine nuts about 3 days ago when preparing a salad and snacked on a few from time to time. I bought them from our local supermarket in Dublin (Ireland), they’re from China, they seem to be the small variety. It’s very interesting to know that so many other people living in different countries have been affected. I’d never have guessed pine nuts were the culprit only for the fact I googled “bitter after taste in mouth” and came across this board. Thanks for the information.
Wow!!
I’ve been complaining to my wife since Monday morning (9/21) that I have a bitter taste in my mouth, especially when I’m eating. I ignored it Monday figuring the fruit I had earlier in the day was the culprit (even though this taste hit me with my morning coffee, the first thing I put in mouth). On tuesday I still had the taste in my mouth and again figured….ahhh it’s nothing it will go away.
Wednesday AM rolls around and I still taste the bitterness so I decide to do a Google search (“there’s a bitter taste in my mouth) and low and behold I find this blog with everyone complaining about pine nuts and pesto.
Saturday afternoon I went to the nut store (in Montreal) I regularly shop in, they usually have 2 types of pine nuts; Chinese pine nuts and the shorter slightly more expensive pine nuts, I believe Pakistani ones. Well, they were out of the more expensive ones I usually buy so I bought a few hundred grams of the Chinese ones. Saturday night we made some cilantro pesto with the remaining “non Chinese” nuts and topped it off with the “Chinese” ones. Sunday I made basil pesto with 100% “chinese” pine nuts and I’ve had the taste ever since.
According to other posts I shouldn’t be alarmed but can anyone clarify what the heck happened? I will see if I can return the pine nuts to the store, are these “bad” pine nuts, is this reaction normal? I’ve been eating pine nuts and pesto for many years and never had this happen to me. I haven’t read too many comments, so I’m sure some of my concerns have already been answered.
Great blog, thanks.
Wow thanks for these postings! I’ve had this bitter taste in my mouth for 3 days now. I ordered some take out at a vegetarian Chinese restaurant and in one of the dishes I noticed that the pine nuts in this lettuce wrap mixture were unusually small. Well the next day I ate spaghetti with Marinara sauce and bread dipped in a Olive oil/Garlic mixture. I kept tasting something bitter in my mouth and thought it was the new bottle of Olive oil from Spain. My husband thought it was the garlic that had the bitter taste. Today I had some of the Pasta leftovers and again thought it was the new Olive oil in the sauce. By chance I googled “Bitter taste in my mouth” and found this site. I’m sure those pine nuts in my food a few days ago originated from China. Unbelievable! I’ll be sure to spread the news of this. This bitter taste is driving me crazy. I’m glad to know that it will go away. Like many of you I thought I was coming down with Cancer or something weird. I even called the store to ask if anyone had returned the oil due to the flavor and they told me “No”. When I tasted the oil by itself it tasted really bitter. I guess I’ll wait a few days and try it again. Thanks again for this site!
95% done. Just an update, my bitterness subsided about 3 days after the pesto incident. So it does go away but still, I am surprised that there isn’t much news about this! What helped me was drinking lots of water to flush out the toxins from the body. I also drank 100% cranberry juice mixed with water and it was nasty to taste it but it helped tremendously! Kudo’s to Jeff for testing it out! Brave!!! I’m not eating pinenuts for a long long time! I just sent my doctor the link to this so that he can have a reference in the future!
My wife and I were trying to figure out what we ate/drank differently this past weekend. I had some white wine which coincidentally had gone really sweet, as I opened it quite a few weeks ago, needless to say I only had 2 sips. My wife though did not have any wine and she doesn’t have “pine mouth”. I wonder if there’s a connection, I read on another site about acids mixing with the pine nuts creating this bitterness. Any thoughts?
Another follow up, I called Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) who in turn told me to call the City Of Montreal Food Inspection division.
The Mtl agency told me they have had a number of complaints in the last few weeks and are visiting the stores where the complaints are coming from, at the moment they said it is only a voluntary removal of the pine nuts. She also said that they have been in touch with the CFIA but they are not being very helpful or proactive.
Ah you have to love all these levels of gvmt that do not want to take responsibiltiy, this is why people end up dying of food related reasons and then all the different levels of gvmt just point the finger at each other. Anyway that’s another issue so I won’t rant and go off topic.
Thank goodness for the internet. I too am experiencing the bitter taste especially worse while and after eating and drinking. After consulting all my health books I turned to the good old internet and there it was. No not diabetes or heavy metal poisoning just the simple pinenut from China purchased from a well known health food store.
As the packet was open I am sure I must have had a handful of these on more than one occasion so why this time do I have this reaction ?
Oh… please. Suing for compensation for getting pine mouth?? Me thinks that b/c it is of unknown cause and only affecting some people, and it is only in the last year or so that this association is becoming established… that the company will have no problem explaining to the judge that they were not negligent in any way by selling chinese pine nuts…. or maybe you just smell a payday? Pursing litigation for something like this is an example of how things have gone wrong with society!
BTW, yes I’m in the midst of pine mouth right now… never heard of it before doing some searching… none of my friends/colleagues have heard of it either. I am bringing the bag of pine nuts to work so we can see how many people that eat them get pine mouth afterwards… should be fun.
I never would have made the connection with the pine nuts I ate 2 days ago to the nasty bitter mouth I have now if it were not for this site. I shopped the new organic section of our “new and improved Kroger” – I will call tomorrow to find out where the pine nuts are from. It was so bad, I woke in the middle of the night feeling like I had vomited in my mouth. This is such a disgusting flavor, I’ve had pine nuts before but never this problem.
I have had the same problem since eating a small package of pine nuts I bought from Walmart in Yuma, Arizona this past weekend.
I’ve got the same thing. Had some pine nuts on top of yogurt a few days ago and now every time I eat or drink something I get this bad metallic/bitter taste in my mouth.
Really nice posts. I will be checking back here regularly.
I also have pine mouth from the Costco pine nuts! I thought I was going crazy! Everything tastes terrible! Thank you all for posting and giving me hope this will go away… Must say it’s a good diet bc I barely can eat or drink wine. Ick!
Well, maybe, but aren’t you concerned about WHY this is happening? Bitter mouth is often an indication of some other problem. Is this happening because of some sort of poisoning or damage to our bodies? Is the bitter taste natures way of telling us to stay away from a toxin in this kind of pinenut?
I think you are a little quick to assume the worst of people, Piney.
the most important thing is not to eat fried slugs at the same time as the pine nuts.
I’m glad I found this blog! I toasted up some pine nuts on Thurs. to add to pesto. then I changed my mind and didn’t add them to the basil and parsley that I froze. I did snack on about a 1/4 cup of them though. Friday morning I had my morning tea and thought my milk was spoiled. Then I found out everything I put in my mouth tasted bad! I decided to look for an answer to this problem online. I never would of guessed this was the cause. Yes, my pine nuts are from China and I bought them at BJ’s Warehouse. I never buy foods from China, but I couldn’t seem to find any locally that were from anywhere else. I should stick with my inclinations I guess. NO FOODS FROM CHINA!!!!
Please tell me this doesn’t last more that 2 weeks?? I don’t think I can even handle 2 more days of this. My stomach is starting to feel lousy.
I made a yummy dish 3 days ago that included pine nuts. Yesterday I wondered why the muffins I made were bitter. After that, I noticed everything else has had a bitter after taste. I just found this blog, thanks very much. I checked out my bag of pine nuts and saw that the pine nuts we had in our fish/pasta dish were from China. I asked a few moments ago if anyone else in my family of 5 had this bitter after taste and no one does. Thanks again! This was very helpful to me.
Wow, good to know. I too have had a bitter after taste ” on the back of my tongue ” for about 5 days now. The only thing I can successfully get down without having it happen is water, which sucks. I had pine nuts in a pasta sauce about 6 days ago, so this all make perfect sense. I seriously thought I was nut.. ( pun only kind of intended )
I’m surprised “Pine Mouth” so common! For the past few days, everything I’ve eaten has tasted bitter and metallic… even my saliva. I’m glad the feeling goes away relatively quickly.
I got the same problem today from COSTCO pinenuts! tks for the blog, I thought that I wa sick.
Same story, different girl!
Making pesto 2 nights ago and snacking on way too many of the pine nuts. Bought from Super Store on Vancouver Island. Had pine nuts all my life and love them, never had this reaction before. It’s brutal, but such a relief to find this blog. My thanks big time for putting this together.
Taking large amounts of Ambrotose to help the detox and hope it will clear faster.
Man you guys are all like me. I thought I had some disease or something, freaked me out. And I was reading about all these pine nuts and I suddenly remember I had a pine nuts with yoghurt the other morning.
Even junk food tastes horrible. I can taste it now even without FOOD! YUK!
definitely not enjoyable.
Glad to know that I’m not crazy! Made Pesto on Sunday night, ate it monday for lunch and then threw some leftover pine nuts on some kale I made for dinner. I have a cold so I thought that maybe was the problem with dinner last night, also thought that I’d used too much nutmeg on my squash or something. My boyfriend ate everything and loved it, whereas I noticed something really bitter. I threw most of my dinner out. Then this morning my yogurt with peaches and honey tasted terribly bitter. Had boyfriend taste and he said it was fine. tried to rinse my mouth out with orange juice, gagged and puked a little. The back of my mouth tastes like straight bile! Decided to google ‘bitter taste in the mouth’ and found this (and many other) sites!
My pine nuts were purchased from a little organic mom & pop grocer in Waterville, ME that sells bulk items. I’m guessing that they probably purchased the pinenuts from a bigger place and then repackaged them? I will call and report my symptoms to the grocer.
does anyone know why this happens? Is it something that china sprays on their food or what?
I had the exact same thing, with pine nuts purchased in Australia this week. They must be imported from China, like the ones purchased in COSTCO. I had thought that the milk, then left overs, were off. I then had a chocolate to get rid of the taste and it had returned.
Cheers,
Marcus
Thank goodness for these web sites! I bought pine nuts in bulk from Cub Foods and made tons of pesto two days ago, snacking on the pine nuts as I made it. I’ve bought pine nuts and eaten them for years and have never had this experience.
Everything tastes bitter! It’s awful. Glad to know it will improve.
I have no idea if the pine nuts were from China or not. Should I throw out the 8 cups of pesto I made? Or will the massive amounts of garlic change the effect from the pine nuts?
I cooked a dish with pine nuts on Monday and insisted they tasted bad. My husband thought they were fine, but since then I have noticed a bitter, soapy taste each time I eat. My husband and daughter don’t have the bitter taste at all, but I understand that this can happen. Bought mine at Safeway in Edmonton on September 28.
These nuts should be marketed as a weight loss product! Ha!
Thank you for the link to the pinenut article. I have had a similar experience. 2 days after eating only a very few pinenuts, everything tastes bitter. I can’t taste sweet,salty,sour. Hoping it doesn’t last too long. Cheers
I’ve had the same thing as everyone else. Got my pine nuts from Tesco here in the UK and ever since having about 1/4 the bag I get a bitter after taste in my mouth. The thing is it only seems to be with dairy products – cheese, milk or ice cream. I can eat/drink anything else and I don’t get the after taste.
Hope it goes soon because I drink a lot of tea, and at the moment everyone tastes horrible! Might have to switch to green tea 🙂
Ive had this bitter taste in my mouth for some time, worse when I eat almost anything but actually worse when I do eat something that should taste sweet. Have had a really bad cold but feel like Im over that, have been blaming it on the cold. This however has been different than loosing my taste when I have had other colds, it has never turned bitter before. Guess what, my mother in law gave me some pine nuts for my birthday not long ago, not eating alot of them, maybe a few every few days. She got them out of a bulk bin at some store, dont really know which one. Guess Ill stop and see how long it takes the bitter to go away
I got the offensive nuts at Whole Foods Market. Listed country of origin = China.
I can’t wait for the taste to go away!
Wow, surprised to see so many folks with the same thing. Chalk one more up for nasty bitter taste on back of tongue when eating after eating Costco pine nuts.
I have found one thing that seems to give me some relief… mint tea. I consulted my Chinese medicine doctor as I had been in for a treatment not long before to make sure it was not something from that and she suggested I try mint tea (which helps with the release of heat which is one of things we are working on). I have just had a couple of cups and it does not seem to have triggered the nasty taste… yet… keeping my fingers crossed.
Glad to hear that this seems to pass over time. I would be one SAD camper if I had to deal with this for the long run…mind I’d probably wind up skinny 🙂
I thought I was going crazy too, I though I must have some kind of poisoning! I bought pine nuts from Safeway in Calgary after reading a recipe on msn that called for them. I was the only one who ate them (yes they were the small ones) and am the only one in my family experiencing this! It is the worst bitter taste ever!!! I will try the mint tea…and call Safeway 🙁
Sounds like the same thing happening to me. Bought “baby” pine nuts at Whole Foods this past weekend and used in a tarte on Sunday, plus I ate a few out of the container. Had never had the very small pine nuts – but it was all that Whole Foods had. Bitter taste started a couple of days ago. I’m hoping it’s the same as everyone else has reported – and not something more serious. Don’t know if these are from China or not – the label on the container doesn’t indicate.
I am on holiday in France. Experienced this awful bitter taste when eating. It has ruined some very expensive meals. The pine nuts were sprinkled on a green salad. No idea where they came from but seems they must be the Chinese villains. I am diabetic but have not experienced this taste before. My wife had the same pine nuts and is also diabetic but she is fine. It ruins wine. I nearly sent a bottle back!
My husband & I eat a lot of pine nuts and this is our first experience with this awful thing. I thought it might be a side effect of my high blood pressure or the medication I was taking. After doing a google search “bitter metallic taste” I found this website. Relieved that I was not dying I asked my husband if he has had the same problem. He said YES!!!! This has been going on for almost a week and hasn’t shown any sign of letting up. AAAAH. I have a 1/2 bag opened, and one unopened bag of pine nuts that I bought from Costco in Spokane, Washington and will be returning to them. I DO NOT hold Costco responsible in any way.
Ditto (all of the above). What a way to lose weight– (I’ve lost 5 lbs. in 10 days because of pine mouth!). The only food I can tolerate is white rice and can only drink water. What I want to know is why are some people affected by the same batch of pine nuts while others are not? My husband and guests had the same salad I did and none is experiencing the nasty side effects I am. Maybe it’s quantity as I prepared the salad and did eat a handful while cooking. I purchased the tainted nuts at our local supermarket and they were imported from China. Because I suffer from fibromyalgia, I thought maybe it was yet another symptom of this mysterious malady! Had it not been for this blog, I would have surely committted sepaku by now– or spent hundreds on worthless medical tests
that turned up nada!
What a relief. I love my food and drink but have had same soapy bitter taste for four days now so everything tasted bad. I munched my way through a bag of salad sprinkles, containing pine nuts, over the weekend.
The bag does not say where the pine nuts originated though. Bought in UK, Neals Yard product a good brand.
I got pine mouth from a bag of store brand pine nuts. I didn’t notice it with the pesto I made (maybe the basil neutralizes it), but I did notice it after eating them plain this week. I heard eating beets can help.
I have had the same problem. The first time it happened in august 2009, I went back on my routine, trying to figure out what I had done different (foods, meds, lotions etc). The only thing I could come up with is this terribly expensive shampoo I had just bought but I could not understand how it would affect my taste buds. I didn’t even think of pinenuts because I usually have them on a daily basis….roasted on rice. Tonight, I had a fistful of them (raw) and almost immediately everything started tasting bitter. I googled “can pinenuts cause bitter taste” and this blog came up. Gosh, my 2 year old is crazy about raw pinenuts. I guess I’ll have to hide them from her now on. Or I must roast them in a bit of olive oil (i think they lose their bitterness when roasted.)
And yes, I do get my pinenuts from Costco.
I can attest to what everyone else has written above. I ate both pesto and pine nuts from the package at a friend’s house in Pa on Tuesday. The first symptom of bitter taste was Thursday morning and today, Friday. it continues. I have tried an acid reducing pill and it has so far had no effect. I will try the mint tea as suggested above. Does anyone know how long to expect this to last?
oh my god! thought I was going to die or something or have serious disease. I never used new medication or had dental work done but PINE from china oh yes I did eat them. Never again! I don’t know why this is happening but I don’t like the result. I had pine nuts from arabic stores (big kind) and they never did that to my mouth.
SAN DIEGO, CA
What a terrible experience. I am a Dentist. Many diseases are diagnosed from signs in the mouth first and so I have been researching this bitter taste on the very back of my tongue on the internet. I first noticed the bitterness when I was eating an apple. The apple tasted great until I got towards the end of eating it and then it started to taste terrible.
One of the mentioned diseases on the internet was diabetes but have no other symptoms of diabetes. Liver damage was another disease but do not have jaundice. Poisoning but no vomiting or loss of appetite.
My search brought me to this sight where pine nuts is mentioned. WHAT A DISCOVERY!!! Jackpot. I ate about a half cup of Krinos PIGNOLIA PINE NUTS just before eating the apple. Now I have this bitter taste on the back of my tongue whenever I eat anything.
If anyone knows how long this will last, I would appreciate an email response at vdennis01@gmail.com. Thanks for all of your comments. As a health professional, this info is crucial. I will let Ralph’s Grocery Store know immediately and will go onto http://www.krinos.com to find out where these pine nuts come from.
Mine were imported from China. I bought them from Sam’s club. I like to put them in my trail mix. I have had the bitter after taste for sevral days whenever I eat anything. I have been eating these pine nuts from Sam’s for years without any problems. I hope that the chinese have not sprayed something dangerous on these nuts or allowed them to become contaminated in some way!
This is fascinating. I had pine nuts on Friday night in a salad which also had a pesto dressing (bought from Marks&Spencer in London). When I opened the salad I thought the pine nuts looked smaller and darker than ones I’ve had before, but didn’t think anything of it, assumed they were toasted or a different variety. I started asking my husband whether or not he thought the milk had gone off on Saturday afternoon, so I think my pine-nut-related taste-disturbance became apparent then.
An earlier commenter mentioned a change in urine colour which is something I’ve also experienced, it’s similar to when you take a high-dose vitamin tablet. I’d recently started taking a Vitamin B supplement, so wasn’t sure if it was related to that… TMI, sorry.
Well this little online journey makes me feel a bit better and I am now holding off from the doctor / dentist visits I was going to line up today. This bitter tongue thing kicked in halfway through dinner last Saturday night and completely ruined a nice bottle of wine for me.
I have had scans for temporary vision loss in the past year (diagnosis: painfree migraines) and so was poised for the tumor discussion again when this tongue thing didn’t go away after 24 hours (diagnosis this time: Too much Grey’s Anatomy, perhaps?).
See, I do have an open bag of pine nuts in the kitchen which I did sample over the past few days. Unlucky me, the last time was only last night, I was trying to make a strong tasting pasta dish that I could taste over the tongue thing (failed). So now I guess I’m in for a longer wait.
Looking at discussion boards, some people are having to wait 2 weeks or more. I sincerely hope that’s not me. Everything tastes disgusting. The only thing that tastes normal is bad black coffee. They should bottle this and sell it to Jenny Craig.
As long as I don’t get any vision loss or other strange symptoms, it looks as though I just have to wait it out.
Thanks for the article! It was much easier to decipher than the message board posting out there.
Glad to have found this… a few of these little nuggets in a salad does not bother me but a small handful as a snack triggers the symptoms. BTW, it’s only these nuts I purchased last. I’ve snacked on handfuls of them for a very long time and never experienced this. I purchase the ‘bad’ ones from a local Albertson’s which were packaged by Tropical Nut & Fruit in Orlando Florida. [www.tropicalfoods.com] The labels states the tree nuts were packaged in a facility that also packages peanut oil/canola oil, peanuts, soy, sulfites, milk, egg & wheat products. Oh and these are rather large nuts for Pine nuts… not baby ones.
Spoke to Albertson’s produce manager. Very appreciative that I brought this to their attention. Still waiting for the quality mgr at TN&F to call me. Here’s a link to an article where the author blames himself for having a ‘spoiled’ bag of nuts in the back of his pantry…
http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/08/biochemistry-taste-pinenuts-technology-breakthroughs-fahey.html – will post a response there with a link to this blog.
@Tina Eisen
I roasted my pinenuts before sprinking them on my yams 3 days ago and since then I have experienced the “everything I eat tastes bitter”…at least I now know why, I also thought I was getting some mysterious disease. It just saddens me to throw out the rest of the bag as it cost me a small fortune to buy at Safeway “bulk” section!!
Seem to have pine mouth after eating Amport nuts batch 2039Y best by 07-22-10. (really???) Got them in Maine, USA at a supermarket. The origin was China. Have eaten pine nuts for years but these are the first smallish ones.Yuck!!!
Ate pinenuts on Thursday evening – on Friday thought I had stale cookies because of the taste – same type of off taste on Saturday, But on Sunday – full blown – nasty- bitter – rancid weird taste with everything I ate, Same today on Monday – guess I will have to wait it out. Pine nuts were from either Vons or Albertsons. Tasted fresh and I had kept them refrigerated. I roasted them for the salad I made. Glad I googled this problem, or would have gone to the doctor.
I had a dinner party last night and served lasagna with pine nuts in the sauce. The majority of pine nuts sold in the US are from China and I’ve eaten them from Costco for years without a problem. But today I am definitely suffering from pine mouth and it is getting worse by the minute. I guess I should let my guests know of this phenomenon. The nuts tasted fine, but I don’t care what it costs, I’m going to find a source of Italian pine nuts.
I had this same taste once before when I used way too much DEET on a camping trip. I wonder if there is a similar chemical in pine nuts.
I am wondering if there are other commonalities amongst those who get pine mouth. Is anyone else on antacid therapy or proton pump inhibitors?
Whodathunk! Like everyone else, I googled possible reasons why I suddenly had a very bitter taste in my mouth (thinking it was something in the multi-vitamins I started taking a couple weeks ago). Low and behold, I ingested pine nuts less than 48 hours before the bitter taste began. I purchase the pine nuts at Meijers in late September. It’s been almost a week and my taste buds are gradually returning to normal. So glad to have stumbled on this information! I won’t toss my multi-vitamins afterall!
I live in Jerusalem Israel and got this disgusting thing a few days after I ate pine nuts. I bought them at the outdoor shouk Machne Yehuda. I am going to try the mint tea.
I bought pines nuts from Jewel-Osco on Friday (10/9). Mellssa’s brand which has Product of China stamped on the label. I had a salad with pine nuts on Saturday morning and have had a bitter taste with just about all solid food since. I hope this goes away soon.
Thanks so much for this! I thought I had some kind of nasty mouth bacteria or something! I have been getting a bitter taste in my mouth after eating sugar or carbs, completely ruined fruit, chocolate, bread…pretty much everything for me! I have just realised it started when I bought some pine nuts about a fortnight ago (which I have been eating ever since). Weird thing is I don’t get it when I eat the pine nuts themselves. According to the packet they are produce of china, so i expect they are pinus koraiensis.
There may be something in the high dose vitamin thing mentioned by a previous commenter, as pine nuts are very rich in thiamin (vitamin b1).
@Cindy
i hope this is what Ive got! have a weird bitter taste that has been with me for a day. Bit of a pain as I’m a chef and tasing is very difficult. never had it before but got it after eating very small pinenuts from china. i thought they were baby ones, and they tasted quite nice but seem to have left me with “pine mouth”. IM in australia and bought them through a wholesale food stockist (hongs)
Add me to the list! Can’t believe how many people this is affecting. I ate a few pine nuts and 2 days later started getting vile taste in back of my mouth and throat when I ate anything, which lasted for about 15 mins after i’d finished eating. It’s now 2 days since it started and i’m longing to be able to eat and taste things like normal again. Hope it goes soon and wondered if anybody had any idea why this is suddenly happening. I’ve eaten pine nuts many times in the past with no side effects at all.
I have it too! I am not happy about this. I came home from work the other day, really hungry and ate fist fulls of those little bastards, now my mouth taste like I sucked on a whole roll of skunk-ass flavored lifesavers. I got mine from ACME supermarket. Any cures out there? Gum, mouthwash,brushing my teeth dosent help.
I can’t believe this! I thought there was something weird going on with how food tasted. I thought I was imagining it at first, but I finally started googling bad taste in mouth and found this. I bought Chinese pine nuts in the local health food store and have been eating it daily for two weeks. I even questioned the clerk when I bought them. I asked about the fact that they were from China which surprised me as I always associated them with Italy. I was reluctant to buy them at first because of the problems with Chinese products. I was told that they were OK. I’m definitely never buying these again, and I seriously question the safety of them. I hope this doesn’t last much longer. It’s really terrible and I can’t believe that this hasn’t been publicized in the news and people haven’t been warned.
I am so happy that I’ve found this site. It felt a bit like insanity… Honey, taste these M&Ms. Are they okay? Is this milk still good? What’s wrong with this bread? Etc.
My question for you all is this: Has it dissipated at all for anyone? One fellow on another site says that it can last 6 months to a lifetime (LIFETIME?!). I would love to hear from someone who has come out the other side. I’m a big food-lover and this is KILLING me.
I bought my pine nuts a the Park Slope Food Coop.
WOW!!! I thought I was going into a diabetic coma or something!!! I have had this bitter taste for two days now especially after eating!!! I have eaten two salads with raw pine nuts on it in the last three or four days. I purchased mine at Whole Foods. The manager does not believe that they are from China. Oh well! I will just toast them always I guess. this taste is so nasty!!! I cannot stop drinking water!!! Young thai coconut water helped me earlier. The taste went away for a while. Will try the mint tea. Thank you all for posting!!! Don’t you love the internet!!!
I have had a bitter taste in my mouth and also thought something serious was happening to me as it has lasted 5 days. Everything I eat leaves this taste (I can compare it to the taste of that nail polish you put on your fingernails to stop you biting them). The only relief I got was eating food laced with lemon and vinegar but the symptom returned with my next meal. I too have had pine notes in a salad that I bought about 6 days ago. Thanks so much. How long does this symptom last though and is there a cure….. as I’ve still got it???
I am not on the therapy you mentioned but I also have a strange pain inside of my left bottom rib that doctors can not work out. It is gradually getting worse and nothing shows up on xrays. I am reluctant to take ant-acids as I know they can encourage greater acid production over time. I too wonder if there is a connection here but I can’t say I suffer from acid reflux as my pain is lower – not in my chest.@Lucinda
I am actually living in China, bought some pinenuts at the market (they look exactly the same as the nuts I’ve bought over the last 8-10 years in the market here with no after effects) tasty, fresh and definitely not rancid oxidized or anything else. The bitter taste started about 3 days later….. I am also wondering if this could be some chemical used in the processing? Any of these “China scares” are usually caused by cost-cutting on the part of suppliers here, so it would make sense if it were something used to process the nuts cheaply. I had been under the impression that the reason they are generally expensive is they have to be processed by hand, nut by nut…. even buying them here in the market I was wondering (as I ate them) how they could possibly be so low priced if they were picked and shelled by hand.
I am Italian I eat pesto very often. I had this once about 18 months ago. It lasted about 2-3 weeks. I now have it again – several days since my last pesto. None of the rest of my family have so far said they have had the same effect. It doesn’t seem quite as bad now as last time. Chocolate digestives were really bad for generating the bad taste. I also noticed my tongue is feeling a bit sensitive to touch (this preceded the bitter taste). I find the bitter taste takes a few seconds to build up.
Unlike some others I felt the bitter taste centred around my premolars/cheeks rather than back of the throat. Anyone else have any comments of detailed symptoms.
Questions:
Is something left in the teeth that somehow reacts with fresh food to make a nasty taste?
Is it the body reacting to food by messing with nerves in the tongue?
Hallelujah! I am so happy to see that I am not alone! If only that aweful taste could go away now! I will definatle come back to let you all know how long my symptoms have lasted… hopefully it wont be too long! :S
I had probably only a teaspoon full of them in Oz and got it. I think they were purchased in bulk..they came in quite a large pack.
Im wondering if it could get worse the more I eat?..definitely a horrible experience.
same problem with chemical taste when eating. Pine nuts were from trader joes and it says they are from korea/russia/vietnam.
I purchased Pine Nuts from Costco 4 days ago. I love pine nuts – sometimes I like to just grab a handful and pop them in my mouth for a quick snack. Last night, all of a sudden absolutely EVERYTHING I put in my mouth tastes bitter! Even candy corn. The previous post that states it tastes like the nail polish you use to prevent nail biting – they are right! I am saving my bag of pine nuts, notifying the FDA, and calling Costco, as well as making a doctors appt. Has anyone had the taste go away? I have not felt like eating, and I’m sure I’ll loose weight at this rate.
I too have this bitter taste after eating or drinking! It started yesterday – woke up this morning thought it had gone – until i had a mouthful of coffee and YUCK!!! Back again – but even stronger! I ate pine nuts two days ago. Was starving this afternoon and had some stilton cheese and pickled onions on toast. Could eat it with out too bad a bitter taste – but it came on really strong for about 15 minutes after i had finished. Found out that the pine nuts have come from China – produced for Cooks and Co. I bought them to use in salads in our pub – hope no-one else is suffering the same as me! Only gone out to one other person!
Hi got the “pine mouth” as well.
From the other post on this blog they’ve indicated the symptoms can last from 4 days to 2 weeks. Activated charcoal, vinegar and aloe vera juice has been suggested to help.
Mine came from a bag and I’d been munching on them for a week or so before any symptoms started so I think it was from a few bad nuts in the batch or some of the nuts have gone bad over time.
Best of luck!
I have rediscovered something that gets rid of the bitter taste (for me at least). Cheese. I am hypothesizing that fats, proteins or enzymes in cheese interact with whatever is causing the bitter taste to mask it. I’ll keep experimenting. Anyone else identified things that make a difference?
My husband and I ingested the same pine nuts–I got “Pine Mouth” and he did not. [By the way, after two weeks, my “pine mouth” was completely cured…so if you’re currently suffering, hang on…it does go away). Now I would be curious to know what those of us who had the reaction have in common. Is it mostly women? Is it a chemical reaction to something in vitamin supplements or medication? I have a hard time beleiving its the pine nuts themselves since it doesn’t happen to everyone who ingests the “evil” pine nuts and they seem to be produced in many different places. Any ideas?
Theresa, I too am interested in why. I have never experienced this before
I am so so so glad I have found the cause of this bitter taste problem I’ve now had for 3 long days now. I was so supried when I found this site that showed other people have had the same symptoms as I’ve had. I find the bitter taste is worse in the evenings just when I’d like to enjoy a glass of wine after a haed day at work.
Theresa
Maybe being a woman is a factor. Most of us here if not all are women. Both my boyfriend and I recently roasted pine nuts and ate them. I got the lovely after effect. He did not. So some are eating “raw” pine nuts and get the effect? Good to know cuz I was wondering if this happened to me because they were roasted and the oils released. I can’t wait till this stops!
I am suffering from this “pine mouth” now. It is the most annoying thing. I urge all of you who have experienced this problem to report it to the stores where you purchased the pine nuts, report it to any governmental agency (FDA in the US)and don’t buy any more pine nuts from China. Use walnuts for your pesto! I congratulate commenter Mike for his 5 lb weight loss. That may be the ONLY good thing about this “pine mouth” experience. But quite honestly, I’d rather have my taste buds back than deal with this. Think about it – what else could be happening in our bodies that would cause our salivary glands to secrete metallic tasting fluids? That is exactly what is happening.
This just happened to me as well. I ate pine nuts in my salad on Sunday and on Tuesday morning when I took a bite of sausage I spit it out thinking that is must be rotten. I then ate an apple that tasted terrible and that evening, I could barely get down a glass of red wine. After three days is seems to be easing up a bit. I have tried drinking several cups of Raspberry Green Tea hoping that the antioxidants would clear out whetever it was that was causing the bitter taste. It really did seem to help, but I’m not sure if I was on the road to receovery anyway… but it’s worth a try. Funny thing is, I mentioned it to a friend and yesterday she came over with an article from the Baltimore Sun about how pine nuts are causing a bitter taste that can last for days to weeks. I couldn’t believe that the article came out at the same time I am experienceing this. We should all report this to the FDA.
Here is a link to the article from the Sun:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/bal-ae.fo.pinenut07oct07,0,7290913.story
I thought I could be pregnant having that awful taste in mouth. Thank you for this site, and a few other sites, b/c I ate a couple handfuls of pinenuts this week and this taste is horrid. I hope I can drink wine this weekend! My pine nuts were a big bag from Sam’s Club, can’t recall the brand but I’m throwing them away! All these posts are so recent so there must be these “bad” batches out there. YUCK! I’m one day two of this taste.
This blog is a godsend. I am a foodie and was worried that I would never taste food the same again. Everything that is being described is making sense to me now. I DID make a couple dishes with pinenuts last week. I am so cruoius as to what causes this and the official length of this “side effect”….if it helps:
The eating of pine nuts can cause serious taste disturbances, developing 1-3 days after consumption and lasting for days or weeks. A bitter, metallic taste is described. In general, a minority of pine nuts on the market present this problem. Though very unpleasant, there does not seem to be a real health concern. — Wikipedia
and here is another source…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1184261/Pine-mouth-puzzle-Why-nuts-leave-bitter-taste.html
this seems tpo be a developing pandemic!
I am female and 52 yrs old. Had pine nuts a few days ago and blah…have that same bitter taste. Hate to endure it for 2 more weeks. Thanks for calming my nerves…thought it might be some internal infection
I posted a while back about my experience with pine mouth. I also have this pain under my left lower rib. I have had the pain for almost two years. It started after I increased the amount of fruits and nuts in my diet(pine nuts included). I often times have a hard time sleeping on my left side due to the pain. I have gone though a colonoscopy and an MRI trying to figure it out. I still do not know the cause. I only had the pine mouth issue with the last batch of pine nuts that I purchased. I bought them from Sam’s club. They are a product of china and were packaged by AMPORT foods. If you are able to find out the cause of your pain , please post it.—Shane@Shelley