Of course when I was reading about this on Twitter, I had to have a few nibbles of my own from-China pine nuts (Costco brand) just to see if they were okay. So far so good.

Good tip about keeping them cold! I store mine in the freezer, in a sealable bag that’s inside a plastic snap-top container.

Hope your tastebuds will get back to normal sooner rather than later!

That is so very odd! But I think I have your cure!! Check this out!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/dining/28flavor.html

I go through these “everything is bitter” periods … it’s not pine nuts for me, at least not at the moment. Sometimes I think it might be cheese, like some of the blue cheeses or smoked foods.The good news is that it goes away and the bitterness, now that I know that it’s not the food I’m eating, but me, I can kind of get past it.

This happened to me a few months ago and I googled “metallic taste” but got no where. It went away after a few days and I forgot all about it until now. Pine nuts could definitely be the culprit-they make brussel sprouts the BEST. Cheers.

In the course of my professional recipe development over the years, I’ve found that some mouth washes really affect the flavor of food, even 48 hours later. Metallic overtones come through with many, but not all foods. So I avoid mouth wash when I’m getting serious in the kitchen.

Thanks for the heads up on this. Why is it that this always goes back to a problem from China or Asia? I emailed Trader Joe’s and let them know they have a problem and that they might want to reconsider their supplier of pine nuts. In the meantime, I’ll search for Italian ones, or some from New Mexico.

Wow, I’ve never heard of such a thing!

How bizarre! Who knew those little nuts could be such a pain. I tend to buy them in bulk so god only knows where they’ve come from Knowing your story, I’ll be more careful from now on.

When I was pregnant, food kept suddenly tasting like hairspray!

very odd. first time i’ve heard of anything negative against pine nuts.

Must be new, that is the second time in one week that I hear such a thing. But quiet right not to give them up.

Ah, thanks for solving the mystery. I put pine nuts in my salads and was wondering why I get this bitter aftertaste at the back of my mouth after eating them. Now I know.

I eat pine nuts all the time and this has never happened to me, but I’m only eating organic ones that I buy in bulk. My guess is that it’s not the pine nuts themselves but something that they have been treated with.

I have the same problem with pine nuts. It happens to me almost every time so now I just avoid them. I always figured that it was my palate and nothing wrong with the pine nuts. Usually I am dining with others who have them and never complain about the after taste. But I am one of those people who doesn’t like raw spinach because it leaves an after taste in my mouth.

I grew up in New Mexico and we picked our own pine nuts (pinon), I don’t recall ever having this problem. I do remember during the picking season there were nut shells everywhere, even in the ashtray in the State Capital elevator!

I’ve never heard of this problem with pine nuts before. I do know, however, that a strong metallic taste in your mouth is one of the first signs of pregnancy! Maybe pine nuts could be substituted by walnuts, blanched almonds, or hazelnuts to avoid the problem.

What a coincidence. This happened for the first time last week. I only got the bitter taste once, but my husband and sister-in-law had it for days. My mother-in-law had the pine nuts, but I don’t know where she got them or how she stored them. It is the weirdest thing!

This is so fortuitous! I’ve had this experience twice in the past month. The first time it lasted for 3 days and the second only for one. I don’t remember if I ate pine nuts but it’s highly possible. I’ve been making a lot of pesto lately. At first I described it as a bitter taste. Then later realized that it was more like…perfume. Chemical-like. So distracting! Maybe it was the pine nuts? I don’t plan to cut back anytime soon so maybe I’ll find out sooner than later. Thanks for the info!

yes, happening to me currently…the only common link in all of this has been the recent consumption of pine nuts…!! (these had not been stored in a cool place and possibly a week or so old…) can not get rid of the bitter taste so far…..would be great to hear of a remedy for the problem….. so again, YES, it appears to be the pine nuts…. wow, never would have believed it…!!

How odd and scary. Never happened to me, but then, I don’t eat pine nuts that often. Very rarely you can find them natively grown from the Southwest. I have a New Mexican brand of coffee flavored with pinyon. Not bad.

Not having heard anything bad about pine nuts in the past, I started eating pine nuts this week and now have a horribly bitter taste in my mouth when I eat anything. I bought mine from Trader Joes. I’m going to try and return the rest of the bag. Thanks for the information regarding pine nuts and for these comments. I feel better already.

Pine nuts have always tasted bitter to me, no matter how fresh they are! Needless to say, I don’t eat pesto with pine nuts, just walnuts or almonds.

Good god, I just googled this and now I’m so freaked out. I am having the same experience today, except I went so far as to call General Mills when the brand-new box of Honey Nut Cheerios I opened for breakfast was bitter. I’ve never called a company before, but seriously, it was horrible. Of course, everything I’ve eaten all day has been equally horrible so now, in addition to the bitter taste in my mouth, I have guilt.

Oh, and sure enough, I ate a fistful of pine nuts yesterday.

How odd is this? I have been having this bitter taste in my mouth for two days and never thought it could be the pine nuts I had the other day. I have had pine nuts before and never experience this bitter taste. So glad I googled this and learned there is nothing really seriously wrong with me. I though my sinues or the back of my throat had a problem, glad to hear I am not alone. My husband ate pine nuts from the same batch and does not experience any bitterness.

I just googled this site and can’t believe this. Two days ago I ate a small bag of pine nuts from a bulk that we bought at Whole Foods. Then woke up this morning and after my yogart which I could hardly finish because of this awful taste, realized something was wrong. Has gotten worse during the day with every bite I take. Are there any remedies to help it go away fast???

Judy

Wow, I have never heard of this happening, it’s very interesting that pine nuts are possibly behind this aftertaste that people experience. I eat pine nuts from time to time but my mother-in-law devours them! I am going to have to ask her if she has ever experienced these symptoms!

Thanks for the information, great blog!

I had a bitter taste in the back of my throat after anything I ate or drank all weekend. I called the dentist first thing this morning in case it was an infection from a possible cracked filling or something like that – he took x-rays and poked around and nothing. I came home and googled (ya gotta love google ! ) “bitter taste in mouth after eating” and was surprised to find several hits with pine nuts listed as the cause. And you guessed it – I had pine nuts in my appetizer Thursday night when I went out to dinner with my husband. I have had pine nuts before but usually buy organic and keep them in my fridge – this is the first time I ever remember having this happen. I am into day 4. I hope it goes away soon – water and beer are the only things that seem okay, bread, crackers, tortilla’s that sort of thing seem the worst. I was able to tolerate an apple today – so maybe I am on the mend.

Well, I found your site the same way you found out about the pine nuts – googling my symptoms! All day yesterday, everything I ate tasted bitter. I was getting seriously annoyed. Sounds like pine nuts are the culprit in my case too! I had a salad with pine nuts a couple of days ago. Ugh. I hope this goes away soon!

[...] on pine nuts & the bitter taste: The Pine Nut Menace (Food & Wine) Pine Nuts Left A Bitter Taste In My Mouth (Pinch My Salt) The Great Pine Nut Mystery (The Greasy [...]

Whoa, how interesting. Though I haven’t had pine nuts lately, I’m amazed that so many folks are having trouble with them. Kudos to you for doing the research as it seems this is becoming common for pine nut eaters!

Thanks for posting this! I had this happen to me yesterday. I kept thinking that the food I was eating was a little off, until I realized it had to be me. Then I started freaking out, did a search and found your posting, and realized I _had_ eaten some pine nuts just a few hours before it started happening.

I had even packed some more nuts to eat today — I guess I’m skipping the pine nuts among them.

I have been baffled and so concerned as to why this has happened to me twice in the past month. So, like most of you, I googled my symptoms, a terrible taste in the back of my throat that wont go away. My search led me here, and turns out. Both times this has happened was after making pesto, a key ingredient being pine nuts, and….I bought them at Trader Joes both times….

I am so glad I finally did a Google search. All I typed in was “all food tastes bitter” because that’s exactly what I had been going through. It would go on for days at a time starting a couple of months ago. I thought that it was the rubber case on my Blackberry phone so I washed it and made sure I washed my hands before I ate ANYTHING. Eventually, it went away but it returns once in a while. Low and behold, I stumble upon your article and of course, I get the same pine nuts. From Trader Joe’s in Alameda, Calif. I love pine nuts but I can’t stand this bitter taste crap. I might not have the fortitude to keep eating them if this continues. Oddly enough, I make salads for my wife with the same nuts and she’s never experienced that problem. Oh well. Thanks so much for sharing!

I thought I had diabetes, or gingivitis, or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Turns out it was the Trader Joe’s pine nuts! Thanks for posting this. You saved me a trip to the doctor’s office.

Yep..me too! Except I had a bout of diarrhea after ingesting my salad with pine nuts and had an ache in my stomache for nearly a week. I called the FDA. When they found I didn’t have the original package or contents left he wouldnt take a report. I argued rather strongly about what would it take to get him to take a report…someone really damaged or dead?? 3 days later he called back and left a message..he had checked their data base and indeed pinenuts were causing a problem and I was ok to eat them anyways. Maybe for him..not for me!!
I also called the Poison Center but no one called me back. It was pretty awful..I emailed all my friends and have posted in these blogsand emails Oprah and ABC…at least I felt like I did something,

This affected me last week. Ate some raw pine nuts in a salad and started noticing an awful taste in my mouth. It makes other food taste bad. Bummer!

Three days and counting for me.

I experienced that many times, tasting bitter-like foods and it makes me sick that causes me nausea, headache and very awful taste. I tried a syrup medicine which is more in lactobacillus, but its really bitter like your pine nuts and really awful.Thanks for sharing about this experience you had.

Bogartkick,
The nuts didn’t taste bitter at all..they were just fine to eat. The symptom of bitterness didn’t appear for 2 days and lasted for 2 weeks for me.

I bought a salad from Pret-a-Manger last week with pine nuts and I’m still suffering from the bitterness of this. It’s not their fault, they make excellent food and to be honest, I can’t even say it definitely was their pine nuts – but I didn’t eat any from anywhere else. All I know is that they wouldn’t skimp on cheap ingredients… I’ve been eating pine nuts for about a year now and never experienced this before. It’s almost a week later and the taste is starting to go away but its definitely still there. I want to get stoned and forget about it… but it even makes my dope taste wrong…

Wow! This is great finding the answer to the bitter taste I’ve had in my mouth after everything I eat. I made a pesto dip for the first time for my daughter’s piano recital on the 17th of May. I ate the leftovers for two days in a row and had put the extra pine nuts in a bowl on the counter to munch on (we keep different nuts out for us all to have something healthy to munch). Our family has never had pine nuts before – my girls never tried them, but my son and I would grab a few here and there. I have been trying to diet, so the way everything tasted bad has really been good – but I got to wondering if it was some of the new vitamins or suppliments I was taking. That’s why I Googled “metalic bitter taste”. When I saw that others have had this happen because of pine nuts, I asked my son if he has had bad after tastes too, and he said even the cupcake I said he could have after lunch today tasted aweful!! I got mine in bulk at Sprouts – and since the temps have been hitting records in Arizona it’s no wonder the pine nuts are no good. I wouldn’t know what they should taste like, but right from the start they left an aftertaste. The pesto dip covered that taste, I think, as it was also layered with minced, dried tomatoes and cream cheese. I guess it’s a good diet trick – but even water and brushing my teeth tastes bad!

TRADERS JOES pine nuts ARE from China. They’re only packaged in Korea, Russia, or Vietnam. They do that so they can claim they are from those three countries but they are indeed cultivated in China.

I purchased pinenuts at Longo’s in Oakville Ontario, Canada to take with us on a road trip to New York City. After 3 days in New York City everyone started to complain about a bitter taste in mouth after meals; mints or gum made it even worse. We started to wonder if we caught a swine flu, or other unknown virus. Came back to Toronto to find out that my Mom seek medical help thinking she was having a serios liver problem because of bitter taste in her mouth. I was puzzled and checked the Internet. It took me only a few minutes to solve the mistery.
I went back to Longo’s to find out where the nuts came from. On a package it only gives the packaging company… The manager of the store was king to call me next day and inform that pinenuts came from China…

I EXPERIENCED A BITTER TASTE WITH ALL FOOD. I read about symptoms online. IT’S PINE NUTS!!! In ever eat Pine Nuts. I ate them within 2 days of my newly developed symptoms.

This just happened to me after I ate Chinese pine nuts from Whole Foods (their own store brand, “365″). How could these still be sold when the problem was identified as long ago as 2001? Imagine what it’s like for people whose appetites are already compromised by medication or sickness! And for those who confuse “rancidity” with this problem, they are two different things. My pine nuts tasted fine, which is not the case with rancid food. Do not eat Chinese pine nuts.

Holy moly, a friend just forwarded this link to me. I’m having the same experience right now after eating a bunch of pine nuts from Trader Joe’s on Saturday. The bitterness started Monday. It’s so awful!! At least it doesn’t last forever…blech!!

Add me to the list. I had some pine nuts in a salad at a friend’s barbeque on Saturday, May 23. Everything I eat or drink tastes terrible afterwards and this is the second day of the bad after taste for me. I recall she said she got them from Raley’s bulk foods so who knows where they came from.

a-HA! lasting for weeks, eh? i’ve been nibbling on pine nuts bought from a nice “foodie” grocery store (their bulk bin) for the past few months. who knows how long they’ve been in my pantry. i think just when i would get them out of my system, i’d nibble a few more and here we are again. very sad, because i miss the way food is suposed to taste.

thanks for the wikipedia quote and a very enjoyable read. safe pine nutting!

I too spent the past weekend suffering through “pine-mouth.” I did try the suggestion of eating aloe… my local TJs (curiously the source of the culprit pine nuts) sells canned aloe chunks. After chewing a few pieces several times over the last 48 hours, I am THRILLED to say that the bitter metal taste is 80% gone!

Me too! Pine nuts from Trader Joes.

Seriously, I have never posted to a blog before in my life but I am so relieved to have found this one that i feel the need to reply. I too thought i was dying until i read this blog about pine nuts. i have had stomach issues over the years and figured this was just another disease to add. i was googling “bad taste” instead of “bitter taste” and nothing good was showing up. i finally saw something about bitter taste, and thats when i found the pine nut theory. i made pesto with pine nuts sunday night, and first noticed the bitterness yesterday while eating lunch. i bought mine from whole foods. they are also in my salad for lunch today – guess i’ll be picking them out! cannot deal with this taste anymore..but thanks for solving the mystery!

Yup, I’ve got that nasty metallic taste too. My pine nuts came from Wal Mart. The nasty taste took about 1 1/2 days to appear and so far has continued for 1 day. I threw away the nut package and don’t remember the brand, but it wasn’t the store brand. I’m heading back to the store tomorrow to check the package and see where these nuts originated.
I’m in Arizona and, ironically, I bought the prepackaged nuts because I saw a roadside stand with hand painted signs advertising roasted pinons (pine nuts). I questioned the cleanliness of the preparation–sold in burlap bags out of the back of a pick-up truck–and opted for the national brand instead. Even while eating the nuts I was thinking, “Humph, these aren’t as good as I remembered.”
Think I’ll test my odds with the burlap kind next time.

Oh, and I know this is totally a dental and diet no-no–plus it would normally just sound gross to me–but I’ve taken to placing marshmallows on the back of my tongue. As long as they’re dissolving, it hides the bitter taste for a while.

Today I had experienced a very bitter taste in the back of my mouth. I tried everything to get rid of it. I knew it wasn’t a perio thing as I work for a dentist. It was driving me crazy. I asked my daughter to look it up on the internet and she came back with jaundice, medications, perio etc.. I knew it was none of the above. So I did my own research and when I came to this site I finally had the answer. Pine nuts whewwwww so glad for pine nuts. I had a salad the last 3 days that was full of pine nuts which I have never had in my life..It all makes sense now and I can rest easy and stop eating them as that is the worst taste ever. Thanks for the info. I know that I am not going crazy.

This just happened to me after I ate Chinese pine nuts from Whole Foods (their own store brand, “365″). How could these still be sold when the problem was identified as long ago as 2001? Imagine what it’s like for people whose appetites are already compromised by medication or sickness! And for those who confuse “rancidity” with this problem, they are two different things. My pine nuts tasted fine, which is not the case with rancid food. Do not eat Chinese pine nuts.

yikes – HOW could this be true? I had brussel sprouts roasted with pine nuts and balsalmic vinegar on Sunday. My taste buds have been history since Tuesday and I had to search because this is so bizarre. I can’t even eat my morning staple – a banana. NEVER again will I eat pine nuts.

hmmm. Might be the perfect thing to kick of my diet. Eat some pine nuts then eat all my favorite foods.

After eating pinenuts two days in a row this awful bitter taste after eating and drinking is happening to me as well. Im new to the pine nut thing and did not refridgerate them after opening so I seem to have really done myself in. Mine were purchased in a small sealed bag from the produce section of my grocery store. If I had bothered to read the label beforehand I would not have purchased simply because there was no definitive country of orgin.

For the last four days, I have had a bitter “hair spray – like” taste in my mouth every time I ate or drank anything. It is annoying! I thought something might be terribly wrong with me. I thought perhaps I needed to go to the doctor. First, I thought I’d try to “google” an answer. I was very excited to read about the pine nuts. I have been eating a lot of pine nuts in my salads lately. It must be the answer I was looking for! I am very relieved. I have purchased them from Kroger and Fresh Market. I’ll need to investigate to find out where in the world they were shipped from. Thanks!

so glad i read this – i thought i was having an anurysm or something and googled it.

I have had something like this before. I now see what it might have been.

My evening beer, an essential in kidney function for me, is tasting bitter like the woody parts of pecans. It is definitely in the can, not a residual taste in pockets in my throat. I never eat pine nuts, but pine teas are highly recommended for colds, etc. so I guess the “turpines” they contain might be good for you in some circumstances. Don’t worry, “it’s all good.” Long life and good health to you all.

My dad came over and was complaining of a bitter taste in his mouth and said that my mom was experiencing the same symtom for the past couple of days…so I googled it and I saw pine nuts as a possiblity.
I asked my dad if he ate pine nuts and low and behold both he and my mom did!
Thanks so much for putting this article out…what a great help it was!
It has put my parents and my minds at ease.
My dad called a nurse and she thought it could be acid reflux, but for both of them to have had it at the same time and my dad already taking meds for this was weird to me and that’s when I googled. By the way, they got theirs from Costco. Thanks again!

This info is awesome…was going to the doc tomorrow…don;t need to now!

Am I ever glad I stumbled upon this when I typed “bitter taste on tongue”! On Mayo Clinic and other sites like that, I had panic when it said it could be pregnancy or post nasal drip. As I have sinus problems frequently, I put in a call to my doctor for an appointment.

Now that I read this – I realize it was my favorite new meal that is doing this to me! Pita bread baked with basil pesto, ground turkey, pine nuts and topped with Asiago cheese. How can something that tastes so good do something this bad? This taste is my mouth is torture… it’s like day old coffee mixed with half smoked cigarettes. Gross.

Ditto. Bought and Ate Pine Nuts from Trader Joes last Wednesday. By Friday, had horrible bitter metallic aftertaste in mouth after ingesting anything (but water). Looked on webmd for symptoms/causes and got nothing. Was about to call Doctor on Monday after a torturous weekend, but decided to google “bitter or metallic taste in mouth after eating” and got my answer! Unfortunately no one lists any remedies! Just wait it out. I am now on day 5 and it is finally subsiding enough that the thought of food isn’t so nauseating. BRUTAL. I love pinenuts, but I don’t know if I’ll ever risk this again!

Half of the fun of finding this site is posting and getting the posts emailed to me from others who post next. I agree that I am not sure I can eat pine nuts again..unless I know for a fact that they came from the USA or Italy. There were some antecdotes (sp) listing in some people’s posts (aloe juice was one). I would just like to say that I felt like I had been poisoned.I had other symptoms that most people didn’t experience but I see some others also felt flu like and achey as well as the taste bud issue. After called the FDA I was told by their hack that they couldn’t take a report because I didn’t have the package or remains–we ate them all in the recipe. If anyone has friends in high places could they get someone somewhere to research this and make it public? I send info to Oprah and the networks but no one has responded….ewww. What about Dr OZ? If you know them please ask them to do a piece on this. I think the FDA should pull imported pinenuts from the shelves until they figure what the heck is going on.

I’m really surprised, but I did eat pine nuts a few days ago (not as tasty as the ones I had eaten before) and yesterday I started with the really bitter taste in my mouth. The pine nuts were indeed from China. Gross.

I just ate a handful of pinenuts a couple of days ago. Yesterday I noticed that once I ate breakfast, I had a bitter taste at the back of my tongue. It only got worse. Everything I ate during the day was bitter. Then the next day the same thing happened. I don’t know what to eat to not deal with this. Any suggestions? Also, my pinenuts were from Trader Joes and processed either from Russia or Korea, so they say.

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”. Sarah above (May 21) 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.

How very interesting. Glad I came across the “pine nut” reference, because I also thought I was developing a serious illness. My pine nuts came from Trader Joe’s in Palatine (Chicago area). I’ve been buying pine nuts at Trader Joe’s for years and this is the first time I had this experience with bitter aftertaste. Maybe there was a quality problem in the recent batch? Thanks to all who commented – glad to see i am in good company!

So thankful to have found your blog. Everything I was eating tasted bitter and sometimes metallic, and I was afraid I was being poisoned by either something I had eaten, or possibly old dental work. I no longer have any mercury amalgams, but I have several old porcelain crowns which contain mixed metals in their base. I recently discovered that porcelain crowns contain aluminum oxide, and dentists have used questionable materials that can be toxic in dentristy, such as nickel. So I was thinking along the line of toxic metal poisoning caused by dental work or mercury from tuna I had eaten. I bought my bag of raw pignolias from Trader Joes in South Pasadena and added a handful to my salad the other night. The package says, “product of Korea, Russia or VietNam.” (Is this like eeny, meeny, miney, mo? Why don’t they specify the country of origin? Also, I did not know that pine nuts can easily become rancid, and there is no indication on the package about refrigeration needed. Thank you for your blog and thanks to all who took the time to post their stories. Glad to know the odds are in my favor that I will live, if the bitter taste is caused by the pine nuts.

Thank goodness for your post! I bought my pine nuts at Trader Joe’s in NE Portland (OR) a week ago and made a tasty pesto spread for an evening gathering. Then next morning I thought my OJ was off and pitched it- later discovering that everything had a bitter aftertaste. None of my friends are experiencing this phenomena. I’ll have to ride it out and hope it is only a matter of days, not weeks.

Thank YOU! Last week I began tossing a few pine nuts into my dinner salad. And only recently started having a bitter taste on my tongue. I thought I had acid reflux, heatburn or an intestinal infection… or even worse… cancer… I am SO relieved to discover the pine nut theory. I will experiment and eliminate them from my daily salad. Thanks for posting!! I bought the pine nuts at my local Albertson’s.

Just a check-in. I am on Day 7 of Pine Mouth (see post above). The taste is still around, although not as bad. I hardly notice it with some foods, but it jumps out with others. I haven’t found anything consistent that triggers it. I am still having some minor irritation/discomfort/swelling at the back of my tongue/throat. Want to point out to all that my pine nuts were roasted, so I don’t think it’s about them being raw. I think it’s about source and/or time since the package was opened (3-4 weeks, in my case).

I also Google bitter taste in mouth and thankfully found your website..
We had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory last Sunday and I had
Evelyns Favorite Pasta.. on Tuesday the milk tasted bitter, but it
was the end of the gallon so I thought it was a little sour. Then
everything tasted bitter. I chewed gum and brushed my teeth but
it didn’t go away. On Wednesday I had a banana for breakfast
and immediately got the same reaction.. it lasted all day… Today
I woke up bitter free… until I tasted a few grains of barley that I am
cooking for a recipe… the bitter taste returned instantly… Thoughts
of brain tumors flashed through my mind until I found your website..
One would think that a busy restaurant would not use rancid nuts..

Needless to say, Evelyn’s Favorite Pasta is no longer mine…
Hope this goes away soon.

(Same problem) Just want know this bitter taste how long gonna last?

Mine lasted 2 weeks…decreasing as time went on.
I went out the other night and the restaurant had fabulous bread with
a green creamy spread. Not until I ate some did I realize it was a creamy parmesean pesto. I freaked for a minute. Then continued to eat it…nothing so far and it has been 4 days. Last time it too 2 days to show up with bitter. I think I am ok.

I didn’t think I would ever have the nerve to eat pine nuts again..but they snuck up on me.

Wow! this was super helpful…how funny we were wondering what was going on!
We had an awesome dinner with a pine nut sauce and BAM same symptoms as described in the content here.

-Thax 4 this post!

Was at a wedding last nite, I told my wife the chicken tasted off – she said hers was very good….. This morning I had OJ and was going to spill it out because it tasted bad. Then I had cereal & milk, coffee & muffin and realized it was me – everything tasted bitter. Just had lunch and everything was awful! So I goodled “everything tastes bitter” and found this site.

Had a salad with pine nuts on Saturday! Glad to have found the probable cause, but can’t wait till it passes!

I made my own pizza Sunday and sprinkled plenty of pine nuts on it. Tuesday I had the bitter taste after eating anything. I don’t know where the pine nuts were from and I like them but I don’t need the aggravation of the bitter taste. Pine nuts goodbye! I’m glad I found fellow sufferers so I know what is going on with my taste buds.

I am very happy to have found this.

Trader Joe’s pine nuts, too. Tasted fine when eaten. Bitterness set
in two days later.

I have had pine nuts from Trader Joe’s many times and have handled
them the same way. This is the first time I’ve had problems. That
suggests the problem is with this particular lot.

Found your blog by searching “bitter taste in my mouth”. What do you know? I bought a bag of pine nuts from Trader Joe’s two days ago, and have been eating them non-stop!
Thank you for your blog post. I can’t wait to get this taste out of my mouth. No more TJ pine nuts for me.

I just wanted to clarify for those of you assuming that the problem with pine nuts is isolated to Trader Joe’s (or some other store solely). It is happening and has been happening per the googled posts I have read for several years in stores across the nation and the world. TJ’s – Whole Foods-Stater Brothers-you name it..they have been purchased all over. Seem to be coming from China though it also shows other countries on the packages of some. Korea, VIetman etc–not sure if they are all from one place or not. FDA would not take a claim because I didn’t have the package or the remains. I felf poisoned by this..more then annoying I was actually sick for a few days. Maybe there is a problem with the pine trees grown where these are harvested…pollution–pesticide?

ME TOO!!! This happened to me 2 months ago with some pine nuts from Trader Joe’s. I thought it was a sinus infection and took 10 days of antibiotics, during which time the bitter taste faded away very gradually. The bitter taste drove me nearly insane during that time. Like everyone else, I googled my symptoms, read about the pine nut link, realized that I’d just made pesto with some pine nuts from Trader Joe’s — but it seemed like such a weird connection, i discounted it. i’ve been making pesto for years and never had a reaction to pine nuts before. (Of course, we just got a Trader Joe’s here, so I hadn’t bought pine nuts there before.) Just in case, I threw the rest of those pine nuts away. Fast forward two months. The basil in the garden is ready to be harvested. We have no pine nuts, so I asked my husband to pick some up on his way home. He got them at Trader Joe’s. Assuming my last bad experience had been a sinus infection, I went ahead and used them. Today, I can barely stand to eat or drink anything. I’ve been panicking today, wondering if I have gastroesophageal reflux, or cancer or an abcessed tooth. For the hell of it, I checked google once more and found this page. Pine nuts are totally causing what i have — my symptoms are EXACTLY what everyone else describes. I HATE this. Has anyone found anything at all that helps??? I can’t stand to go through this all over again.

OMG, I am dying from this horrible taste in my mouth, all day today, and yes I did think of brain tumor, I have been munching on pine nuts since wednesday, and I bought a big bag from Costco. I love pine nut and I have been eating them since I was a kid. Thank you so much for putting my mind at ease, I would have never ever thought of pine nuts.

Wow! Thank you! I ate about 1/2 of a small bag of pine nuts yesterday and today everything tastes awful (like a strong aspirin taste at the back of my mouth). I was beginning to wonder about the brain tumor thing too! My pine nuts did not come from Trader Joe’s (Fresh and Easy market).

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THIS INFO!!! I was going crazy!!! I made my first pasta dish with pine nuts over the weekend. Then yesterday everthing tasted horrible. I couldn’t eat dinner. The bitterness was horrible. Then this morning the same thing. I was so concerned and was reviewing everything I recently ate. When I saw your story I was so happy!!! I thought I had a nerve or neurological problem! I just ate lunch and it’s starting to get better. Thanks again!!

Wow, thanks so much for the post. It was the 3rd result when I googled bitter taste. I have been having this bitter taste since yesterday at at first I blamed it on Costco milk, then I noticed that all my food had this bitter after taste in the back of my mouth. I had bought pine nuts from Costco $16 for 1.6 pounds, about 5 days ago and have been eating them straight and on salad, etc… None of the other people in the house, 3 of us eat pine nuts, have had this. I have the spinach thing that one of the other comments mention, along with a variety of other foods, I still eat them. I think it may be a sensitivity to the older oils. I believe I’m a super taster and maybe this is another symptom.
I’m glad it is not permanent and I got a non medical diagnosis. I am the American hypochondriac also.

Mine from Target in Savage, MN. I do have packaging and some left over.

Scotch and rum don’t make the taste better, but I think I care less

Good post. Oh how I love the internet. Anyway, I have not had pine nuts for many years until I went to Safeway and bought some. I ate them Mon, Tue, and Wed. The taste started mid-day Wed and is still there today (Thursday). At any rate, glad to know I am not dying . Lesson for me – next time, buy quality, not quantity!

Thank you for postin this!! It wasn’t until 2 days after I ate pine nuts that I developed the bitter taste in my mouth every time I eat. I was hoping someone has had a cure to the nasty taste..oh well maybe I will lose a few pounds;-)….I also had Trader Joe’s brand……good luck to all!

Down to Earth on Maui, Hawaii. I found mine refrigerated at their store. I called them on it and Sarah, the store manager, said they were Chinese. When I told her what had happened, she probably thought I was making it up to get a refund – not even an apology. They were definitely bad! Grateful to have found this site and posts.

YOU ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! I was freaking out after My july 3rd party with the outdoor yard party with grill. I blamed on the grill, the coal and the grazed Buttercup plants for my horrible BITTER taste in my mouth!!!! I am a good cook but all my food tasted like Bittergourd!. I am glad that this PINE NUT finally came up after 2 hours of my serious and heartbreaking search for my bitterness. Google freaked me.
Then I realized…i ate the MOST pine nuts with my organic salad and raspberry sauce!!! and I ate them for 2 days in a row and bang! I taste bitter, bitter, bitter for the past 3 days . Even my favourite Grape juice taste bitter. THAT scared me off. Thank you so much for this article

I am so pleased that after typing in the phrase “after eating food I have a bitter taste in my mouth” I came across this site. I too have been eating pine nuts- from an Australian company 100% owned, which packs nuts from China. It started this morning when I thought my egg was off, so tossed it out, then I thought my toast tasted bad and decided it had to be the butter..out that went, then I just had toast, and you guessed it that went out too. Everything else has been the same, steak and salad tonight was just awful.The only positive I can see is that in the two or three days it should last, I will dislike the taste of food so much that I eat less and lose a few kilos. Every cloud has a silver lining so they say.

This is happening to me right now. Trader Joe’s ‘Pignolias’ are haunting me. Lame!

Thank God! Everything I have eaten this week tastes bitter in the back of my throat. I’ve been convinced I’ve got something terribly wrong with me! I made pesto this past weekend and, of course, it included pine nuts. I ate tons of it on Saturday as well as Sunday. BAAM! Bitterness on the back of my tongue! Crazy!! Thank you for this post!

I have the issue now too and bought mine at Trader Joe’s in Atlanta.Does anyone know where to buy the Italian ones or made in America ones?

Okay, so we at least know it’s not life threatening! A phenonemon? When do you think they’ll figure out why this happens? Nut allergies can kill you! We’re all alive but WTF? This is now my new quest in life! Why do pinenuts cause a bitter taste on the back of the tongue? I’ve been eating them all of my life! I’ve cooked with them in my restaurant. This has never happened to me? The pinenuts I used for my pesto had been in the fridge for a few weeks in an effort to keep them fresh. I even used them in a salad weeks ago and did not have this problem. Will someone put someone in charge to figure this phenonemon out?

Well I reported before that I reported it to the FDA and they weren’t interested in pursuing it since I didn’t have the bag–even after I told them about this and the other blogs on the internet. I called the poison control center and no one called me back-I send emails to the major news networks and local new stations — also sent one to Oprah’s people.–Nothing. So I would love for somene who knows someone to get this ball rolling. It can’t possibly be good for you it happens. I felt poisoned.

I was wondering what was wring with me. A metallic taste, especially with sweet food even granola, almost anything. Coconut fruit bars by frutstix seem to be the only thing that tastes normal. Carrot juice, no but tea is fine. I ate pine nuts 2 days ago- so I am sure I got the pine- nut problem. Hope it ends soon, its soooo weird. The taste is awful, and didnt show up till a day or two later. It tastes like poison. If there is a lawsuit, please add me. Thanks for solving this terrible mystery.

I got to this site today cause I have a horrible case of bitter taste syndrome, it really freaks me out, I have not been able to eat since yesterday I txt my doc and he told me it could be Gall Bladder or acid reflex so i got on google and found this site, and to my surprise I found Pine nuts which I had eaten the day before yesterday and try to eat yesterday with my salad, but just couldn’t finish cause everything taste horrible…I hope that this is it….this is driving me NUTS:)

I am from Sydney Australia and yes Pine Nuts are causing a bad after taste for me. I have had all the symptoms described in the article. And yes the Pine Nuts were fom China. I have had the bad metallic taste for 4 days now. I found I can eat sweet foods, without experiencing the bad after taste as much ( for example chocolate and sweet jam on toast) but nothing savory, and NO WINE . Shouldn’t these Pine Nuts be illegal?

I’m from the U.K. and I have to say a MASSIVE thank you to you all for solving my bitter mystery. I’ve been using a lot of pine nuts in my cooking over the past few days, and snacking on them quite a lot too. I just ran downstairs and low and behold my packet said ‘PRODUCE OF CHINA’. They’ve gone straight in the bin and I guess now I just have to wait and see how long this horrid taste lasts. I’ll keep you posted if I find a remedy to it.

Remedies: pinch of salt, vinager, natural lemonade,orange juice. And I really enjoyed Hot salsa n salty chips without a bitter taste.
Sugar seems to trigger it more so stay away from sweets.

I’m on my 3rd day:(

Thank you! I was convinced there was something seriously wrong with me! I purchased a bag from whole foods last week and made a huge batch of pesto. I have also been nibbling of of the bag a little everyday since I LOVE pine nuts. I bought the 365 everyday value brand – with a huge ‘product of china’ label on the back. Scary!

I had this problem last month… I had Evelyn’s Favorite Pasta at the
Cheesecake Factory and it has pine nuts.. What worked for me after
3 days is remembering that TOMATO JUICE takes the skunk odor
off of dogs… so, I thought… why not give it a try. I had some V-8
juice in the house and I slowly drank the 12 oz can…also gargling
with it and letting it sit in the back of my throat for about a minute.
I can’t guarantee that was the reason… but the bitter taste was a
lot better after the TJ treatment and completely gone the next day.

Thanks so much! I was worried about all kinds of terrible conditions (throat cancer-I’m a sometime smoker, to sinus infection-I’ve never had sinus problems…) and have had this terrible bad taste in my mouth for days, esp. upon waking in the morning. I had started eating pine nuts (from China) because I saw one of Oprahs docs recommend them. But no more pine nuts for me! This awful taste is not worth it!

I, too, have experienced this problem. But, since there have been several people who mentioned that their friends/family ate the pine nuts as well without any consequences, it is likely that the pine nuts may have an ingredient in them (some kind of oil) that is reacting to the chemical makeup in our bodies. It is also possible that since China is such a huge producer of pine nuts, the likelihood of this happening to someone after eating pine nuts from China (vs. New Mexico, USA where production seems to be non-commercial) will be much greater. There needs to be a study on the the varieties of pine trees and occurrence of this, too!

Just found out that over 90% of the supply of Pine Nuts come from China and that the nuts are not coming from trees that are commercially harvested so that rules out any fertilizers or pesticides….

Just happened to me too. The pine nuts I ate were from China. No more pine nuts for me. It’s been 5 days that everything taste terrible.

I am having the same bad taste as everyone else and my pine nuts came from Dell Alpe, distributed by Rubenelli. The container doesn’t say where the pine nuts are from, I will have to pay more attention in the future. By the way, my wife ate the same pine nuts with no ill effect, which is good because she is already pregnant.

Hello! Friday I made pesto and used some pine nuts I stored in my freezer. Of course, while making the pesto I snacked on a few of them because I love pine nuts. They tasted great! Saturday I started having a strange bitter aftertaste in my mouth after I ate anything and I thought it very odd. This is the 2nd day and my symptoms are continuing so I started researching the causes. Lo and behold, after reading all the comments here I’m jumping on the bandwagon because I think those nuts are the culprit. My package of nuts says they are “a product of Siberia” and “best if used by 4/18/09″ so, yes, they could be considered “expired”. I had them stored in my freezer to keep them fresh for a longer period of time. The pine nuts are distributed by Valued Naturals, Dover, NJ 07801. I’m heading over to the FDA site to see if there is any mention of this weird pine nut aftertaste.

Dear Biologie
Please keep us posted about your interaction with the FDA. Because I didn’t haave the package left they would do nothing–even after reading this site. I hope someone does something about this.

I googled “food tastes bitter” and your blog was one of the top returns! I wanted to thank you so much for writing your post. It described my own experience almost to a “T,” and I’m so relieved to find out it’s not serious. Guess I’ll throw out the rest of my homemade pesto!

We are on day 3 of ‘terrible tastes’ after eating a pesto pasta with extra pine nuts. 3/5 of our party have the bitter taste which started on day 2 after eating the nuts. We got our pine nuts from Tescos in Ireland! not sure where they were from, but we used them the day they were bought, so I don’t think it has anything to do with freshness. There has got to be some way to reduce the symptoms. I have noticed that sweet things definitely make it much worse. Please post solutions if you have any? Will try the tomato juice gargle (yuck!)

Hmmm, me too!

Had the pine nuts (from Trader Joes) on Friday and again on Sunday, symptoms (bitter taste back of mouth after I eat anything) came on today (Tuesday).

Weird, and kind of disturbing!

“Miracle Berry” pills. I’ve tried them and they work for what they claim to do. You might want to try them for this. I’ve never experienced the bitter after taste from pine nuts. Here’s a link to the place I got my berry pills from:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/wacky-candy/ab3f/

I just ate some pine nuts from Trader Joe’s two days ago that had been sitting around, and now I’m getting the same symptoms. If I see those berries I’ll try them out, but I don’t know if it would really cure the problem, or just temporarily distract you from the symptoms.

This happened to me a couple of months ago with some hummus with pine nuts from TJ’s. I found something online that mentioned the bad taste/pine nut connection. I had some pesto in the fridge (also TJ’s) and just tasted the spoon after stirring up some pasta salad. The bad taste was back with a vengeance the next morning, and that was just tasting the spoon! I don’t recall the pesto bothering me earlier, either.

omg, just experienced the bitter taste after everything for the first time in my life! scary. went to check it out, found all this helpful (at least i know im not alone). it’s defo the pine nuts. had some from tescos. i just hope it will go away soon. i keep drinking loads of water to flush it out from me.

ACK! Me too! Mine were from the bulk bin at my local Hy Vee. They had such a sweet taste, which I’m learning now is probably indicative of their rancidity. I just had 10 or 15 of them total since Saturday! It’s now Friday and my symptoms started yesterday. Stay away from breads, orange juice, and everything else that has a flavor! The only thing that hasn’t tasted like rubber bands so far is whiskey. So I’m planning to keep some Maker’s Mark closeby all weekend

[...] Next day, with the bitter taste still strong, Cynthia googled “bitter taste” and stumbled into a ton of threads and comments about people with the same experience — one or two days after having eaten pine nuts. We had had salad with pine nuts on Saturday and Sunday. Very weird. I’ve eaten pine nuts hundreds of times with no problem. But that was the same experience all these people had had. Check out this blog: pinchmysalt [...]

Hi there,
I am experincing very similar things right now! I started noticing this bitter taste at back of my mouth about 24 hours ago…I cannot seem to figure out why???? Today the symptom persists…it is MOST obvious when I eat sweet things (fruits, ice creams, etc). I also noticed there are a lot of article linking pine nuts with this bitter taste, however I only had a very small amount of pine nuts earlier this week inside chicken hummus. I am not sure if this is the reason cos I had the same hummus MANY times before and never had the problem. I do however purchased some pistachios nuts and ate them all earlier this week, which I do not do often….Now I am wondering if the pistachios nuts will cause the same problem????!!
Any suggestions would be really appreciated!!! THANKS!

365 Brand from Whole Foods Market. They took back all three unopened bags. Though the people at customer service desk hadn’t heard about it, the people at the Austin HQ had had numerous calls. I reported it to the FDA last week and they have apparently been getting lots of calls. And yes, they were from China. And no, I do not think they were rancid. I ate some from the bag before we used the rest to make pesto and they seemed fine.

When I was in Trader Joe’s today in Valencia Ca I asked the service desk if they had had any complaints about the pine nuts. He said he hadn’t heard of any personally but he said that they had stopped carrying things from China over a year ago. He said not just food products but even the recyclable grocery bags that they sell. Still wondering why no one has taken this more public..

I finally got over that bitter experience 2 days ago. It lasted 8days! Now I’m trying to convince the chef where I work, (not where I came in contact with the culprits) to get rid of a big box of pine nuts they use in some recipes. He said he won’t be making pesto any time soon! He did contact the exec. chef to see if he had heard of this and he had not. Now my co worker chef wonders if this is all a scam(online) and of course I told him to take a handful of the nuts and see for himself. He would’nt do it.
I do know that some folks don’t have the reaction we have. Lucky us! If i had enough ink in my printer I’d print these pages and show him. I am warning my co-workers and everyone I know to be aware of pine-nuts. peace

Here’s a thought…… for all, If the FDA or any food and drug administration needed test subjects to test the problem would you go through the pine mouth experience again? I don’t think I could any time soon! A.

It’s true! This is so crazy. I couldn’t figure this out and sure enough, I had pine nuts two days ago! What a strange phenomenon!

Bingo!!! I did a search to explain my newly developed symptoms when I ran across your pine nuts story. THANK YOU!!! I thought maybe I had developed something terrible. Mine came from Trader Joes too.

Thank goodness for this article! I ate pine nuts on Monday and Tuesday. It is now Saturday and my taste is slowly getting back to normal–some foods are better than others. The culprits were, indeed, from China.

Have been eating pine nuts from Costco in my salad almost every night for years. Then last week I ran out and a friend picked up a bag from Sams. I noticed that the bag appeared different then the one I was accustomed to and that the pine nuts appeared smaller and a little darker, but did not think anything about it until I noted the bitter taste after eating anything. I googled “bitter taste in mouth” and found your site. I immediately looked on the bag and it said packaged in one of the states but down on the bottom of the bag it said “product of China” in very small print. We took the bag back to Sams, got our money back, but they didn’t seem the least bit interested in the problem. We need to pursue this. Thanks for your help.

Three days ago I made the most delicious pesto, adding some lemon zest to the old standard with basil and pine nuts. Pine nuts from Costco. You know the rest of the story. The bitter taste drove me to google the symptoms and to this page. It’s
the first time I’ve had this extremely unpleasant experience. My husband is symptom free. Weirdness!

good job on posting about the pine nuts! i was in near panic already from this bitter taste in my mouth for the past three days… when I read your blog, i remembered i ate pine nuts last Saturday.

Thanks!

Thank you SO SO much for posting this!! I have had this exact thing for 2-3 days! I hardly ever google medical symptoms, but this was making me desperate and I felt like an idiot calling my doctor asking about the bitter taste in my mouth. While scanning the results, “pine nuts” jumped out at me! I hardly ever eat pine nuts, but bought some to make pesto. After making (and eating) the pesto, I ate the rest of the jar over the next day or so. I just got the jar out of the recycle bin, and sure enough, they came from China!

Seeing so many people here who have had this makes me feel better. At least I know I don’t have some strange fatal disease!! I will just wait for it to go away, now that I am pretty confident that it will. As anyone who has experienced this knows, it is quite annoying to say the least. It is no fun to eat your favorite foods–they all taste bad!

I am currently experiencing this and it is very unpleasant! I hope it doesn’t last long! The only thing that tastes good to me is strawberry breakfast bars. SIGH!

[...] pinchmysalt [...]

I, too purchased pine nuts from Trader Joe’s and have been experiencing that bitter taste after eating and drinking too. It seems as though it only affects the taste buds at the very back of the tongue, that’s probably why it happens after swallowing, not chewing. It’d be great to find some type of simple remedy for this, but it seems as though it just takes time for the taste buds to recover.

I too ate pine nuts from Trader Joe’s labeled from Russia, Vietnam or Korea and I have had this bitter taste while and just after eating for several days now. It is only in the back of my throat as well. Good to know I’m not getting a horrible medical condition, however, I’m disappointed I can’t eat the rest of the delicious pesto I made with the pine nuts and certainly won’t be buying them from Trader Joe’s again!

I was so happy to read your “Pine Nut” article. My husband and I ate a bunch of pine nuts Thursday night and woke up with this bitter, awful taste in our mouths. We too ate animal crackers this morning and we swore that they had gone bad. We checked the expiration date, but it was well into 2010. This went on all day today while eating lunch, snacks, dinner too. At one point I gargled with vinegar thinking I would neutralize whatever it was going on. Well, what can I say.. vinegar disguised it for a while (yuk), but it came right back. Even as I sit here drinking my wonderful Merlot, it tastes like hell. Now I can rest easy and stop thinking something is wrong with me. LOL, you solved the mystery. Thanks!

After making pesto last weekend (and eating pine nuts by the handful!) I have been experiencing these same symptoms for days… google searches led me here. I noticed your original post was early May, and I bought my pine nuts from Sunflower Market August 14th! Why were these never pulled from the shelf?
All that basil, gone to waste!

For those who have suffered, or new posters, please come back when the taste is gone and put down how long it lasted. It seems this phenomenon is especially pronounced this year, perhaps due to stockpiling of pine nuts in China. It’d be useful to have a concensus on how long the taste lasts so other folks who find these blogs know what to expect. I’m on day three right now and will come back and say how long it lasted once it’s over. Note that if green tea is useful (and I’m finding it is) that an anti-oxidant pill might help.

Thank goodness for this blog. I had an awful case of this, and nearly checked myself into the hospital until I googled the problem. I gargled three times with a mix of balsamic and rice wine vinegar and drank it afterwards and have to say my pine nut mouth has almost disappeared. I was day 5 into it and maybe it was going away on it’s own but it’s worth a try, and a pretty good antioxidant I hear. I would have tried anything my case was so bad. Good luck to all

It appears, so far as I can tell, that the problem lasts about four or five days and then gradually disappears. I went back to where the pine nuts had been purchased (Sam’s in Charlottesville) and spoke to the manager about the problem. He seemed to be interested and appreciative, but, alas, after about a week, I have noted that the same pine nuts are still on the shelf. Watch out for pine nuts from china or the orient.

Thank you so much for that. I googled bitter taste in the mouth and got results suggesting liver failure (scary) or cancer (even more scary). I have to say I think the best thing to do is not google minor health complaints but I just can’t help myself!

Seriously~I thought I had cancer. I made fresh pesto and ever since than everything taste bitter. I bought pine nuts from Giant Eagle in Akron, Ohio. Thank you so much for this article. I still have the taste in my mouth but I feel so much better knowing the cause is from the pine nuts. Thank you!! Thank you!!

I got some from a local grocery store. Roasted them and made pesto – plus just some roasted nuts. Two days later, I though I had gotten a contaminated box of cereal. I was considering going to the ER for poisoning. I searched and ran across several comments about this. I wonder it is is something in the soil or the type fertilizer.

Anyway, on day 2 of metal ass mouth.

I suspect I’ve got a case of pine nut bitter mouth syndrome–thanks to the creators and posters of this page for helping uncover this peculiar phenomenon. I had a cheese plate that had raw pine nuts at a museum cafe this weekend in DC and about 36 hours later, I started to get the bitter taste whenever I ate. I’m now about 72 hours out from when I ate the nuts and am relieved that this should eventually go away on its own, but will try to remember to post when it does. Not sure where the cafe gets its pine nuts, but I will try to find out. Thanks all!!!

I am also having a problem with a bitter taste after eating pine nuts. And what do you know? I too bought them at Trader Joe’s, made pesto, and ended up with this annoying taste. I eat pine nuts all the time but probably will not in the future because I’m not sure it’s where they came from but the nut itself. However, I was shocked to see that the packaging was not clear as to where the nuts came from but only indicated Russia, Vietnam or Korea. I’m looking forward to tasting food again.

YES! thank you! and mine were from Trader Joe’s also. The bitter taste was so disturbing and so strong that it has ruined my appetite completely for the last two days. I am just glad to have figured it out and hope it passes soon.

As promised, just wanted to report back that the bitter taste is finally gone, after about four an a half days of bitterness. Yuck! I was never able to track down the source of the pinenuts I ate, but I suspect they were probably from Trader Joe’s and were the infamous Chinese ones people keep talking about on this site.

me too.
got the bitterness on a friday night, unbearable on saturday and sunday when researching om GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux disease) i came across the great Pine Nuts Conspiracy. I have been eating pune nuts forever and never had an issue. but then i realized that on the previous wed night i did eat a handful of chinese Costco pine nuts, stored in a cupboard at room temperature for weeks (like i had done n times before).
i am a believer now. by tuesday it was much better and by thursday everything was back to normal.
so in my case was to day to set in, and 4-5 days to go away with only 3 really bad, so hang in there!

Woh! Pine nuts is what jumped out at me when I Googled this too. And it brought me here – and the description matches my situation exactly. Bizarre.

I made pesto Monday evening and all day today (Wednesday) have had horrible bitter taste with everything I eat. I picked my daughter up from school and she said she was starving as she couldn’t eat her packed lunch as everything tasted “yucky”. I bought the pine nuts at the local grocery store (Tesco, Cork, Ireland) but don’t know where they came from as I binned the packet. At the time they tasted lovely and my sons were picking at the left over nuts though neither seems to have this symptom of horrid bitter taste. Am now about to call friend & husband who ate with us. This is all most interesting, thank you.

Yesterday I was eating a cup of ramin noodle beef soup for lunch. After about my 2nd swallow I had a disgusting aftertaste in my mouth. I figured maybe I’d had the soups in my cupboard for to long and threw them out. From that point on everything I put in my mouth tastes horribly bitter. I too called the dentist and made an appointment that I’ve since cancelled. After Googling “foul aftertaste in my mouth AFTER eating”….bingo…pine nuts !!! My girlfriend made a delicious pasta and broccoli dish over the weekend containg: drum roll please………..PINE NUTS !!!!! Her’s came from the local A&P. I ate the poison dish on Saturday and now its wednesday and everything still tastes bitter. Someone posted here that beer seemed to taste OK. Maybe there is a God !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glad to find this website. After making pesto yesterday, I haven’t been able to eat anything that tastes remotely good. I even tried Chocolate! You know something is wrong when chocolate tastes bad. Googled the symptoms…and here I am. Thanks for sharing your stories…now I know I’m not crazy.

Yes, pine nuts. Goggle, and one learns. FDA problem!! We eat pine nuts lots. This is the first time I have ever experienced a problem. Refrigerator, new unopened bag from Valley Finest, packaged, Fresno, CA 559-266-4849, bought at Save-Mart. bar code 7 28813001181 just recently. Perhaps, the wholesale place where these were bought from uses insecticides around the storage containers…or, maybe the nuts have been treated with some kind of anti-bacterial “something”,
or maybe just one bad rancid nut, spoils the whole bag? What is FDA waiting for to pull all of these from the world market. Who knows what damage takes place, we might not know for years. Or, maybe we got lucky and we will all be healthier because we ate them:)

A follow up…I ingested the poison pine nuts on Satuday. As I type this it’s the following Friday night (just got back from Cruefest 2 @ Montage mountain PA) and I’m happy to anounce that the disgusting bitter taste is about 80% gone. I can still detect it barely…it’s not gone, but now I can eat without wincing. A couple notes: bread and iced tea seem to be the most horrible of things I consumed while poisoned. Salad and diet anything seems better as sugar is also grotesque. I also had a sensitive skin thing going on…kinda like having sunburn without the redness. Anyway only Italian imported pine nuts for me from here on out !!

Wow, I am amazed. I have been experiencing the awful bitter taste for about a week. As it continued I started to think something was wrong with me. I am glad I googled it, and can hardly believe it was those damn pine nuts! I bought mine at Wegman’s and it was a brand like… Melissa’s or something. Originated in China. I have been eating them constantly…I can’t wait for this to go away! Blech.

yesssss!! i have had a perfume-y taste in my mouth for weeks! i’ve been eating pinenuts all day everyday in order to get the taste out! i never suspected them! i hope i can return them to trader joe’s even though i’ve eaten half the bag, those things are expensive! anyone know? thankgod! i was ocnsidering going to the doctor the taste was sooooo annoying!

Oh, my goodness thank you so much for your article I thought I was going crazy when I ate a candy bar and it tastet bitter as hell…………I ate a whole bag of Pine nuts from Fry’s last night

What a revelation this is. Ive had it happen before, went to the doctor. She told me the bitter taste was a sinus infection and gave me ammoxicillin. even though I had no conjestion. After a week or so it went away so I thought she was right..
Anyhow, I bought mine at Trader Joes and keep them in the cupboard with the other nuts not the fridge, but no more. Thanks for the great insight, so good to know!

This happened to me in Iceland, me and my girlfriend’s family were all having this weird bitter taste in the roof of the mouth, we had no idea where it was coming from, we started to think that it could be the water or the milk, but after reading this blog i remembered that 1 day before it started, we ate raw pine nuts, and also we ate them in some chinese recipe that i cooked, i’m not sure if the pine nuts were from china but there is a big chance that they were (they were really cheap), i feel better now knowing were it came from, thank you! .

I’m experiencing the same bitter taste right now, having eaten a couple handfuls of pine nuts within the past 2 days. My concern prompted me to google the symptom, which brought me to this blog. I’m at work and the pine nuts aren’t, so I don’t know where they originated from. But I do know they’ll end up in the garbage tonight.

so i would say my taste is 97% back to normal after 9 days, 5 days since the last pine nut poisoning! It makes me really appreciate the way things actually taste, hang in there bitter-mouthed people!

Hi guys! I’m Luca from Rome, Italy, and I’m experiencing the same problem, too! The pine nuts I bought were from China, of course! It seems to be a global problem indeed!
Hope this awful taste goes away soon! Any suggestion to accelerate the “healing” process?!

Same effect here. I have been buying pine nuts from Trader Joe’s for years and never a problem. My husband decided to make dinner a few nights ago (first time in the 13 years we’ve been married!) and purchased some pine nuts from our local grocery store. 2 days later, terrible bitter after taste no matter what I eat. My research indicates that it is not any chemical treatment or pesticide residue, but more likely the species of pine tree from which the nuts are harvested. Different species in China than in America or Europe. I have notified our local independently-owed grocery store, and based on the other comments will now check the source no matter where I buy them!

This is definitely the strangest thing ever. I just noticed the bad taste this morning and I had Pine Nuts 3 days ago on a salad at home. I always keep the nuts in the freezer. I feel like I want to keep eating things to get rid of the taste, but then it gets worse after I eat . I’m a dental hygienist and I have tried brushing my teeth and tongue many times , but that doesn’t help either. I think I’m going to return the nuts to Trader Joes, although I do eat them often and in a lot of recipes. I have never had this happen before. Never would have imagined that something I ate only a little of and 3 days ago would just start this bad taste today.

My wife and I consumed pine nuts from our local New Seasons Market bulk section located in Portland, Oregon. We ate a dish containing these pine nuts on day 4 of a 5 day backpacking trip (not refrigerated). I noticed the bitter taste in foods about 24 hours after eating the suspect nuts and am still experiencing this (especially with sweets) 48 hours after consuming. My wife has similar symptoms but not as strong as mine (no major taste distortion for her, but a bitter aftertaste).

Glad I found this site! I bought bulk pine nuts (have to go back to the store to check the country of origin) and made pesto this weekend. Of course I ate handfuls of pine nuts, raw, during the course of the afternoon. My symptoms started Sunday evening. By Monday the bitter taste was full-blown. I thought I was coming down with a cold!! Glad to hear that the bitterness isn’t sinusitis (or worse). I’ve been reading entries trying to find someone who has posted a remedy. I’ll try the tomato juice/V8 option as soon as I can get over to the cafeteria here at work and report back! I know that salt neutralizes bitter…I’ve been dipping my finger in a salt packet for about 10 minutes or so…not a long-lasting cure but it does give moments of taste-bud normalcy!

I’ve been having the same symptoms for 3 days (bitter taste when eating). I thought it was from antibiotics that I just started taking, so I stopped the antibiotics. But the bitter taste remained. I did an internet search to see if this was a common side effect from the antibiotics, and it was not listed. Then I found a few topics on the pine nut and bitter taste connection. Sure enough, I had pine nuts in my salad 2 days before I noticed the symptoms. And where did I buy the pine nuts? Trader Joes. I’ve had pine nuts (not from TJ’s) before and never had this problem.

Update on tomato juice to neutralize bitter sensation: I can’t definitely say that it works. I tried a V8 in the afternoon. Tasted gross. Found some straight tomato juice in the evening and had a cup. That too tasted horrible.

It’s day 4 for me post-pine nuts. It seems as though the taste isn’t as strong. It’s definitely lessened on the right side of my tongue but still present on the left.

THANK YOU! I also ate some pine nuts from Trader Joe’s and now I have a bitter taste in my mouth. I hope it goes away soon, it’s awful, I hate it. I’m a foodie and I want to enjoy again.

It’s now been five days since my last raw pine nut. Yesterday there was no forgetting the situation, but today the bitter taste is beginning to fade. I’m optimistic it will be gone soon. Also, my sister ate the same pine nuts with me and never developed the bitter taste. I will never eat pine nuts from China again. In fact, before this happened I had no clue that we were importing pine nuts from China.

It’s now day 6 since I ate three handfuls of pine nuts. Most of the bitterness is gone now. I still get a little twang of bitterness every now and then but I’m glad it’s this good! I’ll be very careful from now on to check on the country of origin from now on. Glad I found this information!!

Ah… now that makes sense with Pesto season in full swing. I remember that when I snacked on pine nuts, I thought that they tasted the most bitter/horrible of all that I have been eating lately. And it explains why my family and some friends have been experiencing it as well. Makes better sense than the explanation I found online of head or neck cancer.

I had this about two months ago and it went away after seven days. Really a bad experience to say the least! I wonder why some of us get this and others don’t.
could it be our blood types? I’m a B pos. Just a thought..

Ok, I’ll bite on the blood type question. I’m a B-positive too.

Anyone else?? With all of us on here we should be able to form an opinion on this.

[...] myself (I grew the basil myself). I’ve been eating it 3 days in a row. But! Come to find out, rancid pine nuts cause an ongoing bitter aftertaste in the mouth. I also fed it to a couple friends yesterday. Hopefully it hasn’t affected [...]

I’m O-positive

this has never happened to me before, but i am noticing it too after eating some in a salad this weekend (which i brought as a dish at a potluck!) the most frustrating part is i went out of my way to purchase them from the natural foods section…. which means “minimally processed, free of sulphites, articial preservatives, colours, flavours.”

Deb…
and anyone else who has been pine nut poisoned in a group setting–Make sure you get the word out to others who ate of the poisoned fruit (okay nut!). Save them a trip to the Doctor’s office and let your host know so someone can send an email out to them with a link to this site. I sent an email to Trade Joe’s corporate office recently. I only think it is fair that they know that people are talking about them here. Grocery stores that have been told have not stopped selling the tainted imported brands from China and the Far East. I am waiting to hear back from Trader Joe’s. I am hoping they are more proactive after seeing this blog. I wrote to the news depts of the networks and the Oprah Show-poison control center and the FDA…no response.

What’s with Nicole and her red highlights? Just wondering.

American pine nuts, DO NOT have this problem.
See http://www.pinenut.com A person has to peel the pine nut, but its is not much of an issue. The nuts are also called Pinyon Nuts but it is a pine nut, nonetheless. The site offers them straight from the forest.

I found this blog after googling my taste disturbance, and now I’m relieved to find that it might have been caused by pine nuts. Two nights ago, I made a broccoli dish that contained a fair amount of pine nuts, and then last night my favorite wine tasted bitter, and then everything else tasted equally bitter. This morning my eggs and fresh figs tasted bitter, and just now my lunch tasted bitter. I don’t eat pine nuts much at all, and the one time I did was 2 nights ago…

Thanks for sharing.

I purchased mine from Giant Eagle. I am disappointed to know that our local stores would allow food items such as these from China to be on our store shelves. I don’t normally buy toys from there, let alone EAT rancid food from there!! Yuck!

I have been following everyone’s emails regarding the pine nuts. I too ate pine nuts and experienced the bitter taste about 24 hrs later. I am curious though how many of us had been recently to the dentist, via a filling or root canal…or, were on an antibiotic recently – it might also produce the bitter taste. Just a thought, as I was at the dentist and both the antibiotic and the “shot” for putting the tooth to sleep were new products to me, and, both were also very bitter. It might be a side-effect, or, totally unrelated…as I did eat pine nuts, but, I have eaten this brand before with no bitter taste.
My blood type is A

[...] Pine Nuts Left a Bitter Taste in my Mouth (Pinch My Salt) [...]

Thank goodness for finding this blog when I googled “bitter taste in my mouth.” !!! I have been snacking on pine nuts, almonds and dark chocolate at work all week. They too are the infamous pine nuts from Trader Joes and they have been stored poorly in the cabinet, and in a baggie at work. I was relieved to find this as being the cause of this awful bitterness to everything I eat and drink because being the hypochondriac that I am I thought something was seriously wrong with me…but this explanation really makes sense….now I just hope mine doesn’t last for weeks…

unbelievable and thank you to everybody for the comments. My pine nuts too were purchased at trader joe’s and i have the most horrible taste in my mouth. Any remedies anybody has found?

I too am having the symptoms. Pine nuts from China bought at BJ’s. I decided to tell the FDA. I went to their website and found the phone number for my area and reported it. They have data collection ongoing on the subject and were happy to add me to it. May I suggest you all report your incidences and symptoms. I’m taking my nuts back to BJ’s and asking for my money back and request they remove the product from their shelves. I was that close to going to a Doctor and what a waste of time and money that would have been. Thank goodness for the web and you all but lets get this contaminated food out of the marketplace.

I had dental work done one week before I ate the pine nuts in a pasta @ BJ’s restaurant. I seriously thought the cement from the crown was causing the problem.
Never had that problem before. Almost called the dentist til I found this site, thank-
fully. I may call FDA to report my experience. I’m B +…

You solved the mystery!! My husband just bought pine nuts from Trader’s Joe’s last week and I put them in my salads all week. starting last Thursday I had this bitter taste in my mouth accompanied by a headache(I never get headaches). I have had a problem crown/root canal and was sure it was the cause or had a more serious problem-you have put my mind at ease. The bitter taste is starting to resolve as well as the headache and I am ditching the Trader Joe’s pine nuts-I will only eat Italian ones if any. Thank god for Google!

Thank you for solving my mystery! I’ve eaten pine nuts before but purchased them in the cooking nuts aisle. These I purchased at a natural food store. Last Wednesday, my friend Marcy and I ate quite a few of them during a web conference.
She and I just saw each other tpday and we realized that we had the same symtoms for having a terrible bitter taste every time we ate anything. We both started with the symtoms on Friday. We went through a list of what we ate that day and zeroed in on the pine nuts and found this web site. That explains it!

I was thinking I was going crazy with this bitter taste in my mouth everytime I ate or drank something and no-one else in my family was. I even went to the dentist today and he suggested I may have a gum infection. Anyway, after searching the internet when I got home and finding this stie, I remembered I ate some pine nuts a couple of days ago. I must admit they have been in the cupboard for a few months now, but still ate a small handful.
I am glad to see that I will survive this, hopefully sooner rather than later. Although the headache is driving me crazy.
The dentist did advise though to rinse my mouth out regularly with wam salty water and after trying this I can certainly get rid of the taste for quite a while afterwards. So at least I will not starve until it wears off.
I live in Australia, so I think it is probably old, badly stored pine nuts that affects some people and not necessarily where they are from.

I did some more research on pine nuts and because they are a fatty nut, they oxidize shortly after you open the bag and they don’t keep. Guess I should throw out the pesto I made as well.

Yesterday, the bitter taste finally got to me and I had bad stomach cramps and a sour stomach as well along with the headache. I did sleep it off and today the taste is starting to fade.

same here….similar stories to everyone else…and I bought my nuts at Trader Joe’s as well. Usually I buy their toasted ones and have never had an issue, this time it was a new batch of untoasted ones, I dumped a large handful into my orchiette with broccoli last week, and for the last two days have had that horrible bitter taste in the back of my throat whenever I eat. Of course, I watch way too much “House” and was fearing the worst, fortunately I found this blog and others reporting the same thing. These nuts really should be recalled.

THANK GOD! It’s so refreshing readiung all these blogs about all of you suffering from the same symptoms I have, a HORRIBLE VERY BITTER taste at the back of my throat. I thgought I had something serious condition going on. Over the weekend my wife and I made pest as we do every year and obviously pine nuts is one of the ingredients we use for the pest. I ate a good hand full over the period of 2 hours or so and it wasnt till the next day that I developed this terrible bitter vtaste in my mouth. Obviously I would have never connect the pine nuts to this…..I’m so glad that I read all these blogs. The million dollar question is, What is the remedy to this?
ps. in the meantime eating candies to sweeten my taste buds a little gives me a little confort for a short while.
thanks you all!!

As far as I know, time is the only cure for the bitter taste. This is my 6th day of bitter but it’s going away.

Thanks Claudette! as long as I know that this will go away eventually I can deal with it.

Thanks Claudette! As long as I know that this will go away with time I can deal with it.

I am Italian and have eaten pine nuts all my life, but consumed a pesto a few days ago with Pine Nuts from Costco, from China. Bitter taste arrived the following morning, and I am on Day #4. Thanks for posting this, who knew?

Donna hang in there it will eventually go away, I’m on my 5th day and it’s slowly wearing off. I’m planning to meet with the local COSTCO where we purchased the pine nuts and demand to get them off the shelf. I love pesto and I’m hesitant to have it just in case. Who knows may in time but NOT for now.

YEP! I’ve had the bitter taste syndrome, too. A very bizarre thing–comes flooding in after everything I eat or drink. I found your article by googling “bitterness” and “back of mouth.” Lo and behold, I had eaten pine nuts two days ago. We bought ours at Sams, they were from China, and we happened to have stored them in the back of our Jeep for a few days. Hmmmm… Thanks for the article.

I am relieved to learn that the bitter, metallic taste in my mouth is not related to a serious illness but instead to the pine nut. I was frantic over the weekend because of the unusual taste in my mouth which is heightened when I eat or drink anything. Not knowing what was causing this strange sensation, I went to Google and almost immediately found my answer. I immediately recalled the handful of pine nuts I consumed as a snack a few nights ago (normally I just sprinkle a few toasted pine nuts on a salad and call it good) & realized that I, too, had been a victim of rancid Chinese pignolias. Although the symptoms are mild, I also have some stomach cramping and a nauseous feeling. The only food I’ve been able to stomach is plain white rice (not without a bitter taste sensation but not as dramatic as other foods) and plain water! This experience has been so unpleasant and scarey that I will NEVER touch another pine nut. In my book, they’re really not that good anyway– just fashionable– and I don’t have time for the pain!

JoAnne:

Two of us ate them at work. I got really bad cramping that accompanied the bitter taste. A co-worked got headaches and bitter taste. It took over a week to get rid of the bitter taste.

They are not worth it!

I told the store manager at Shaws in Maine and he said he could not do anything unless I had the batch number, etc. (I threw the rest away) He told me that next time I purchase some and I get this reaction that I should keep the packaging. Oh duh! Why would I purchase some more?

I made a recipe on Friday night that contained pine nuts my wife bought at Trader Joe’s in Fairfax, VA. We ate a couple of them raw and used about half a cup of toasted pine nuts in our recipe. On Sunday I began to notice a horribly bitter aftertaste in my mouth after eating or drinking anything. Since I have never experienced this symptom before I thought something was really wrong with me and resolved to schedule a dr. appt. if the problem persisted for a few days. Thank God I found your posting. I was really starting to freak out. My wife is not experiencing this problem even though she ate the same pine nuts, so it could be a body chemistry thing. Anyway, it’s Monday now (my 2nd day of bad tastes) so hopefully it’ll clear up on its own soon. I still have the packaging and will be returning them to Trader Joe’s and possibly alerting the FDA.

Thank you for this, I, like a lot of people here, was beginning to really panic (especially as I am one of those horrible smoking people), and starting to imagine mouth cancer and various other ailments. I finally managed to google and found this – what a relief, unfortunately I am not in the States or indeed anywhere near and there would be absolutely no point in me taking the packet back to the ‘Produkti’ that I bought them from. (Still love Pine Nuts though!), By the way my Pine Nuts were Russian, but were probably old.

This post about pine nuts was just what I was looking for! I was eating an apple at school today and it was weird how there was a bitter taste at the back of my throat after each bite… but I teach six year-olds so I thought it might be possible that they’d gotten their jam hands all over it and that was what was causing the bitterness. Same thing happened at dinner, though. I had some friends over and I’d cooked lamb which tasted pretty good on first bite, but a couple of minutes later the bitterness would hit again. I asked my friends if the lamb tasted funny but they said no! So I did what many others before me have done and consulted the almighty internet (googled “bitter taste in mouth”, to be precise!!!).
I bought a bag of pine nuts a few days ago, meaning to make pesto. Never got around to it though – have just been eating two to three handfuls a day for the past three days instead. No noticeable bitterness, until today. It’s not completely unbearable though. Just tastes like chemical… like someone else mentioned, it’s a little bit like tasting perfume that you’ve accidentally sprayed into your face?!
I’m in Australia, bought my pine nuts from Colonial Fresh Markets (imported from China). Am hoping the bitterness will go away soon… this is only the first day!

For years I’ve made pesto with pine nuts and eaten spinach salads with toasted pine nuts. I was buying the expensive Italian (at least that’s what the jar said) ones from my local grocery store here in San Jose, and I never had a problem. I’ve also used the Mexican ones with no bad effects, but they’re smaller, and I prefer the larger nuts. Then, when I was in Trader Joe’s last week, I saw they had them in large bags much cheaper, so I bought those and put them, toasted, in a salad. I also snacked on some raw while making dinner. Two days later I had this horrible bitter taste in my mouth. I ate a zucchini omlette and it tasted awful. So did my green tea, and the shrimp salad I had for lunch. I thought it might have been the zucchini or the celery in the salad – celery sometimes has a bitter after-taste like that. But the same thing happened when I ate a hard-boiled egg. Everything I’ve eaten since the first bad experience tastes awful! This is the fourth day after eating pine nuts, and it hasn’t gone away yet.

When I got home from shopping, I took the nuts out of the bag and put them in a plastic container to store in the freezer, as I always do. They didn’t get rancid in my home, and they didn’t taste rancid when I ate them. I’m suspicious that it’s not rancidity but rather some kind of chemical treatment that’s causing this.

The bitter taste is extremely unpleasant, but it’s good to know it’s not a symptom of some terrible disease, and that it will pass.

I’m contacting Trader Joe’s even though I no longer have the package or my receipt.
I think they need to know every time this happens. I won’t buy them there again, but I might try the ones I was using before. I really do like them in a salad.

[...] returned, and my dish soap was effectively exonerated. A quick Google search* brought up this post: Pine Nuts Left a Bitter Taste in my Mouth. I recently got hooked on Trader Joe’s pine nuts, and considering that this post describes [...]

I think you’re right, Suzanne. I can’t believe that so many of us have rancid pine nuts. They do go bad quickly, but you can usually tell from the taste and smell.

I now look at the country of origin on all pine nut packaging. So far I see predominantly Chinese in the stores here in the Pacific Northwest.

Phew, it’s not liver disease!! I’ve eaten pine nuts previously but have never experienced this bitter aftertaste until now. I bought the culprits from Trader Joe’s(it is such a great store though) after months of them being out of stock – must have been the source investigation etc mentioned somewhere in this thread, motivated by concerned pine nut lovers suffering from bitter aftertastes. I checked before consuming them and I didn’t think they were rancid at all. I tried roasting them and have to admit that I may have burnt quite a handful. Perhaps the chemistry of burnt pine nuts could have added to this bitterness mystery…?

I am on day 3 of the nasty bitter taste, which started 1 1/2 days after I ate some raw pine nuts (just purchased in bulk from Whole Foods) in a salad. (I have eaten pine nuts several times in the past and never had this happen before). I FINALLY found a food that does not taste like nasty ash – super spicy Chinese takeout! An absolute god sent – I know what I will be eating till this episode of “Taste Disruption” is over!

Thank you – that’s exactly what the bad taste – tastes like. I usually buy my pine nuts from a local asian market – and they were always fine – Just last week I bought a bag of pine nuts from BJ’s – When I get home I’ll have to check where they come from – thanks for the heads up on keeping them refrigerated – never knew that. I appreciate your article very much – THANK YOU

My husband and I received a big bag of pine nuts from our father in law a few days ago. We felt spoiled. They were from Costco in Washington. We indulged, probably had 3 large handfuls each along with adding them to our salad. Both my husband and I woke up yesterday with this nasty, bitter, back of the mouth, yucky taste. I can describe it as bitter and like a chemical. My husband says metallic. Definitely we notice it while we eat or drink. I just tried to eat a squash and it was disgusting, and I love squash. Coffee is nasty and I love coffee. How weird.

I had pine nuts for the first time in years three days ago, and yesterday developed the same symptoms as all the rest of you. I could have written this page!! My pine nuts were puchased at Wegmans and they are gone now so I can’t tell you where they were from. Very bizarre.

Greetings from the mid-atlantic east coast, where a recent pesto experiment turned into a mysterious bitterness in my mouth (but no one else’s). I finally “googled” the problem and found this — ran over to my bag of pine nuts from Sam’s Club — sure enough, product of China! The brand is “Amport Foods” from Minneapolis, MN.
I’m glad to hear I’m not alone with this strange sensation…
I wonder if I should throw out the pesto I made, or give it out with a warning label!
The squirrels will get the rest of the nuts — I wonder if they will have any trouble — I might have to check the squirrel blogs.

Oh my gosh. Thank you SO much!! I wonder if you ever in a million years thought you’d get so many responses to this posting, but it appears that the pine nut affliction is pretty common. I’ve been suffering with the bitter/annoying taste symptoms for at least a couple days now, and I’m so glad I found your site from my Google search of “symptoms bitter taste”. I recently made a wonderful pasta dish, which included pine nuts (bought from a bin at Whole Foods in Raleigh, NC), and enjoyed the leftovers as much as the original meal. However, I had the bitter taste almost immediately, and it will not go away, despite the peanuts, baked Lays sour cream and onion chips, chicken vindaloo, wine, dark chocolate, and every other thing I can think to put in my mouth to get rid of the awful taste. Oh well. At least I now know the culprit! I’m not sure of the source of the pine nuts I purchased, but I’ll make sure I do know next time! Thanks again!!

Pine nuts bitter taste sufferers of the world unite! I’ve gone to Shaws Market in the East and they refuse to take them off the shelf.

I wonder if Whole Foods does too. It seems that it’s only the natural unprocessed nuts that cause this.

We need to get those off shelves!

I treated myself to roasted “pinon” (pine nuts) being sold by a little old woman on the Santa Fe Plaza near the artists at the Governor’s Palace. Ate a few on my train trip back to the midwest. Have had the bitter taste for the 2 days since then. I love pine nuts, have purchased and eaten them for years, and have never had this problem before. I am guessing the pine nuts she was selling were old. Probably doesn’t matter where they have been purchased. After reading many of these comments, I am hoping the bad taste will go away soon……and I am throwing away the rest of that tiny packet of roasted “pinon”.

OMG! Thank you for posting this – now I know the little culprit in my refrigerator are those damned TRADER JOE’S PINE NUTS! I had never experienced this before with pine nuts, but now I will always look for the country of origin before purchasing a bag.

I was worried – I’m not ready to be bitter… I’m not even 30 yet!

I purchased a large bag of pine nuts from Costco – bag says made in China. A day after eating a huge portion of them, EVERYTHING taste bitter, including candy corn lol! Please tell me this will go away! But then again, it would be nice to loose a little weight, as I don’t feel like eating anything right now!

We too are enduring this bitterness, but only 5 of the 7 of us that ate them were affected. And lucky me has had the aftertaste the longest ( day 6 and counting). So I guess it affects everyone differently. My sister purchased them from Wal-mart, They are HOMA brand….. product of China.

OMG…my boyfriend and I both had the same reaction (metallic, bitter aftertaste)! We were about to seek profeessional help when we googled this and found our answer! Thanks a lot for posting.

After reading everyone’s comments I am a little bit angry! I bought my pine nuts from Trader Joes’s in Nevada the weekend of Oct 4th. By reading everyone’s comments this has happened with pine nuts bought from there for months! Why are we not warned about this? I will never eat a pine nut again and I am only on day 3 of the gross taste in my mouth. I was relieved that this was the problem. It seems that no one has come up with anything that helps though. I have been chewing the mint flavor “5″ gum and it does relieve the taste until I eat or drink again!

Monday–ate a lebanese pizza LOADED with pine nuts
Tuesday–horrible bitter taste, back of mouth
Wednesday at 2:30–bitterness is still there.
So just saying all the same things–Thank goodness it’s not a brain tumor–or pregnancy (which I read that people have bitterness, too, but I’d be too early)

I am glad that I found this website, it helps alleviate some of my concerns about my tastes buds. Same thing as stated above, I made a huge batch of pesto the other night, everything taste great at the time. However, my next few days (still counting) nothing tasted correct. It made me think of what a horrible experience it would be for a foodie like myself to loose my taste buds for some reason. I hope it passes soon. Thanks for the info!

PS I bought my pine nuts from the Whole Foods here in NC

Thank you!! I thought I maybe had a brain tumor or something. I ate a pre-made pesto pasta salad from Sumo Salad in Australia for lunch on Wednesday so not sure where the nuts are from or how fresh but the salad tasted great. By Saturday morning everything tasted awful – even my butter chicken leftovers, which the night before had been fantastic! I threw it out thinking it was that. That evening I had a glass of champagne and it was bitter so I thought it had gone off and threw the bottle too. Wasnt until Sunday that I realised it was not the food but me… I’m on day 4 now and its as bad as ever but thanks to this site I know whats going on. I have tried the V8 tomato juice but it tastes weird and hasnt helped. Might try the remedy of drinking ginger in water every 15 minutes, for 3 times (yuk) and see if that helps. I’ll try anything at this stage

Well Nicole, thanks for solving the mystery!!!
We live in Israel and I noticed the pine nuts my hubby bought last week at the open air market were smaller and differently shaped than the packaged ones I usually buy in the supermarket. I only ate a few…. (they didn’t taste as yummy either)
A couple days later I noticed that my soup was bitter (the celery?), chocolate chip cookies were bitter (burnt?) etc… the next morning I finally figured out it was ME!
OK– my question is, is something going on in the liver of pine mouth victims? I wonder if bilirubin is elevated? has anyone done a blood test? Would a “liver flush” help the situation? Perhaps colonhydrotherapy would help….. I’ll wait and see if it goes away soon before I get too radical! Hang in there and beware of Chinese Pine nuts!

Michelle, as you can read in all the blogs above we’re all victims of the PINE NUTS syndrome therefore the only thing you can do is not to buy Chinese nuts and be patient for the next 5-6 days and the bitter taste will go away.

Woohoo! I’m not insane. Everything I eat or drink tastes bitter, metallic, burnt, ashy, etc. ever since eating out with my family at Bootleggers, the other night. Thought it was bad yeast from their bread. Tried gargling for hours with salt water — as salt kills yeast. No change. Problem 3 days later is even getting worse. Can’t stomach ANYTHING, except some very sweet Mango frozen yoghurt (only thing I’ve enjoyed in the last 4 days — and I’m typically not a frozen yoghurt fan; never liked mangos, either; so, yes — sweet stuff does neutralize the taste temporarily. The culprit??? after reading your threads, it must be the handfuls of pine nuts I ate the day before going to out to eat (Bootleggers, you’re off the hook!). I’m not a big pine nut fan, but my wife bought a packet from Trader Joe’s in Las Vegas, NV — Melissa’s Pine Nuts and yes, PRODUCT OF CHINA! My father is visiting from Indiana — he ate the pine nuts, too, and is experiencing the same awful sensation, but was too afraid to ask me about it, until I finally asked him. Haven’t heard any remedies except time and sweets. Is that it? Personally, I think the Chinese are using us as test cases to validate a new weight-loss chemical that works by making everything taste bad. Anyone notified Dept of Agriculture? Concerned there should be a nation-wide recall of Chinese Pine Nuts.

WOW! I don’t have as severe metallic/bitter taste as others, but it’s definitely there. It took 2 days to show up—not pleasant at all! I can’t wait for it to be gone! My husband only had a couple of the pine nuts (not a fan of the couscous I made) and he doesn’t have a problem. I ate what I cooked and bleck!! No more pine nuts for me–I like to taste what I eat.

correction to my previous post — Pine Nuts I ate (Melissa’s Pine Nuts) — product of China but not purchased at Trader Joes. They were purchased at Albertson’s in Las Vegas, NV. And by the way, the Trader Joes rep said they no longer carry ANY products produced in China. But to add to the confusion — my sister recently had Pine Nuts produced “in Russia or Korea” and got the same horrific taste condition. As for me, the recommendation to eat very hot & spicey foods really helped. Condition has improved. Believe I’m on Day 6 and the bad taste has noticeably dissipated.

Thank you for your post.
Your story is my story.
I bought pine nuts at costco- Kirkland- from China!

I have been eating excessive amounts of pine nuts for days. And have been experiencing the metallic taste sensation. That, however, is nothing compaired to the discomfort in my neck. I have had severe neck ache/stiffness. Has any one else experienced this syptom after eating pine nuts? I am just concerned that it is not related to the pine nuts, in which case I should have it checked out. I haven’t done any unusual exercise or strenuous activity that could have caused the neck problem. It seemed to come out of nowhere at about the same time as the metallic taste problem. I will miss you beloved pine nuts!!

Thank you a bunch. I bought a big bag of pine nuts to make pesto for the holidays. Stored in my freezer I have taken the bag out a few times for a little protein snack. For about 2days now it seemed like the nasty allergy drain was in the back of my throat, however mouthwash made it worse and all food irritated it. Not normal! With swine flu etc I have been freaking out. I’m a new mom….a bit neurotic! I have also had a bit of a headache that has been lingering with it as well. Instantly, after googling bitter taste in my throat, it said Pine nuts…i don’t eat these often at all so it makes total sense…

Thank you!!

I am on the 4th day of this reaction to pine nuts from China bought at Costco.
I did have a neck pain for first 3 days. Now from the bitterness in my mouth, the reaction moved in to having sensation that inside of my mouth is burned, dry, very sensitive to hot foods, still, any food taste is revolting.
I emailed a report to FDA consumer@fda.gov , and emailed Costco. I found information that Costco is aware of the problem, I wonder why pine nuts are still on their shelves.
btw, I always keep nuts cold or in a freezer.

Thanks for your site ..Ithought something was terribly wrong with me…It seems to be the pine nuts that I bought last saturday from Costco…I have been having handfulls since then & developed a bitter taste since yesterday…I love the pine nuts ….sad Icant have them anymore ….

I recently ate a bag of pine nuts from Trader Joes and I am feeling the exact same thing. It is annoying but after reading this, I am positive it is what I have sa well. No I will not stop eating the little suckers, I love them too. But I will no longer purchase them on sale from Trader Joe’s, I will only get them from nicer stores and follow the recommendation to only purchase the Italian variety. Thanks for the information and have a good one.

Hi to all the unfortunate.

I also have this rank taste in the back of my mouth every time I eat. I had a few handfulls of Morrisons own brand pine nuts, although it says these are packaged in the UK the after ringing thier customer services they won’t disclose where it get’s the pine nuts from.
I think it would be an for us all to put down what stores we bought our pine nuts from so that less and less of us have to go through this again.

Wow! I have been having this horrible taste, and just googled tonight and found this. Sure enough, pine nuts from Costco. And I just ate a bunch more today! Oh no — I hope it goes away before Thanksgiving… Does anyone have any idea what we’ve eaten? Yuck!!! And I LOVE pinenuts!

Crazy, how many people replied to this blog post with the same experience. Add me as another. I just had pine nuts at a friend’s dinner party and have had this bitter metallic taste in my mouth since.

I am going to try the tomato juice remedy someone recommended. Are there any other remedies/cures to make this taste go away?

Thanks.

Really hot spicy foods worked for me. Only thing that would not bring back that metallic taste. Also, seemed to make the condition go away, quickly — 7 days for me.

Wednesday I opened a refrigerated sealed bag of Costco Kirkland Brand Chinese Pine nuts to make Caesar salad. Thursday, I missed lunch and took an apple and small cup of pine nuts to eat in the car. Friday woke up to food tasting bitter. I threw out a loaf of Zucchini bread I had thawed thinking that was the culprit. Everything I ate all weekend did the same thing. Sunday night I found this helpful blog. Today, I am taking the package back to Costco.
Batch W-191-9-L3B16:44

Yep!
Had a few handfuls of Pine nuts from Trader Joe’s a few days ago and now everything has a bitter after taste. This sucks!
The wierd thing is that I have been eating pine nuts my whole life and never had this problem before.
I think Trader Joe’s needs to find a new supplier or at least put a warning up by the little culprit nuts.
Now my main concern is are they treating these nuts with some pesticide or chemical that has this effect?

Do not through the pine nuts in the garbage. Take them back to the store, even if you do not have a receipt or get your money back. They need to know. I called Costco headquarters and the helpful man said had not heard of this, but that if a lot of people returned the product, it would be noticed. If you no longer have the product, call the store manager and/or the company headquarters. This is a large and widespread problem. Call anything goes talk shows, Public Citizen; be creative.

Unfortunately, I threw mine in the garbage. I still contacted Shaw’s Market and they won’t do anything unless I have the packaging.

However, going to the media may not be a bad idea!

Thankyou thankyou thankyou !!!! …. like many others who have replied, I found this website while nervously googling my symptoms. I was about to go see the doctor about this later today. But now I know exactly what it is… I recently ‘pigged out’ on pine nuts in a delicious new pasta recipe I discovered … last week we ate it 3 times , plus I would munch a few while roasting them in the pan prior to mixing into the pasta – Its been a week now and that bitter taste is STILL there all the time after anything I eat or drink! … UGH!! – I thought I was going nuts (ha ha) …. by the way I am in New Zealand, got mine from a supermarket somewhere – so its a worldwide thing.

Just read my last post and am embarrassed by misspelling throw.
To the point; for curious, afflicted people: On day four of the bitter taste, I drank a large glass of strong ginger tea, made from fresh ginger root with some honey and lemon. After I drank it, my symptoms were nearly gone and have remained so. Today would have been a week and my taste seems to be close to normal. It could have just been a coincidence, but 10 minutes earlier, I had tried to eat a couple of different foods and it was bad. Ginger is known for having a lot of healing properties. I am drinking some now. Hot or chilled tea works for me. Tastes good too!

I bought pine nuts made in China from Von’s a few days before Thanksgiving. I wanted to use them in a salad. While I was toasting them the day before Thanksgiving (Wednesday), I snacked on a handful. Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, I a headache all day ( I didn’t consume any alcohol) and noticed a bitter taste in my mouth every time I ate something. Nobody else has complained of any symptoms after eating the salad. I consumed more pine nuts than anyone else, so I am sure my symptoms are due to the pine nuts. Thank you for all the posts and information. At least I know I do not have a serious illness.

I woke up this morning and went down to the kitchen for breakfast. My daughter had taken the leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving for a perogie recipe she made the night before. I complained that she drastically over-salted them since it left a horrible taste in my mouth. Then I ate something else and experienced the same disturbing taste which has lasted the whole day. I just jumped on the computer and found this website and low and behold I put pine nuts in the broccoli dish I also made for Thanksgiving. I use pine nuts all the time and have never had any problems like this before. My pine nuts came from Trader Joe’s. I so relieved to find it’s nothing serious however, I hope this doesn’t last very long. It’s an awful thing. By the way, I always keep my pine nuts in the refrigerator.

Same problem, so far I’ve read chewing on aloe and drinking tomatoe juice help. How about a list of remedies or how many days it lasted.

My lasted 3-4 days. I drank tomato juice and gargled listerine every night. Weird chemical additive I imagine. It is scary the stuff they put in or on the food we eat.

Phew! I am not pregnant! I was beginning to worry that this awdul taste in my mouth every time I eat was a sign of pregnancy! That is definitely not the case and I ate Pine Nuts from china on Sat and (stupid me again today) not knowing all this! I am going to try tomato juice and any thing else to get rid of it! I bought mine at Shaws in Portland Maine Claudette:)
I am so glad I am not dying, crazy or pregnant!

THANK YOU! I’ve been going CRAZY trying to figure this out. Everything tastes so horrible and it’s been driving me nuts (bad pun). The taste started Monday, and sure enough I had pine nuts with dinner on Friday!

The internet is my place for medical attention. Had pine nuts with iced tea in New Orleans on Sunday and on Monday night the strange taste started.

Many thanks! You just saved me loads of time in a doctor’s office and a bunch of tests to boot!

[...] fans everywhere, since 2001, have been reporting disruptions in their sensation of taste that may last up to two weeks in duration. Everything from [...]

Ahhhh! The gnarly bitter taste in my mouth has been driving me nuts. I plugged my sypmtom into WebMD, which indicated I may have epilepsy, but I know I don’t. I ate pine nuts two nights ago, and now everytime I eat something, it tastes like I’m chewing on aspirin. At first, I thought it was my face cream or hand lotion so I showered and did not put on any creams, but the nastiness persisted. Hoping it goes away soon, and I will NOT be consuming pine nuts anytime in the future.

I am usually pretty good at figuring this stuff out but I was so glad to find this information. It sounds like the exact diagnosis especially for us “internet-obsessed” researchers … I always sprinkle nuts in my salads and try to use just a minimal amount – great healthy reasons – but high in fats, especially the pine nuts! But the other night I just couldn’t resist adding much more than I usually do AND tossed a few back in some small handfuls of nuts while preparing the salad. That was just a few nights ago, and I don’t usually eat nearly that amount of pine nuts (since they are a staple in my house – and I will start putting them in the freezer too as another reader commented) … but I can’t wait for this taste to dissipate Thanks to this website and its readers/commentaries!

I strongly suggest trying tea made from fresh ginger root as an antidote. It worked for me, but it may have just been the timing on day 4. Slice a big piece of ginger root as thin as you can. Bring to low boil in a quart or two of water. Immediately turn down to simmer for about 20 minutes. This will be a concentrate. Add honey and lemon to taste and dilute with water to taste. Drink hot or cold. Very tasty and good for colds and flu as well as the pine nut menace. I would like to know if this works for others. I am not going to experiment on myself by eating pine-nuts again.

Also, please tell your pine nut retailer about this problem. They won’t believe it unless they hear from a lot of people.

Donna — The ginger-cure worked for me as well. We often make a big jar of ginger syrup from fresh ginger root and keep it in the fridge. We mix it with seltzer or various fruit juices. Drinking this greatly diminished the pine-mouth for me.

Instead of swearing off pine nuts althogether, avoid Asian (or Korean) pine nuts. Look for European pine nuts from the stone pine. More expensive, and harder to find, but much tastier and does not have this nasty effect!

Karen in Vermont

I am sprinkling some ground ginger in my green tea to see if that works… I am on day 4-5 and it is making me nuts (no pun intended) … I had some tomato sauce last night but a very small amount, I will see if more of that helps too… thx for all the advice out there.

I ran into the same bitter taste issue two days ago. Same symptoms as other posters mentioned, and it was driving me nuts, too…so to speak. Just had an “ah-ha” moment as read this article. A few nights ago I made a homemade pizza with Hannaford store-brand pesto sauce (essentially pine nuts mashed with basil). So my best guess is that besides eating them plain, these ‘bad nuts’ have also found their way into other pine nut based products.

I am in russia and yesterday afternoon things started tasting a little off. This morning it was terrable and now at lunch it is horrable. Started getting worried and did a search. I thought it was almonds, but i also ate some russian pine nuts. I hope this goes away soon. But then again i dont want to eat. So maybe i can use this to help cut down on eating;-) thanks for posting this, it saved me a lot of worry.
Cheers

I just found this because i have this bitter taste in my mount for 3 days now, and i was very worries ,, i went to a doctor he could tell anything just made me eat zantac, now i m happy that it is just a pine nuts reaction, yes, i just bought baby pine nuts and had some a few days ago and now i know it is because of those pine nuts, I m not worried , its been three days i have very bad taste in my mouth, hopefully it will go away.

the best pine nuts are the big ones.

So happy I found your experience on line…I like you, thought something was horribly wrong with me until my husband said that he was experiencing the same disgusting taste in his mouth especially after eating. We thought it was the new coffee we were drinking so we went back to our old brand. I had my daughter google our symptoms and she found your article. Low and behold a few days ago we had eaten a pasta dish I had prepared and added pine nuts as a garnish. I have no idea where they came from as I threw the package away but I intend to go back to the market that I purchased them from to find out. Wow… this is really inconvenient since it’s very close to Christmas and all the wonderful food and treats taste like yuck…anyone know a way to get rid of this taste other than time? Thanks

Hi Carrie, there are 2 different remedies which people seem to have had success with. First is to drink tomato juice, like V8 juice or similar. The tomatoes seem to neutralise the taste buds. I tried this and it didnt seem to work straight away but the following day the taste was about 70-80% less and the following day it was almost gone altogether.
Other remedy which seems to work particularly well with many people is to get fresh ginger and grate into water. Not so great tasting apparently but you could add sugar or honey to it to sweeten. This is supposed to work great, plus its really healthy for you too. If nothing works the taste seems to go away between 8-12 days so you should be ok for xmas day feasting!! Good luck

I am still amazed at this revelation, let alone the cause…. I would have never guessed had I not done the research. As I was approaching the full week point, I was getting concerned that it wouldn’t go away, but then read other accounts of almost two weeks. I also decided to eat a lot of tomatos, tomato sauce, and the ginger in my tea and can finally say at the 7th day I believe it is fully gone. Today is the 7th day and I haven’t eaten yet this morning, but I am enjoying my morning coffee Yes, Carrie, you should be fine by xmas but I think the tomato sauce is a strong cure. Good luck!

Wow, this is so relieving. After more than a week I started worrying that this was not going to go away – 10 days after eating (organic) pine nuts, food still tastes terrible. The hilarious part is that I also noticed it when I opened a new package of ritz crackers and I also shrugged it off because they had been in the cupboard for months. Anyway, I hope this goes away soon!

I will keep commenting because I am still so amazed at this phenomenon – I really thought it wouldn’t go away but finally at the week mark it was gone, but I also up’d my tomato intake Wow, we live and learn … Happy Holidays!

It’s reassuring to know that this will eventually go away. My batch was from Food Emporium in New York CIty, sold by a distributor in NJ. I thought I remembered vaguely that they were from China, but threw away the container before I could check. Interestingly, the ones I usually purchase from Whole Foods never caused this, but perhaps that’s because I always took them home and put them directly in the freezer and only took the bag out for a minute when I needed some for a recipe.

One experiment that helped me this morning, but didn’t make it go away completely, was brushing my tongue vigorously with an electric toothbrush for about a minute, just on my tongue alone. After I brushed and rinsed completely, I did a test and ate a handful unsalted pretzels right after, and they tasted much better than they did before, with bitterness only on the back of my tongue (where I couldn’t reach with the toothbrush without gagging). Not sure if this will help anyone else, but it helped me, or at least lessened the bitterness.

I sure hope some scientists out there figure out a remedy for this. I can’t imagine that would be too difficult…

I have been over the pine nuts thing for months now, but it continues to amaze me how many people post on this site! Obviously this isn’t an “unusual” phenomenon!

Robert P.: salt neutralizes bitterness, so the pretzels may have helped with your taste sensation. I know I tried that when I was at my worst, but it always wore off.

It seems many people report either tomato products (juice or raw) and ginger, besides salt as helping get the awful taste out.

I have been having this problem for a few days now. Everything I eat tastes bitter…bananas, orange juice, tea, even sugar. I can’t enjoy my food because everything tastes so bad. So I googled it and first read about a lot of medical conditions that have a bitter mouth symptom, which started to worry me for a second, but since I didn’t have any of the other symptoms, I looked at another site which mentioned pinenuts. Well I made a batch of pesto a few nights ago, with lots of pinenuts in it, so that must be the cause. It has happened to me once before, but I’m glad I know the reason now. I bought my pinenuts at Trader Joes also.

Thanks for the help in figuring this out! I’ve had a bitter taste in my mouth after every meal for the last few days, but it wasn’t until I found your blog that I made a connection to the pesto I made with pine nuts I bought from Trader Joe’s in Santa Monica, CA.

Thanks for relieving all my worries, exact same thing happened to me after eating pine nuts from Trader Joe’s. It took me 2 seconds to google and find this story and laugh hysterically from relieve. I still love Trader Joe’s, and will continue shopping there, but probably no more pine nuts from there.

O…

I am very glad I found this info. about pine nuts on the website. Thank you all for writing in about this. I got a bad bitter taste in the back of my mouth starting last night and really am experiencing it today. And what do you know? I had pine nuts from Trader Joe’s a few days ago…the first time in a long time. I think this is the cause as well. Won’t be eating those again. Thanks.

I am very glad I found this info. about pine nuts on the website. Thank you all for writing in about this. I got a bad bitter taste in the back of my mouth starting last night and really am experiencing it today. And what do you know? I had pine nuts from Trader Joe’s a few days ago…the first time in a long time. I think this is the cause as well. Won’t be eating those again. Thanks.
3:34 pm Dec 19th, 2009

I’ve had a weird, bitter taste in my mouth for about 3 days. I bought some pine nuts (from China) at the store the other day and have been snacking on them. The bitter taste is on the roof of the back of my throat/mouth. Very strange. The nuts are gone, I hope the symptoms go away soon so I can enjoy the Christmas sweets.
My son also ate some, but I haven’t had a chance to ask him if he has the same symptoms.

A follow-up to my comment above….my son said he didn’t have these symptoms. Has anyone alerted the FDA? or the BBB?

I will send you a free sample of my all natural PineNuts if you send me your address. Have a good day. Our PineNuts are.
Wild Harvested
All Natural
Better than Organic
Beautifully Clean
Not Processed
Not Polished
Jumbo Size
Best Quality
Fresher
Better Tasting and they wont give you a bitter taste. Call are e-mail. Thanks Dayer

After having the same experience and doing some research, I tried Ginger! And so far it’s working! After two days of bitter tastes and not being able to eat anything sweet or starchy, I tried concentrated crystallized ginger! It appears to zing your tastebuds back into action and I can eat normal food again without the bad taste. Will have to see how long it lasts.

Amazing. My son who is an amazing cook whipped up cornish hen with pine nut/brussle sprout stuffing for dinner a few days ago. He was munching on the pine nuts as he cooked. The next day, he complained about everything tasting bitter. Mostly when he eats meat or anything that’s been baked or grilled. Fruit is okay. It’s been 3 days and he decided to go to the doctor, as it was worrying him, and also torturing him! I decided to do a quick Google and found this pine nut thread. We’ll try the ginger and see what happens. Thanks for getting this started.

Thanks for sharing, everyone. My daughter and I are having the same problem. I got my pine nuts at Traders Joe’s around December 23rd or 24th. I made cookies on that day, and had several. The bitter taste started December 26th and still hasn’t gone away. It’s really starting to wear me down!

Since last week, everything I eat has a bitter taste. Especially sweet things like cookies. My husband Googled “bitter taste in mouth, ” because we were concerned something was seriously wrong with me. This site came up, among others, about the pine nut issue. I, too, took a package of Trader Joe’s pine nuts out of the freezer and used them in salad last week and for Christmas dinner. I ate a few hands full as they are so good, but then I started noticing this horrible taste in everything I ate. The package says they are from Korea, Russia or Vietnam. I’m very unconfortable with this issue, as it cannot be good to digest something that can change your taste buds for radically. Think I will send them off to the FDA for testing. Also, will try some of the remedies. Thanks for posting all this info everyone.

Here’s an update: I called the FDA, and spoke with someone this morning. I gave her all the information about when and where I purchased the pine nuts, but didn’t have the packaging any longer. She said they can’t do much without the specific lot information on the nuts. I asked if they had any other complaints (in Northern CA) and she said no. This is just fyi.

I am so happy I found this website because I was wondering what was wrong with me. I had pine nuts at Christmas and I never eat them. I started having a weird taste and I was thinking the water must be contaminated or something. So I started to google my issue and found this website.Oh and Yes my pine nuts are from China so they are now in the garbage can.!!!It has been day 4 and it is still bothering me. It is so weird how everything I eat has a weird taste! I hope it get better soon.

PLEASE DO NOT THROW THE PINE NUTS AWAY. TAKE THEM BACK TO PLACE OF PURCHASE EVEN IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A RECEIPT. THE MORE NUTS ARE RETURNED; THE GREATER OUR CHANCES OF BEING BELIEVED. Another website indicates that the Chinese pine nuts are from a different variety of pine tree than the non toxic expensive nut.

[...] reported by PinchMySalt.com, here are some recommended guidelines to follow when purchasing pine [...]

Thank you for posting this! I had the exact same thing happen to me and worried the past two days that I might’ve had a brain tumor! I bought mine from Costco and had them in the fridge since October, it is now january and I was just starting to munch on them (South beach diet and new year’s resolutions and all) – I had no idea of the connection, what a thing!

Wow! I’m so glad I immediately happened upon your information. As I type, I am eating my lunch and it tastes as terrible as my breakfast did! I rarely eat pine nuts, but included them in a salad two days ago. I would never have suspected those as the problem, and am glad to know I just need to wait it out!

This is too weird…we bought a small plastic tub of Pine Nuts at Trader Joe’s to use a few for a Thanksgiving dish and have been snacking on the remainder of the package for the last month or so. I never tied the off and on bitterness to this ( I thought it was my cold having the affect) until I decided to Google it today. Funny, I happened to look at the pack just before I tossed it last week….they were from China. Maybe i’ll dig it out and send it to the FDA.
Does anyone have any clue, biologically, why this bitter taste occurs and why it persists, and whether it happens to everyone or just some people?

To the question asked about if this affects everyone who eats them, it seems not. Several posts said that olther members of a family had eaten the same dish and only some of them had this problem. FDA is not really sounding interested when you call them. The Poison Center never called or emailed me back. News outlets are not responding. Most people are not sick with this but I had diarhea the night I ingested them and body aches and malaise for several days. My friend called to say she had the bitterness I was experiencing (seems to happen 2-3 days after injestion)although none of the other symptoms. I wrote Trader Joes and they responded but are not removing them from their shelves…shame on them. We are being poisoned by these and no one seems to be doing anything.

We have been buying pine nuts from Costco for several years and never had a problem. But last weekend we had pine nuts on pasta, and then I snacked on a bowl of pine nuts that had not been used in the pasta (the rest of the bag had been put back in the freezer). Two days later I ate some left over lamb chops that tasted terrible. Tonight we had lamb again, and it tasted terrible to me. My wife thought it was delicious. I also ate hamburgers from McDonald’s today that tasted metallic, just like the lamb. Meat (beef and lamb) seems to be the only thing affected. We had pork the other day, and I noticed no problem, but perhaps the flavor was masked by the other ingredients in the stir-fry.

My husband and I ate the same pine nuts (from China) in a salad. Only I experienced the bad taste, he did not. Perhaps you can equate it to smelly urine when certain people eat asparagus (unfortunately, I’m one of them too). I think it may be an one of those occurrence that poses no health risks.

My daughter joined us and another friend for lunch last Sunday. She lives 2.5 hrs away. My husband began complaining about the awful bitter taste the following Wednesday. When I talked to my daughter she was having the same problem. I nor the other guest had the taste. The search for an answer was on, and led me to this page tonight. I called my daughter to see if she had eaten any pine nuts. She said yes the ones in my fridge last Sunday my husband did too. I nor the guest ate them. They are from China! This has got to be the answer. I was trying to blame it on post nasal drip ha ha.

Yup, my daughter and me are experiencing the same thing. Amazing! We had the pine nuts 8 days ago and are still having the bitter taste. They also were from China. Stater Bros. store brand. I will try the ginger. It is a relief to see other people with the same symptoms! Hope it goes away soon.

Update: We were seven days into this when we tried the ginger. In my opinion it helped my husband and daughter. However my husband wasn’t sure i the pine nuts were the problem. So last night he ate a few more from a different source. This morning the bitter taste was back. Apparently the more you eat the worse the effect.

We are on Tybee Island GA

The best way to solve the bitterness and bitter taste of pinenuts in your mouth is not to buy them or eat them. The best alternative is to buy All American from Nevada Pine Nuts at http://www.WholeSalePineNuts.com. The Pine Nuts offered there are Organic Grown ALL Natural, Non-Processed and Fresh tasting with No Preservatives or additives that give the bitterness taste. Taste the difference for your shelf. We offer free shipping on most packages with the best price on the market.

I am happy to learn about you Wholesale. I was looking for all american to no avail when I purchased the chinese. Can you explain the USDA organic stamp on chinese pine nuts? Do we have inspectors in china?

BTW Wolesale I remember buying your brand in the past and we had no problem. I try to buy USA all the time.

Keep buying ours and you will be happy! We do not get involved with chinese pinenuts much. We have not done test on chinese pinenuts. We do however know that in order for pinenuts to be Shelled and placed in bags for long periods of time many manufactures or providers/producers will add preservatives to the pinenuts which is one cause for there unfavored taste.

Also understand that something can be certified Organic, but that doesn’t mean that the pinenuts are FRESH or better said, that you are buying fresh pinenuts. Some companies that import (or that don’t harvest their own pinenuts) sell old or out of season pinenuts whether they know it or not.

Thanks for your comments Veronica!

Ever since I was “smitten”, I’ve looked for a country of origin on the packaging. I’ve found mostly Chinese pine nuts. I did notice that at my local Fred Meyer, the bulk pine nuts now have a label with the country of origin on the bin. That’s never been there before. (that’s not where I bought my bad pine nuts) Nice to see the labeling coming to stores in the area.

I have had a bitter metallic taste in my mouth for several days when I eat or drink, and I decided to google my symptoms. I am so glad this website exists as it has put my mind at rest. I too had pine nuts from Sainsbury’s in the North East of England. These were in a mixed bag of berries and nuts and they are from various countries. I will drink some tomato juice as that seems to be the only remedy I can find, otherwise I will just have to ride the storm til my taste buds are back to normal. Thanks for all these postings, I feel better now!!

I experienced pine mouth after eating a handful of “Melissa’s” pine nuts purchased on the Boston Ma area. After three or four days, I’m feeling some relief since this morning. I’m still afraid that eating might trigger the bad taste. If I’m actually getting over the symptoms this quickly, I feel lucky in comparison to others who suffered for much longer.

Just two days ago, I had pine nuts from a newly opened bag gotten from Trader Joes and I am suffering the same symptoms of bitter taste in my mouth. Per the packaging, it is a “Product of Korea, Russia, or Vietnam”.

Now, one of the other reasons that I wanted to write is the author’s mention of headache. I am also a migraine sufferer and I typically get visual auras of light sensitivity or vertigo and high olfactory sensitivity — I can’t go near candle shops, walk by open Bed, Bath, Beyond stores without holding by breath, etc. Interestingly, as the bitter taste became prevalent, so too did a migraine. Even more so, the typical remedies to reduce it if I catch it early enough didn’t help and it has persisted with the bitter taste.

Given the hypersensitivity of input that migraine sufferers face and the similar hypersensitivity to bitterness from these pine nuts, I’m wondering if anyone else has had exepriences that might indicate a connection. I should mention that I’ve inhaled handfuls of pine nuts from other sources (like Costco) and this is the first time I’ve had a reaction.

ok. i am sooo frustrated! i ate pine nuts (only a small handfull) 3 days ago and this bitter tatse is almost unbearable. eating anything is horrible! i found your post after googling bitter taste in mouth. thank you GOD for google. i have 2 questions… why are these even on the market if there is even the potential of this happening and has anyone come up with a cure? please someone tell me there’s a cure. it’s been 3 days and i can’t stand this anymore.

Jim D, there are 2 different remedies which people seem to have had success with. First is to drink tomato juice, like V8 juice or similar. The tomatoes seem to neutralise the taste buds. I tried this and it didnt seem to work straight away but the following day the taste was about 70-80% less and the following day it was almost gone altogether.
Other remedy which seems to work particularly well with many people is to get fresh ginger and grate into water. Not so great tasting apparently but you could add sugar or honey to it to sweeten. This is supposed to work great, plus its really healthy for you too. If nothing works the taste seems to go away between 8-12 days so you should be ok eventually. Good luck

I tried the tomato juice at the end of day 3. It helped a little, but not much.
the ginger tea was almost 2 days further in the process, but it took the taste away almost immediately and it stayed away. I am pasting the ginger tea recipe I published here a few weeks ago. I and most of my friends think ginger tea tastes great.

Slice a big piece of ginger root as thin as you can. Bring to low boil in a quart or two of water. Immediately turn down to simmer for about 20 minutes. This will be a concentrate. Add honey and lemon to taste and dilute with water to taste. It is great hot or chilled.

@Donna in Oregon
Thanks for posting the tea recipe. What do you consider a big slice of ginger root? I’m guessing about 4″x2″ thin sliced. Can you give me a visual?

The tea recipe is flexible and forgiving. With a 4 inch piece, slice it as thinly as possible (quarter size). A food processor works great. Then, put it in about 6 cups of water. Bring to a slow boil and immediately turn it down to simmer. 20 or 30 minutes is good. If the ginger boils, it will not taste as good.Then you can strain the solids out. I add honey when tea is warm, but not hot. I use about 1/3 cup for this amount. It will be concentrated, so add some water and honey before drinking the tea.Get well soon.

I have had a bitter taste in my mouth for the past couple of days and you guessed it I made some pesto with pine nuts. The brand of pine nuts is Ducks and the label says it is an imported product I’m guessing they are from China. I had no idea they could be such a problem! I can’t enjoy any food, it all tastes terrible. Hopefully it will go soon.

I am afflicted with this too… I have a Breville juicer and I juiced a few large pieces of ginger and made a syrup from the juice by adding sugar (1:1). I’ve been drinking a combination of 2oz Ginger Syrup, 2oz of Lemon Juice, 2oz of water and it’s really been helping.

I’d had bitter mouth syndrome for four days and become slightly concerned, so when I googled this blog I’m pleased to find out it isn’t a neurological issue.
As for cures, I just ate a handful of fresh Rosemary. It wasn’t pleasant, but the hideous ‘pinemouth’ tang has curtailed somewhat.
I shall venture to invest in some ginger on the morrow.

I’d had bitter mouth syndrome for four days and become slightly concerned, so I’m pleased to find out it isn’t a neurological issue.
As for cures, I just ate a handful of fresh Rosemary. It wasn’t pleasant, but the hideous ‘pinemouth’ tang has curtailed somewhat.
I shall venture to invest in some ginger on the morrow.

This is outrageous and so bizarre! Like everyone else I thought I had some other serious problem or another sinus infection except the taste in my mouth was different in that it had a metallic element. Yesterday as I sat down to have a veggie wrap with homemade pesto and it (like everything else I had eaten the last few days) tasted like crap, I had had it! I went straight to my computer and googled my symptoms. Low and behold, turns out, this is a mini epidemic! From Pine nuts! From Trader Joe’s! I love pesto and decided to make some with pine nuts I purchased from TJ’s, I found this site and many like it just as I was finishing my pesto filled wrap! UUuuugh. I guess I have to suffer for a few more days. Hope it ends soon. Im hungary!!!
Also, as I finished the wrap I instantly got a stomach and headache for about an hour. HAdn’t happened before but, I had been re-exposing myself to the pine nuts everyday for the last three days…..

I have worked with American Pine nuts for 14 years and this issue of Country of Origin and “pine nut mouth” made prompted me to look at US Trade data for pine nut imports. This is from our blog post today:
2009 January – October (Top 10 countries – - 2009 October)
Wholesale Value in USD 1/09 to 10/09):

China $52,208,000.00

Turkey $8,765,000.00

Spain $700,000.00
Pakistan $43,000.00
Hong Kong 0
Italy 0
Brazil 0
Canada 0
Lebanon 0
Portugal 0
Switzerland(*) 0
Some of these countries may seem odd, but they are on this list because it is based on historical export to the United States and those countries have historically been exporters. Russia, Korea, Viet Nam are not in the historical trade data, neither is Mexico
Penny Frazier, Goods From The Woods, pinenut.com

i thought there was something wrong with me! and i just had dental work done last week and thought that could’ve been the reason. but after reading this article, i think it was either the pesto sauce my mom used for spaghetti or from a creole restaurant I ate at this week. i’m happy to know that it will eventually go away, but i’m sad to know that it could take a couple of weeks

I wish I had time to take on this issue. Instead we are never going to eat pine nuts again. As I mentioned before my husband the skeptic tried pine nuts again after approx. ten days of PNM (pine nut mouth). He has had PNM for another ten days and nothing helps.

Same EXACT thing happened to me. Mine were from Trader Joe’s, also. And the package says that they’re from Korea or Russia. I found another article online that describes the different types of pine nuts. Guess what kind are grown in Korea and Russia?!? That’s right, Chinese. Pisses me off – even at Trader Joe’s prices, it was $8 for an 8 oz bag!

Just left my last post before reading through all of the others listed. Yes, the answer is GINGER!!! I don’t think you need fresh, though. A friend who works for Starbucks had given me a jar of Crystallized Ginger (apparently it tastes great in vodka) and I ate about a teaspoon full – and the bitterness is gone!

OMG! I googled bitter metalic taste and I ended up here. And guess what? just had a cheap looking tub of pine nuts 2 days ago!!!! I normally buy mine fom Costco and never had a problem but picked some from Target 2 days ago for an office salad party…yuck! At least I know what it is, I can now google a cure. thanks!

Crystallized Ginger works almost instantly! thanks for the tip!

It is amazing to read this blog. I ate a whole packet of pine nuts last week then blamed the bitter taste on my dentistry. This is a little quote on how to tell the difference between the pine nuts

“There are distinguishing characteristics between the nuts, with the Italian stone pine variety being short and stubby while the Chinese white pine tends to be longer and thinner”

ditto, ditto, ditto.
Bizzarro bitter metallic taste in mouth.
Ate Trader Joe’s pine nuts 2 days prior to symptoms.
Thought it was something serious (Diabetes.. et al).
Totally disruptive to appetite.
Currently on day 4 (approx)
From this site, I can’t help but think there is something new going on. All these people with all these similar symptoms in such a short amount of time. Were people complaining about this for the past 20 years or more, or is this really a recent phenom?
Also, if this is a recent phenom, you better believe that this has a potential for another news worthy Chinese export problem like lead paint on baby toys.

Ginger tea and candy helped for a few hours at a time. Over the week that I’ve had this (now very diminished) problem, I found that chocolate and peanut butter were pretty much OK. Can you say Reese’s diet?

Seriously, I returned my opened bag of pine nuts to Trader Joe’s and they happily refunded my money. When I mentioned why I was returning them to the manager, he stated that he hadn’t heard anything like this before and would mention it to upper management. Since so many people have sited TJs as a source, if you haven’t returned the nuts just for your $8 back, it might be worthwhile to do it just to request that word be sent “up the chain” to regional management and attract some attention.

When I previously called regional to discuss MSG — a topic many manufacturers will try and state is a problem only in so many people’s heads — TJs told me they try to avoid any product with added MSG. My point being that if enough awareness is raised and it is shown to be widely distributed amongst their customer base, they may be more cautious about the source in the future.

Wow, thank you so much for this info. My bitter mouth started yesterday morning and has been terrible. I googled about the bitter bile taste at the back of my mouth after everything I eat and drink and it came up with a variety of things including liver problems which scared the hell out of me as I’m on Olistat. I was about to call the doctor in the morning to check sinises etc, until I stumbled on this site. I have some pine nuts that I bought from Sainsburys and I’ve had them for a couple of weeks. Sure enough I munched on half a dozen or so on Weds or Thurs so it took 2 or 3 days to start. I’m on day 2 of pine nut mouth at the moment

oh and i checked the packet and they are product of china

Same experience with Trader Joe’s Korean pine nuts from a dinner two nights ago. Bleh! I brushed my tongue last night vigorously with an electric toothbrush, as far to the back as I could without gagging. Today the bitter taste is much reduced. Maybe the taste would have gotten better on its own, but brushing the tongue is probably a good idea, anyway. Those of you who get pine mouth might give this a try. Also, I complained to TJ via their web site. FDA, too. No response yet from either.

Talked to my congressman last night. He is on the agriculture commitee. This is wrong that people are experiencing this with no warning. As someone posted earlier we have been eating pine nuts for years and never experienced this before. I am going to give my congressman a link to this thread. Also consider the folks who have not accessed this info. and have no clue.
Veronica in GA

Had pine nuts in my pasta on Friday and again in leftovers Sunday. Bitter taste started Monday. So glad to find this chain. I’m off to try out the ginger tea recipe!

[...] som om det främst är kinesiska pinjenötter som i vissa fall ger upphov till pinjemun. Men andra offer för pinjemun-eländet hävdar att de ätit pinjenötter från andra [...]

So strange! I had hummus with pine nuts on Saturday night and the bitterness started on Monday I believe. I had very few pinenuts in the hummus and I have bought this brand before and didn’t have problems. How annoying. I am, however, excited to know that there is nothing wrong with me and it will go away. Now I don’t want to eat the hummus anymore! argghhhh and I love it!

For the last four days, my husband and I have had a horrible taste in the back of our mouths. EVERYTHING that I’ve had to drink or to eat has been followed by a bizarre combination of bitterness, poison, and/or a chemical aftertaste. My tongue even feels “burned”.

I googled the symptoms the other day and scared myself half to death. I began to suspect everything from the homemade cookies that I’d made that night to our cleaning products, to our coffee and our toothpaste. In a panic, I googled the symptoms again this morning and found your post. Two feelings; one, I’m so grateful to realize this sensation will be gone in the next week and two, I’m SHOCKED that I am leaving the 338th comment. This has affected so many people!

Because of your blog I now know that the pine nuts that went into our pasta four nights ago are the culprit. I’m thankful that my two young sons weren’t that hungry that evening. My husband and I are still paying the price!

PINE NUTS!! I searched and searched the web trying to figure out what was going on with me…PINE NUTS!…I just had them 2 days ago! I’m just glad I’m not dying.

Contacted the FDA about this today. Talked to a person who said this is a class 1 investigation. They are taking this seriously.

I had bought some mixed nuts from Waitrose and ate a small handful after dinner for a couple of weeks. I had a terrible metallic taste in my mouth and googled it to find it was pine nuts. I stopped eating them 29th Dec 2009 and one month later it is just as bad! How long will this go on? My daughters partner also had this and stopped eating them and within 2 days the taste had disappeared.

Thank you! I ate a whole bunch of pine nuts earlier this week. Two days ago (and about 2-3 days after the pine nuts), the same thing happened to me! I thought I was doomed for a throat cancer diagnosis or something, but then I googled metalic taste when eating and I found this page.
So far the taste has persisted for 3 days, though this is day 4 and it is a bit better. How weird! No more pine nuts for me!

I wish I had found this information before I ate a half bag of pine nuts! I actually came across this info when looking for nutritional information on pine nuts a while ago. I had cooked with pine nuts a week ago and was complaining to my boyfriend for several days about this metallic taste in the back of my mouth. I thought he had gotten me sick, but the only symptom was the chemical metallic taste I had for several days.

Of course I just learned this today AFTER I ate several handfuls of pine nuts! I just checked my bag (purchased the other day from Walmart in Anch. Alaska) and it says that it was packaged in USA and contains pine nuts from China. At least now I will not be surprised when I get the nasty taste again. Oh yay for me. Grrrrrr.

I have pine mouth now! My son and I were in the kitchen eating toasted pine nuts for at least 20 minutes. I toasted them for a recipe and we ate all of the left over pine nuts. He told me a couple days later that he had a bad taste in his mouth, however, I thought that maybe he was getting sick and made him take Airbourn. The next day a I made eggs for everyone in the family and when I took a bite I started telling everyone not to eat the eggs because they were bad. I tried to drink coffee to wash down the bad taste then noticed how bitter the coffee tasted. I has been a week now and we’re both still tasting a bitter nasty after taste. My 11 year old son came up with the great idea if you eat very fast then it is not so bad until you’re finished eating. It works for him and I have to say that I did try it but eating fast is not my thing. By the way, the spicier the food the worst for us. Thia curry is a not on out list for dinner this week. I need to lose 10lbs anyway and I guess this is a good time to work on my diet.

I have pine mouth right now! My son and I were in the kitchen eating toasted pine nuts for at least 20 minutes. I toasted them for a recipe and we ate all of the left over pine nuts. He told me a couple days later that he had a bad taste in his mouth, however, I thought that maybe he was getting sick and made him take Airbourn. The next day a I made eggs for everyone in the family and when I took a bite I started telling everyone not to eat the eggs because they were bad. I tried to drink coffee to wash down the bad taste then noticed how bitter the coffee tasted. I has been a week now and we’re both still tasting a bitter nasty after taste. My 11 year old son came up with the great idea if you eat very fast then it is not so bad until you’re finished eating. It works for him and I have to say that I did try it but eating fast is not my thing. By the way, the spicier the food the worst for us. Thia curry is a not on out list for dinner this week. I need to lose 10lbs anyway and I guess this is a good time to work on my diet.

Oh kindred spirit!
this made me laugh
they only way I found this post is because I was googling my symptoms.
I am now convinced that pine nuts are the culprit.
thanks

Another victim. Pine nuts 4 days ago, bitter taste for the last 3. I am in New Zealand, and god only knows where the nuts came from, but it has been extremely hot and humid for the last week. There still doesnt appear to be any remedies (from what i’ve googled but there is a lot to read) but i have found the following from my own experience
Really really really bad=
yoghurt
processed cheese
wine
ginger

Not so bad=
scone
plain rice
water
hot tea

everything else somewhere in between. If anyone else has any suggestions please let me know. Heres hoping that it goes away soon

oh yeah, and chocolate is also ok. There is a silver lining

Me too! Ate a bunch of pine nuts Saturday nite at a friend’s house. Two eves later (Monday night) is when I noticed the weird aftertaste. Thanks so much for posting this – now I know my fillings aren’t leaking, etc, etc!

I am now on day two of “pine nut mouth”, The nuts were purchased at Trader Joes, Scottsdale, AZ. I have had the syndrome before. This has not occured with store bought pesto, for some reason. Maybe it just depends on the quantity injested, for I did eat alot of them. I defintly will not be making home-made pesto with these, I will try it made with walnuts. I am determined to find a remedy. I would like to know exactly why this occurs? is it the pine oil which lingers in the bloodstream or is it that our tastebuds are temporarily altered by the pine oil in some way. Anyone know.
I will let you all know about my remedy testing.

PEOPLE: Keep complaining, and warning your friends. I told my neurologist about this in case someone brings the symptoms to her.

I just found the article below on another website.
“So perturbed by his symptoms was Roger Hyam, a botanist from Edinburgh, he thought he had jaundice or diabetes.
He has since started a pine mouth website in the hope fellow botanists might be able to offer help or an explanation.
Those who found out about pine mouth via the internet were the lucky ones.
Others sought medical help and were sent for blood tests or liver scans, while some approached their dentist to see if mercury was leaking from their fillings.
Home remedies recommended by sufferers include drinking liquid aloe vera and taking activated charcoal tablets (charcoal is often used as a detox in cases of drug overdose).
So what’s actually happening here? And should we be worried?
In reply to a group of pine mouth sufferers in Wales, the Food Standards Agency contacted doctors at the Brussels Poisons Centre, who have carried out tests on the pine nuts, but have been unable to identify any chemical differences between those that cause pine mouth and those that don’t.
The good news is that no pesticide or heavy metal contamination has been found in the pine nuts. The puzzling news is that while some people get pine mouth, others don’t, even though they’ve eaten the same batch of nuts.
‘It doesn’t seem to be an allergic reaction, either,’ says John Collard, clinical director of charity Allergy UK.
‘It may be there is a chemical constituent in the nuts that causes the taste; possibly the oils in the nuts have gone rancid because of poor storage.
‘Just as caffeine increases some people’s heart rate more than others, some people may be susceptible to these oils, and some not.’
But in the meantime, food retailers are not rushing to warn the public, despite shoppers at most of the major supermarkets claiming to have experienced the problem.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1184261/Pine-mouth-puzzle-Why-nuts-leave-bitter-taste.html#ixzz0eVIgoXW5

Ok I think this is my 5th or 6th post so you can look back and read about our experience. I contacted the F.D.A and filed a complaint 1-29-2010 I called Penny Harris in the complaint department 404-253-1256 she was aware there is a problem and says there is an ongoing investigation. She asked me a list of questions of which one was did I have any of the product left for a sample. I did not. Then I contacted my local TV News WTOC Channel 11 Savannah GA. They did a story on it and interviewed a Dr. who said we have “Pine Nut Syndrome.” You can go to WTOC website and look at the video on the news page. My point is There needs to be more follow up by the FDA. I bet there are thousands of unnecessary tests done monthly because of this and who can afford that? In my opinion before social networking the magnitude of this reaction wasn’t taken seriously. I suggest everybody contact the FDA this is just plain wrong.

I fell victim to pine mouth over the weekend. Thought it would be nice to put on salads. I thought I was going crazy. The first thing I ate was an apple. I kept swearing it was tampered with. My hubsand tasted it and said I was crazy and paranoid the apple tasted ok. We ended up having a big fight. I hate it when men dismiss you and say it was just all in your head. Thank godness for this website. I notice my husband ate some just yesterday. Mine did not kick in until 2 days later. Who is gonna be the crazy one now.

Two more victums to the crazy pine nut curse. My wife and I bought our pine nuts from Wholefoods and have been suffering for the last 2 days. Chocolate seems to be ok…

I have laugh cried reading these posts for 2 reasons! 1. My bitter taste is not a symptom of some fatal illness and 2. I am not crazy. I made a batch of pesto on Saturday and shortly thereafter, I started having this really bitter taste in my mouth that was made worse with EVERYTHING I ate. I mean everything. I am still having this bitter taste but at least now I know why. I am so thankful for this post because it definitely is an eye opener and I am amazed at how many people have been through this experience. So much so that I feel it probably should be added to the label of pine nuts that it “may cause bitter after taste”. Indeed the FDA looking into this will be worth the hassle.

I am so glad I found this post, I was beginning to think there was something seriously wrong with me. I love pine nuts and ate a bunch of them several days ago – they were from China. I normally get them at Costco and have never had a problem but my husband picked them up from Sam’s Club last week. They are going back. I hope this horrible taste goes away soon. It doesn’t bother me as long as I don’t eat!

My last post was Jan 28th. FINALLY the “pine mouth” has gone away. That took 2 weeks. What craziness…… I am thrilled that Veronica notified the FDA!

Thank you all for the post. I got up two days ago with the bitter taste at the back of the throat and wondered how this could have happened. After reading this post, I can defintely confirm: for the first time in many moons, I had a craving for “something different” and tatsted some pine nuts kept in the freezer. Funny thing is that it is not the regular brand we buy!
I guess that it is a matter of time, is it not?
Thanks again.

Another victim of Pine Mouth. Got ours from Costco. Had some on a pasta meal. Hubby wasn’t effected. But, I toasted some the next day to store in the freezer and nibbled on them while they cooled. Sure enough, 2 days later the taste started. I now eat my meals quickly so the bitter taste only sets in once when I’m done. It wasn’t too bad after eating a salad with a dressing I made of apple cidar vinegar, evoo and mustand. I guess the sharp taste of the dressing tamed the after taste somewhat. I’m on day 3 and it makes me crazy to think I still have days to go before this goes away.
Question though… does this mean we can never eat pine nuts again? Or just make sure they don’t come from China?
Even as I type, they are adding pine nuts to a receipe on the food network. Eeks!!

I stopped eating pine nuts on 29th December after googling metallic taste in mouth and 6 weeks later it is just as bad. Is there anything else it could be? In particular, bananas, porridge and tea taste bad. My husband says my breath smells garlic/oniony! I’m getting paranoid!

Chris, 6 weeks is a long time. Perhaps you should check with your doctor since everyone reports that it is usually gone after a week or 2. Tea brings it on for me as well and I cannot face the day without my cup of tea. Ugh!

Another “wow” here. It seems like this problem has been like clockwork. Happens about every 6 weeks, and I’ve been trying like crazy to figure out what I’m doing or eating differently. For me, I woke up one morning with everything tasting bad – this started last fall, and I’ve been eating pine nuts for many years. The bad taste lasts for a week every time, goes away for 4-5 weeks and is back again. At one time I thought it was a pesticide issue because I eat a lot of veggies and nuts. This last time around, I didn’t have any pine nuts, but remembered I had a jar of pesto in the frig that I used. The bad taste is back again, and hopefully in a few more days will be gone. I’m a junky when it comes to eating nuts – pine, walnuts, pecans, almonds, etc. I think I’ll have to stop just to see if it’s really the problem.

I’m very bothered by the fact that so many people have this issue, and that it takes sooooo long to get rid of – a whole week every time I get that bitter taste, but encouraging to know I’m not alone.

Well – what can I say?! I went out for breakfast this morning and experienced the most disgusting taste in my mouth! I somehow knew it wasnt the food I was eating, as I could taste that too – but this taste, literally on the back of my tongue, was taking over the taste of the food. IIt was horrible! Later, eating again – this taste took over again. I was really worried that it was my palette or, that I’d inherited a loss of taste from my Dad and Grandmother! I decided to google it. And Here you all are – amazingly suffering the same symptoms. I do not have a headache, I do not have any other symptoms bu tthis taste – as well as being very bitter and metallic – is almost undescribable! It’s like someting you might clean the drains with! As soon as I saw Pine Nuts – I knew! I had bought some as a snack from Asda Walmart in Derby UK, and knew it must be that. Weird how sweet things do not taste so bad – but savoury is horrific. Thank you all so much for this reassurance – and I hope you’re all well now!

OMG! This is the worst!!! I also purchased pine nuts at Whole Foods, put some in the salad I bought from there and once I ate it my toungue felt kinda strange, almost like it was numb. Well didn’t think anything of it. Sunday morning I woke up and I had the “Bitter taste on my tongue”. Glad to know it goes away but DANG!!!
Oh also, I found that gargling with salt water helps a lot!!!

This is my 2nd post. I was sick during the night. I contacted Trading Standards today re this whole situation. They advised me to take go back to Asda, which I did. Both are investigating and I have been advised to keep a few in case anyone contacts me and Asda have taken the pot back and will send off for checking. Will update with any news.
Although I do get a bit of taste throughout the day – it’s only when I eat that it comes on really bad – and everything is rancid! Therefore, I feel it is to do with the saliva which is created to chew and break down food. Beyond that – it’s a TOTAL mystery!

I ate pinenuts from Trader Joe”s two days ago. This morning I had a similar experience as others: I woke up and found that my morning coffee tasked bitter. After eating dinner, I started to think I was having a health problem and googled “bitter taste in mouth”. This is definitely concerning. From now on I’m only buying pinenuts from the US and Italy too- though they’re getting hard to find around Boston.

This is my 2nd note on this horrible experience. I thought it would never go away but here I am on my 6th day and finally it is gone!!! Just thought i would note a list of things that helped me deal with the disgusting rubberband taste in my mouth..
Lots of Lemon Water
Rain #5 spearmint gum
Leroux (peppermint schnaps)
Salsa
Hot Red and/or Green Chilli.
Gargle with salt water helps also
I tried the tomatoe Juice YUCK the rubberband taste got worse! The Ginger tea didn’t work for me either. Well good luck to you all who are still dealing with this just know it will go away……No more pine nuts for me that’s for sure I dont care where there from I’m done!!!

This is sooo strange because my friend only introduced me to pine nuts recently and I loved them. In fact i sat and ate half a bag at my computer 2 days ago and today have had this vile taste in my mouth which is worse when i eat. In fact, it has even put me off my beloved red wine! So hope it goes away soon but glad to know it’s something temporary! The odd thing is that I described the taste originally as that of a bad walnut that you take a bite of by mistake. I absolutely convinced it was the pine nuts! Thank heaven for Google!

I started with this ‘Pine Mouth’ on Tues and it has improved by today (Sat) but not gone completely. I barely ate for 2 1/2 days, but have now got an appetite back after being scared to eat because of disgusting taste! I did try eating raw ginger, (as I didnt have any of the candied) – Im not sure if it helped but certainly things are better than they have been. I have no news yet, re the source and Trading Standards who are apparently investigating.

Hi Elaine from Derby! Seems I have a few more days to go then so bang goes the sunday roast which I will have to prepare for everyone else and then just look at! Maybe we should market pine nuts as the new wonder slimming pill! All I can actually eat that tastes relatively normal are clementines! But I have to say I would be interested to hear what the Food Standards Agency make of all this and will get in touch with them tomorrow. My pine nuts were produced in China and sold by Tesco Express and were certainly not out of date.

Hi Caroline. Im on Facebook if u want to conact me to discuss at all! (dont want to give email) surname Sellors

For lunch, I sprinkled some (what I believe were raw) pine nuts into my salad that I prepared at Whole Foods Market in San Francisco (Fourth Street) on Thursday, February 18. Things started to taste bitter late afternoon the next day but it worsened the following morning. Whatever I ate was bitter tasting; I felt like I had swallowed medicine/aspirin in my mouth and the taste lingered. I feel a little nauseous after eating because the food tastes so bad to me. I sent an e-mail to Whole Foods about my suspicions.

Well I am in day 4 now and the symptoms are starting to fade. Managed to eat and drink reasonably normally but the taste is still slightly there in the background. Yesterday I ate some ginger in preserve – sickly sweet but it seemed to help. I have been so irritated by this condition that I reported it to the FSA and Tesco today. Will report back on my findings. Will try and contact you too via Facebook Elaine – thanks.

Ate some on Wednesday afternoon and by Thursday morning everything tasted bitter and poisonous, kind of like cough medicine. Bought mine at Whole Foods on Fairfax in L.A. Today is day six. Things seem to be improving. I say with fingers crossed. While trying to figure out what was going on in my mouth and with my tastebuds, I also found that Crest Pro-Health toothpaste has a lot of complaints relating to tastebud and mouth damage as well. Lucky me, I was used Crest Pro-Health toothpaste and ate pine nuts at the same time. I think both should be off the market.

The best way to solve the bitterness and bitter taste of pinenuts in your mouth is not to buy them or eat them. The best alternative is to buy All American from Nevada Pine Nuts at http://www.WholeSalePineNuts.com. The Pine Nuts offered there are Organic Grown ALL Natural, Non-Processed and Fresh tasting with No Preservatives or additives that give the bitterness taste. Taste the difference for your shelf. We offer free shipping on most packages with the best price on the market.

Or never, ever, ever, ever, eat pine nuts of any kind again.

I can’t thank you enough for solving my mystery. Like other people who have posted comments, I, too, thought it was a sign of some other more serious medical problem. I tried a new recipe a few days ago that called for pine nuts. I almost never eat pine nuts. I even toasted them myself with garlic salt. Although it was delicious going down, the soapy-bitter aftertaste started to plague me two days later. This is the third consecutive day with the bitter aftertaste. Nothing tastes good to me. Needless to say, all the left overs and the unused pine nuts have been thrown out. I’m happy to know this condition is temporary, and I can look forward to good-tasting food again one day. Pine nuts??? I can definitely live the rest of my life without them!

I am currently having the same bitter-taste problem. I too have had pine nuts. I ate a bunch with dinner the other night. There was no bitter taste while I ate them, but about a day later I started getting the bitter taste. It has been three days and it seems to be getting a bit worse. I will be glad when this is over. The pine nuts are from China. My husband didn’t get the bitter taste. I wonder if there is some type of chemical being used somewhere in the process that certain people have more of a reaction to. If you look at the complaints, it seems to be more of a recent problem. This makes me think it has more to do with a chemical or enviromental issue than just outdated nuts. It really bothers me. Perhaps an email to the USDA? If the nuts have been contaminated, what other problems are they causing besides the bitter taste?

Hello Cathy and others.

I read on a different website that the chinese pine-nuts are from a completely different variety of pine tree and that people in China do not eat them the ways we do. I am sorry I did not note the URL. Also, a few years ago after reports from people like us, these nuts were tested by scientists in the west and no contamination was found.

Wow and so bummed. I only a few nuts (5 – 10 which looked roasted in oil) at a Brazilian Steakhouse and I can’t shake this taste. I am so not eating them again. Not worth it. Bummed that I got to deal with this for weeks. yuk!

Hello back and glad to say it is all over. I just wanted to note that after the bitter taste went away (6 days) I felt sick to my stomach the 7th day, not sure if it was the after effects of the Pine nut Poisioning but it was for like 2 days of stomach cramping. I didn’t see on any of the other blogs of any kind of stomach thing happening with anyone else but just FYI!!!! That’s what happended to me.It was strange because I couldn’t eat for days because of the bitter taste so I really didn’t have much in my stomach but fluids and when I could eat I was very cautious so who knows……..I hope you ALL get better soon I feel for you all this has never happened to me and I live in New Mexico where we pick our own pine nut which we call Pinon and never has this happened to me. I will never buy Pine nuts from Whole Foods or Trader Joes or any where they sell nuts made in China…..YUK!!!!!

I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t read this…sure enough my pine nuts that I used on Sunday are from China…I really don’t like the bitter taste i have in my mouth but glad to know it will go away…Only pine nuts from Italy from now on!!!! Thanks for the article!

I do not think I will ever eat pine nuts again. I don’t know if mine were from China, but I don’t think I am brave enough to take the risk again. I am on day 7 and feel there is NO end in sight. I loved pine nuts and have eaten them often and never had a reaction. BUT, this is sever enough to make me swear off of them for good. I am so glad I found this blog, my husband and I were getting really worried.

The consumers deserve to be warned about this horrible reaction. I have filed a case withe the FDA a month ago. They are well aware of the problem and assured me an investigation was in place. I was told they would not call me back but that I should call them back. I did today and was told they would return my call after they looked up the case. I did not receive a call. What good is the FDA if they don’t serve the people. Your tax dollars at work. Please call and report your concern.

Happened to me, and I almost positive pine nuts are the cause for me, AND mine were also from Trader Joe’s. I normally am very happy shopping there, but no more TJ’s pine nuts for me…. my bitter taste is still going, I’m about 1 week into it

I am currently experiencing this does any one know if there is a way to stop it. I read the post from a while back regarding tomato juice but that didn’t work any other suggestions???

I’m pretty sure that nothing has been able to stop it – but I followed someone’s suggestion of trying ginger (I didnt have the sweet stem ginger only a slither of fresh). I don’t know if this helped the recovery, but I was eating food again after 5 daysish. went completely after 6.

The same thing has been going on with me for 4 days now and, wouldn’t you know it, the pine nuts are from Trader Joe’s. The weird thing is that other people who had then are not having the same reaction. But thanks to your post, at least I know I don’t have some weird disease!

FINALLY! I have had the bitter taste for the last four days and could not figure it out!! I tracked it back and it all started the next day after grilled shrimp and pesto pasta…FILLED with pine nuts! Very odd sensation… but nice to know I do not have an incurable discease.

Report it to the FDA !
That’s what I did. It is horrible taste. Luckily I found this website.
I never eat pine nuts. I did for two days, imported from China.
Please report it to FDA !

This happened to me right now! I eat a lot of nuts, including pine nuts. I store all my nuts in the refrigerator. I used some as a garnish in soup 2 days ago and the bitter taste started the next day. I thought it was the crackers I was eating, but the next day, everything I ate or drank had this taste. I thought something was wrong with me so I googled “bitter taste” and the very first article was about pine nuts. Bingo! I know I just had them! My husband had them, too, the same day and he had no reaction, which leads me to believe that it is a personal reaction and not something wrong with the nuts.
Now I just wonder how long until this wears off…

An update on the symptoms:things get worse the first 72 hours.
Both me and my wife had nausea, vomiting, diarrhea after eating pine nuts,
in addition to the horrible bitter taste unchanged.
I was wondering if the toxin is getting worse in these pine nuts?
Same brand as with others: 365 brand at organic section at Whole Foods,
imported from China. Please insist at FDA. They eventually called back
three times for more detalis, they seemed very interested.
Please call FDA!

Trader Joe’s pine nuts got me, too. I kept the bag and I am going to complain big time. but thanks, all, for putting my mind at ease.

When I took my “nuts” back to Costco, I included a letter and some comments from this page with the URL for it and another one I found.

To Steven (above): How many pine nuts did you and your wife eat? I had about one cup over two days. There were none of the bonus symptoms you suffered. Some of us are more sensitive to whatever it is.

One of the first things the FDA asked me was if I had some of the product. I did not have any. I filed a complaint with the Georgia Branch of FDA Penny Harris she gave me an address to write for results. We need to stay on top of this. Every case I’ve seen is from CHINA I filed back in January.

last Sunday now (almost a week from today)! my dad and i sat down to a meal of creamy pesto over ravioli’s with of coarse ‘pine nuts’ our problem! we ate our meal and it was delicious! but the next day i had breakfast and when i got finished i had the worst most bitter taste in the back of my mouth (like most) and it happened at lunch and dinner and it to this day is horrible it makes me wonder why I’m still eating food! and then my dad called me and said he did some research about the bitter taste (that he had too) and he read all the comments about those dumb pine nuts that i guess you could say poisoned our taste buds for the longest time therefore we FINALLY had an answer to that retched taste that is still bugging us and sticking in our mouths for as long as it has! the worst thing of all is that they were $39 a pound witch is highly over prised for nuts no matter where you get them from >:( one of the worst experiences I’ve had with food personally.

Thank you! I developed an ‘aspiriny’ taste in my mouth yesterday and I’ve bee panicking a bit. I found your little blurb and remembered that I ate a tone of Korean pine nuts a few days ago. I never eat pine nuts, and I’ll think twice before I do so again. (I just finished some delicious aspirin yoghurt, which I imagine will be followed by an aspirin sandwich for lunch

Thanks again.

Thanks everyone for this post.
I am on day3. Experiencing same symptoms. Was so worried!
I hope it goes away soon.

this is strange , same thing happened to me
i’ ve had the bitter taste in my mouth for 3 days since i have been eating
the pine nuts from trader’s joe(russian)
so it might be important to have them checked
who could do that?

well, it’s reached New Zealand!
I had pine nuts 2 days ago and now have the same old bitter horrible taste in my mouth after eating or drinking.
Worse after sweet things.
Water seems ok.
It is so horrible I won’t eat pine nuts again. I love food. This is sheer hell
Anyway, 2 days down….don’t know how many to go.
I’ll check back to let you know

I`m so glad I found this article…I thought I was going crazy. I had a salad with pine nuts 2 days ago and some pine nuts at lunch today and ever since, i`ve had a bitter/chemicalish taste in my mouth and throath. From my coffee to a glass of water, and the bloody mary i`ve just had. I just hope it will not take weeks before it disapear…It`s quite a gross taste.
Thank you for the information,
Nancy

ok into day three now ans it seems, ever so slightly, to be getting better.
I’m doing nothing special, just eating and drinking as normal.
Still pretty yuggy though.

Thank you all for this! My husband and I have been suffering from a bitter taste in our mouth for the past 3 days and we have started adding pine nuts to our salad last week. As doctor advised my husband to eat more nuts for health reasons. I bought the pine nuts from Cosco and will return it right away! Thanks again.

CRAZY. I just made pesto with pine nuts( frozen by me..and TOASTED) from Trader Joe’s. I coulldn’t figure it out ! Thanks for posting this !. I’ll be glad when it passes – puts a damper on EVERYTHING I eat!

Day 6, still there a tiny bit, seems especially first thing in the morning. It is definitely getting better though.

OMG, I thought I was going crazy….thought maybe my medicine was fighting each other in the belly, but sure shooting I ate Pine Nuts two days ago. This started yesterday morning with my coffee and cracker. Today is day 2 and it is still bad. I will NEVER eat pine nuts again. Never had such a bad taste and I don’t want it ever again.

wait – can we never eat pine nuts again??? that bitterness thing subsided after a couple of days and so I’m wondering if people who experienced this had pine nuts from Italy and all went ok. ALSO the pesto I made I ate again the other night before I figured this out and it did not re-start the bitterness – so It was either the straight up eating of toasted ones or a lone bad one. I reported it to the FDA and they are definitely trying to figure it out.

I have had this bitter taste almost a week since eating pine nuts….

PLease someone let me know what you can eat that will taste normal until this subsides…

I have now also experienced this weird pine nut induced horror ! I would never have guessed it to be this food to be the culprit , but after reading that it is Chinese version (small/fat nuts) and I usually ate thin italian style pine nuts – YES curse them chinese nuts. The horrible part is that this food was even labelled organic and I payed OVERPRIZE for it. Never again will I buy a product in closed container where I can’t see the nuts. I have now written the producer of the item to make them realise they have a problematic food source. This needs to be avoided – imagine if someone will suffer the rest of their lives with this. It is soon a week and I hope it to go away slowly but for good !

Day 11 and the taste has finally gone!

omg so funny i just started googling my bitter taste simptoms and i found this and omg just what was going through my mind lol! i never ever eat pine nut except for 2 days ago, and what do u know, everything tastes horrible! i got mine in bulk at winco, never again! thanks for the info =)

Thank goodness for the web and info like this. Add another one to the list of utterly confounded victims of this bizarre syndrome. The nuts in question came from Safeway. Like many reporting here, I have enjoyed pine nuts (probably the ‘original’ Italian ones) without any such symptoms for decades, so the current supply isn’t what it used to be, to say the least. Even if a pine nut showed me an Italian birth certificate, it will be hard to look one in the face again.

A note on potential remedies. I tried a few things yesterday and today (3rd day) have almost all my normal taste back. First, I chewed a teaspoon of pure dry cornstarch until it became a paste, and brushed my mouth and tongue with a toothbrush thoroughly, then swished and spat. Then I did the same with a teaspoon of dry baking soda. These seemed to have a soothing allopathic effect. Then, since people had reported help from crystallized ginger, I improvised and micro-grated a couple of teaspoons of fresh raw ginger into some honey and gave that a good swish around and swallowing. That had a sort of nuclear homeopathic effect — all the taste buds erupted with full alkaloid alarm bells going, but after that settled down, I had about 50% of normal taste back at dinner, and this morning have nearly all. P.S. for pesto lovers asking about substitutes for pine nuts, I’d suggest using barely toasted cashews and a dash of a decent Retsina.

All right!! Message number 2…. It took me a good 8 days before I could enjoy drinking or eating and not have a bad after taste. Good luck to anyone experiencing this right now. Lesson learned!! Never eating these nuts again!!!

Thanks to Michael for the helpful and literate suggestions.

A lot of older pesto recipes say pine nuts or walnuts.

Thank god for the Internet, victim of Trader Joe’s pine nuts consumed a day ago, in a second day of taste implosion. Can’t wait for normal taste to return. Great article and helpful comments.

I should have known better. Was visiting relatives over the weekend and saw some fresh home made baklava and a bag of left-over pine nuts they had used to make it sitting on the counter. When I saw them sitting there I thought of an article I had seen about pine-nut mouth but laughed it off and ate about a tablespoons worth anyways, as well as a couple pieces of the baklava.

Everything tasted fine while I ate it but now 3 days later the overwhelming after taste of metal is driving me nuts! I can only pray this doesn’t last for much longer.

I am so thankful for Ask.com!!! I also thought I had some dreadful disease. I added pine nuts, which I bought at Trader Joe’s, to meatballs that I made on Sunday. I was out to lunch on Tuesday and thought I ate some bad avocados. After that, everything I ate tasted bad. I told my husband that it was a “metallic” or “medicine” taste that I just couldn’t get rid of. I even tried Salt & Vinegar potato chips which would normally kill anything!! Still that horrible taste. This morning I woke up with a terrible migraine, which caused me to check the internet. I thought for sure there was something wrong. How weird that the first thing that came up was “Pine nuts”. I ate these by the jarful when I was a kid. Who knew?

Well, add me to the list. Don’t remember where I bought them, or when (awhile ago). Made some pesto in my new blender last night. Bye the way it’s one of those ultra high-powered things. Was wondering if “over-processing” could have exacerbated it. Hearing of the possible two-week-or-longer duration is a bummer. ANYBODY heard of a cure? Oh, well, it’s lent and I might as offer it up.

Speaking strictly for me, I’m going with pecans next time. BTW/ vodka martini’s with anchovy olives are not a cure.

Isnt it strange how it affects us two days after eating them. I didnt know Baklava was made with pine-nuts. I’ll stay away!

Update. Marshmallows don’t work. Neither do dried apricots. Cinnamon grahams go down fairly well, but no lasting effect.

Thank goodness for blogs! So comforting to know that others are going through the ‘bitter’ situation that I am. Yes, I too am a victim of those pine nuts! Am on day 4 of the bitter taste and can’t wait for it to go away. I have been eating oranges and they seem to be the only thing that doesn’t taste bitter to me.The only upside to all of this is that I’m not eating as much as I used to.

I can’t stand it, every time I eat something, I get a bitter taste in the back of my throat. I did a google search as well, I have been eating pine nuts this week, from Trader Joes…I’ve bought them there before, and never had a problem. Don’t think I will buy them there again. I hope the bitter taste goes away soon. I didn’t even eat that much! Thanks for posting this, it’s nice to know I’m not alone, and to have an answer to this mystery!

got this back from Trader Joes…
Hi Viki,

We apologize for the experience you recently had with the Trader Joe’s
Pignolias/Pine nuts purchased in our store. We appreciate you bringing
your concerns to our attention, and for allowing us the opportunity to
address them. What many of our customers have recently reported has been
a naturally occuring situation with the pine nuts, and we assure you
that it has nothing to do with where they are sourced from. However, our
pine nuts do not come from China.

The issue of the taste disturbance experienced after eating the pine
nuts has been reported from several of our customers recently, as well
as numerous other cases discussed with other retailer product. Generally
what occurs (again, this is a naturally occurring phenomenon) after
eating the pine nuts is that a bitter, metallic taste can develop 1-3
days after consumption, and can last for days or weeks. However, while
very unpleasant, it does not represent any health concern. It is also
not linked to any sort of contamination, pesticides or heavy metals.
Some of the pine nuts involved in some of the cases reported were from
China, but this is not the case with all, and there is no conclusive
link to any particular species or source country.

Of course, we are offering our customers the option to return the item
for exchange or refund, and our most sincere apologies (eventhough it is
not as a result of any fault of ours–it’s nature!).

Thank you,

Nicki K.
Trader Joe’s
Customer Relations

If it’s nature – why has this only happened more recently – I think the earliest posting was 2002 wasn’t it? But more so NOW – ie since last summer. It’s easy to say
‘However, while very unpleasant, it does not represent any health concern.’
This is only because someone hasn’t been hospitalised as a result – they need to experience to understand what it’s like! People are feeling very ill due to this – sickness, nausea, headaches, lack of appetite – the responses are too flippent in my mind – it’s easy to dismiss it when you have no experience of it and they know from the complaints that they do get over it. Interesting that the lady at Asda Walmart – where I took mine back to wasn’t willing to try eating any……………

Very true, Elaine. Since my own episode several months ago, I’ve been looking at the pine nuts offered in the stores in my area. (many come from China)

I have to wonder though at the possible cause(s) of this strange symptom. Even though it seems there are increasing numbers of afflicted people, I’m surprised each time I read of groups of people eating pine nuts but only one or two actually experiencing any side effects. Clearly some of us are more susceptible than others. Why? Toothpaste? Other foods or chemical reactions? Besides the explanation given by some that it’s the Chinese nuts or the (improper) storage of our nuts I haven’t read anything here on these postings that we all have in common aside from the horrible taste.

Just an observation….

Could this be an interaction with certain medications some of us take?
Wierd how it affects some and not others who shared the same nuts!
I guess I won’t be having my favorite appetizer at BJ’s anymore. Avocado
eggrolls with pine nuts in them. Not worth the risk..

Maybe we should make our own investigations…………….are we all on meds? I take meds for rheumatoid arthritis…….What else do we have in common – maybe a new forum is needed?

I am not on any medications at all. Trader Joes pinenuts say that they are from Russia or Korea, when I checked this out…they are actually from China and packaged in Russia.

I’m wondering if we’re having an allergic reaction. I made pesto and served it to two other people. They were fine, but I got the bitter taste problem. I’m allergic to mold, dust, cats and some types of pollen.
The strange thing is that I’ve been eatting pinenuts for years and never had a problem before.

I am not on any medications and have no allergies, although wheat can be an irritant to me. (I co experience insomnia frequently.) I had purchased Chinese pine nuts from Costco on 2 previous occasions without problems. I always refrigerate all nuts. Last fall’s experience, combined with this blog and so many others, has convinced me to never try them again. Early on, I found a website that said Chinese people do not eat their variety in the ways we do. I was unable to find it yesterday.

I am not on any medication, and I believe my pine nuts were from our local grocer, Shoprite, and I never had a problem before using them very sparingly – about a tablespoon at a time – but when I ate them in a large quantity is when I had this experience. I have been following these blogs for a while since my incident was many many months ago. I have begun to keep all my nuts refrigerated since the oils spoil quickly, but I am tending to believe my incident was based on quantity. Anyway, my experience was drastic enough to make me give them up forever, no matter what the quantity!

i cant belive this..i just googled my symptoms too and realised that i had pine nuts for the first time ever two days ago…never again will i take the chance in eating them cause really! everything ive been eating tastes so so so bad!

I’m not on any medications either. No allergies that I know of. I agree with Diane in NJ in that I wonder if this is a quantity issue. I have never had problems before my episode but when I did have my problems I was eating handfuls over a period of two or three days. I haven’t dared to eat from the same bag or any other since that episode. Maybe it’s time to test….

Quantity was not my experience – I bought a tub of ’snack’ nuts and seeds. So at most there was no more than a dessertspoonful. The taste came 2 days after and lasted about 6 days in total. (4 really bad) I just ate a few, barely a 1/5 of the pot in total.

My wife and I have the same thing. I made some creamed spinach with pinenuts last week, symptoms didn’t arrive for a day or two later – it’s been driving us crazy. Good to know others haven’t been dropping dead from it. Yet. Our pinenuts were from Oregon btw, not China…

This is really amazing. I had pine nuts a few days ago that were very bitter. Extremely bitter in fact. I thought it was bad soup I put them in. The next day everything tasted bitter. I typed in “food tastes bitter symptom” and lo and behold confirmed its the pine nuts. Mine are not from Trader Joes however though I’ve bought them there before.

I guess I”ll be phasing them out because it’s not worth the trouble. Besides, they’re expensive!

Correction: My pinenuts were in fact a product from China, just distributed by Western Family out of Oregon.

I love Google. Mystery solved. It started with some homemade bean soup I made in the crock pot during the night. I tried it this morning early and thought I somehow messed it up. I then had to go out of town. While on the road, I had a noodle bowl for lunch and then had a weird bitter taste in my mouth after. Later, I had a coke and the same thing happened. I was really starting to worry. Before I headed back home I got a cup of coffee and a cookie and the same thing. I called my sister and asked her to google it. The first thing she asked was if I had eaten pine nuts. Sure enough, I had them (Trader Joe’s version not stored in the fridge) two nights ago in pasta sauce. I’m not allergic to anything and take no meds. I hope it goes away soon, but at least my soup could still be good. Thanks, everyone, for sharing.

Oh thank goodness, I was really wondering what was the matter with me, when everthing started tasting so bad after eating. I am an Aussie who eats pine nuts all the time, I have just returned from vaction to Hawaii where on my last meal there were a whole lot of those little suckers! Day 4 now and things are improving, lets hope those dodgy pine nuts don’t make their way down under!
Thanks eveyone for sharing your thoughts now I know I’m not going made.

Oh thank goodness, I was really wondering what was the matter with me, when everthing started tasting so bad after eating. I am an Aussie who eats pine nuts all the time, I have just returned from vaction to Hawaii where on my last meal there were a whole lot of those little suckers! Day 4 now and things are improving, lets hope those dodgy pine nuts don’t make their way down under!
Thanks eveyone for sharing your thoughts now I know I’m not going mad.

I thought this problem was from the new toothpaste I bought. Go figure huh? I bought my pine nuts at Trader Joes and will be returning them ASAP! My mouth feels like I have been sipping on syrup of ipecac all day. Yuck!! Good way to diet I guess…

My husband and I went RAW and we have had this horrible bitter taste in our mouths for over a week. I thought I did not rinse the soap off the dishes good enough or that the beet greens alkaloids were bitter and staying in us for a long time. I thought, “Gee, organic just doesn’t taste as good as it used to.” Then I thought, “Nope, it’s this olive oil.” So, I got rid of that. Then I decided to google, “I have gone RAW and my mouth is always bitter” and got this site. Bingo. Trader Joe Pine Nuts. One and a half bags in a week and a half. I don’t think it is just Trader Joe’s but any pine nut as I remember they kind of did that too me too when I was little. We would sometimes gather them off of the ground in New Mexico. I love Trader Joes BTW.

Thank you for posting….. I just made a recipe with Spinich/Mushrooms/Pine Nuts and the after taste is HORRIBLE. I am throwing my nuts away. Don’t eat them enough to miss them but probably won’t be eating them in the future.

Just read a bunch of other comments. My allergies are dust/mold/dogs/cats (still keep them around though cause I love em!) and have been taking xanax lately for stress. Maybe that’s it cause I don’t remember pine nuts causing me issues before. Anyone else?

I was doing some thinking and this bitter taste is similar to the taste of the supplement MSM which has a form of sulphur in it. Being a classical homeopath (homeopathy works on the basis of similarities) I decided I would suck on one pellet of homeopathic Sulphur 6c. It has helped. The bitterness is down by about 80%. I’ll try another one to see if I can get this to go completely away. That’s probably all I will need to take. Could be also that this just went away on it’s own….but, I don’t think so.

On Saturday I ate a small handfull of pinenuts (from China). On Monday i noticed the bitter after taste of everything except water and green tea. I have never heard of this happening before but i am now relieved to find im not alone. I just hope it does not last too long. Today is day 2 and i have a mild headache but its probably not related.

This applies to the previous comment. I am from Perth in Western Australia and i would love to know if anyone else in WA or Australia has had the same experience.

Onna: Please don’t through the pine-nuts away. Take them back to the store, even if the package is gone. They have to have lots of returns before they are convinced.

Anna: Thanks for the Homeopathic tip. How long had your symptoms been occurring?

(Strong Ginger Tea worked for me.)

Donna in Oregon and Steve
I had the taste in my mouth for over a week. I ended up not repeating the Sulphur 6c and I would say the bitter taste is about at 1%. I just let that initial dose keep working. My husband flew to London and SMSd me and said he still has the horrible taste at 100%. I didn’t think about the homeopathic sulphur when he was here. Dang!

Steve- I just moved from Australia and I ate a bag of pine nuts there a couple of months ago from the IGA and did not have this happen. That’s why I didn’t think anything of making the pesto out of a cup and a half of pine nuts.

I should have taken the nuts back to Trader Joes but I threw out the package and after this episode I threw out the nuts.

Bitter taste in mouth for two days I put it in google as I was concerned. WOW how weird. Ate pine nuts at a friends Sunday, the first time in years. The taste is horrid cant wait for it to go .UHU

Its 18.32 as I live in England

This is amazing! I’m so happy to know what it is!!! Just the other day I noticed a bitter taste in my mouth. I was about to throw several things in my refrigerator out, thinking something was wrong with the food…until I realized that EVERYTHING, even just swallowing the spit in my mouth tasted bitter. Now I know! For the first time in years, I started this week eating Pine Nuts. I mixed them up with some other nuts and made little snack bags for myself – but they are not refrigerated. Maybe they went bad. Whatever. All I know is I’m through with them! This bitter taste is horrible and I hope it wears off soon. I’m glad I decided to do a Google Search — Thank goodness for the internet!

April 8, while out at a very good restaurant, to celebrate my birthday with friends, I had an arugala salad that had pine nuts in it. I haven’t eaten any pine nuts for years. About 24 hours later everything tasted bitter. I was scared and googled and got scareder! Then I found this site and put it together. Ahhh! I don’t have cancer.
Thanks for all the info.

Well after 5 days it was 1% noticeable compared to previous. After 7 days its finally gone. I am so pleased I found this site.

I forgot to mention — I bought my pine nuts from Trader Joe’s. I threw away the package so I don’t know if they were from nuts from China or where.

I ate pine nuts on Friday (don’t think I’d ever eaten them before) at someone’s house. I think they’d been around a while. Since Sunday morning I have a bitter taste in my mouth. I was about to head off to the doctor, but after seeing this I’ll wait and see.

What would we do without the internet…?!

Thanks guys.

Ate Trader Joe’s pine nuts on Sunday. Bitter taste started on Monday. It’s late Wednesday now and everything still tastes awful!

I was eyeing the offending bag of pine nuts that I’ve saved for several weeks now in case the FDA wanted to test them (they have not responded to my e-mail inquiry), and wondered how many new reports there were here. My gosh, they keep pouring in! I have had no food allergies, take no meds, and before the awful recent experience had eaten pine nuts for 30 years with no reactions. Notwithstanding that people do not go into shock and eventually recover, the severity and duration of the symptoms suggest some sort of toxicity that even symptomless persons might do well to avoid. From all these reports, it sounds like some previously unharvested variety of pine nut, or contamination, and I hope the authorities get on it.

OH MY GOD!

I’ve had this bad taste in my mouth ALL day long… I googled to find out what is wrong with me and this site came up at the top. And guess what I ate yesterday? A heaping plate of pesto lasagna (filled with Trader Joes dry roasted pine nuts!).

After reading your post and many of the other comments, it seems that there have been many cases of this bad taste phenomena after eating our trusted Trader JoJo’s nuts.

I’m still reading through comments (I just felt the extreme need to comment after my sudden TraderJoes-pine-nut-epiphany) but I wonder what causes this? I don’t know, but I do know I will keep my distance with pine nuts for a while.

Some good news people….. it doesnt seem to happen every time. Its been a few months since I ate pine nuts as I wanted to avoid the unpleasant situation happening again, but at a friends place 2 weeks ago she made some fresh pine nut pesto to eat with crackers.
I ate quite a lot as it was very tasty – best news though is that I didnt get “pine mouth” afterwards!!!!! So pine nuts lovers out there, dont give up on them forever, it might not happen again

was going crazy with my breath feeling rancid and pukey with a stuffed nose on top of it and sinus headache. But each night this week I’d been eating a salad with pine nuts I’d found in the back of the fridge– haha, lucky me! -.-

My god I hope it finishes soon. I had the nuts on Monday, symptoms showed on Wednesday and now its Friday afternoon. My metalic fruit salad & honey was awful for lunch. I wonder if there has been anyone who has done the scientific research into this? I don’t really want to eat pine nuts again. If I hadn’t of found this blog, i would have been really worried.

Add me to the list. Yesterday, everything I ate tasted horrible. I made tacos for dinner and I could not figure out what tasted so horrible in it. Everyone else thought they tasted great. I was blaming the taco sauce, cheese, meat, my freshly gound cumin. I could not figure it out.

Then today, I get the same taste in my mouth. HMMMMM. Google to the resuce. I threw some pine nuts(toasted) on top of a tuna salad 3 days prior. They were Melissa’s brand pine nuts (from China, go figure). Brand new, just opened, stored in the refrigerator.

I have been eating pine nuts my enitre life with no problems ever. In fact a week ago I used a bag of toasted pine nuts for pesto and had no problem (I wish I still had the package). I will be calling Mellisa’s as soon as I step away from the computer. And refraining from eating for a few days I’m afraid. This is just GROSS.

As a follow up, I am not on any medication and I was the only one in the house to eat this particular batch of pine nuts. Part of me wants to get my jerk boybriend to eat some, but even I am not that cruel. LOL

Thank you so much for your posting! I too am experiencing this same problem. AND after eating Trader Joe’s pine nuts!!! Do NOT buy pine nuts at Trader Joe’s!

I have been suffering from the same problem. I was going crazy trying to figure out what was wrong with me. Finally found on Google that the horrible taste I have been experiencing could be pine mouth. Now I had to figure out where I had eaten them since I couldn’t recall eating whole pine nuts. Finally solved the mystery. I had purchased a bag of Mrs. Mays natural sesame snacks (manufactured in China) and the second ingredient is PINE NUTS! I have thrown the bag out and cannot wait for my taste to return to normal. I miss tasting my coffee and wine and will never eat pine nuts again.

I am very grateful for this forum. I bought some Pine Nuts last weekend (exactly a week ago) from Kroger, Product of China. I have been tossing them on my salad all week and got the onset of bitterness on Wed night. It got very strong today (Saturday) and I am HOPING this will go away soon. I have eaten Pine Nuts for years on occasion and have NEVER experienced this. China is so incredibly polluted, I can’t help but imagine it is a level of poisoning. . . I just wish I knew what poisoning it is and is this neurotoxic (?). . . It will be a long time before I have Pine Nuts again, and I will never buy them from China again. Even though this has not been pleasant, I have LMAO at many of the comments here! “metal ass mouth” and the guy who said he’d love to get stoned but even his dope tasted bad. OMG. And the person who decided to use Tomato Juice because it works to get skunk off dogs!! too funny . . . . cheers, peace out.

omg thank u for this posting! i got a bitter taste in my mouth when i was pregnant with my first child and i just gave birth to another little girl 3 months ago so when this bitter taste started 3 days ago i’ve been in a panic ever since!! i go in to get my tubes tied next week so i guess this will be my husband and i’s last scare! lol we ate pine nuts on our salad a couple nights ago and it was the first time in years ive had them. so i’m pretty sure seeing how thats my only symptom i ate bad pine nuts and not pregnant again! but i’ll laugh about this after my tubes are tied!

Returning to let everyone know something that works to alleviate the bitterness (but won’t make it go away). . . chewing gum. I’m sure many types will work, but I bought Cinnamon Altoids gum and it was a pleasant diversion from the rotten metal taste. I’m on day 7 and my taste is about 90% back to normal. Best of luck to everyone. Why doesn’t the news report this so we are not finding out after the fact. . . ?

gum worked for me as well. another thing that seemed to help when I went out to dinner (reluctantly) the other night was vodka! I had a dirty martini and it seemed to help a lot. I know vodka is known to help open the taste buds and it worked for me. not that i would drink vodka everyday to get through this horrible experience, even though it would make it more enjoyable my taste is pretty close to returning to normal as well, this whole nightmare started a week ago today.

I too am having the joys of pine nut mouth – I was excited that I finally had enough basil in my garden to make pesto whipped up a batch and generously put it through my freshly made pasta that night I have terrible cramps and the following day everything tasted metalic I am on my 4 day getting fed up now as I would actually like to eat something with out the taste being destroyed how can this be acceptable for so long you started this blog last year and still it continues?? I thought I had something terrible glad I googled it before going to the doctors – bless google and you!

I am experiencing the exact same problem. It hit me last night slightly and is absolutely horrible today. I had pine nuts (from Trader Joe’s) on Sunday night and in leftovers on Monday… won’t be buying those again. I have been boycotting food all day… but since everybody is saying it takes about a week to get over I guess I am just going to have to suck it up. Mint gum tastes terrible… but cinnamon works. I will try the vodka next!

I just sent this page of comments to Trader Joes.

Hi All, I’m convinced that there’s something going on with the pinenuts from China. I had pine mouth a couple months ago and I finally got up the courage to try what I think were Italian pinenuts. I went to a bakery this past Saturday, and everyone at my table was munching on macaroons toped with large elongated pinenuts. I had a hard time resisting, and ate one of the cookies. That was five days ago and I haven’t gotten pine mouth. I’m going to hunt down some Italian pinenuts and try them again.

Happy it came up in google after I typed in “bitter taste”. This was driving me crazy. I suspected the pine nuts but thought it sounded odd. Happened twice with Kirkland brand from Costco.

I also bought some pine nuts from Trader Joes and am experiencing the same thing. This kinda sucks.

I see Trader Joe’s listed on here by a lot of posters but I got a bag from Sam’s Club:

Amport Foods brand, “Product of China” booo China!

I ate 2 handfuls worth on salads a few days ago now everything food or drink-wise that goes in my mouth tastes like a burning tire.

It’s probably a subversive plot to take out the healthiest Americans… I’ll bet they’re marinated in mustard gas! o.O

JoeSixPack! LOL, “…my mouth tastes like a burning tire.”
That’s a perfect description!

i found your website after googling “all food tastes bitter.” because it has been tasting horrible after i ate… guess what… roasted asparagus with trader joe’s pine nuts. like days and days ago! i thought something was terribly wrong with me. glad to hear it’s temporary!

I just got it too. Crazy, but fun to know that there’s a club of us fellow victims/sufferers and comforting that it will go away soon.

Wow. I’m not dying! I have been suffering for 4 days (6 days after consumption). Thought for sure it was my new low carb high protein diet. This makes more sense. Thanks to all who posted! I purchased mine from Asda in Aberdeen, Scotland In January and have been kept in a cool place since then. I had no idea that they shoudl be kept refridgerated. (Dumb, but I really didn’t know). I’ll never eat them again. This is horrible! It’s like mercury at the back of my throat and the top of the back of the mouth. Nothing makes it better, except a cheeseburger. Go figure!

I’ve got it too- had pine nuts in pasta on saturday,next day horrible taste whenever I eat, whatever i eat but especially bad with sweet things and lasting quite a while after eating. Day 3 and counting. Yuk yuk yuk.

Thank you, that was extremely helpful! Pretty sure it was pine nuts in my case too!

Hey, do you realise you’ve been cited in the Journal of Medical Toxicology?!http://www.springerlink.com/content/cp0l08123277j3q4/fulltext.pdf
What do you bet that the ‘36 year old male physician’ described with pine mouth is the author? (M-D Munk)
Previous toxicologists to suffer described it in 2001;
http://journals.lww.com/euro-emergencymed/Fulltext/2001/03000/Taste_disturbances_after_pine_nut_ingestion.36.aspx
(m Mostin if link doesn’t work)

Wow, well someone took this seriously. (from New Mexico, so probably eats pine nuts more often than some of us further north). I’m still interested in figuring out why this happened and what can be done to prevent it happening again. I’m not brave enough to try two-three handfuls again soon, though (as someone a few weeks back reported doing).

I ate pine nuts on a salad in a restaurant last Saturday evening and developed metallic taste (and tingling in mouth and lips) on Monday. Was at it’s worst on Tuesday and most of Wednesday. It’s now Thursday and I am really pleased to say it’s getting better (sometimes bitter taste but generally bearable). Horrible experience. I am never eating pine nuts again.

Well, I’ll be damned… Wife and I have bad colds/bronchitis and have been popping guaifenisin pills like candy. Got the bitter taste for the last few days, and theorized it was the guai. since it’s an expectorant and presumably gets secreted along with the stuff it’s helping you get rid of. But I couldn’t find it listed as a side-effect–not even a rare one.

Then I stumbled upon this, and… hello! What have I been munching at my desk, after weeks of illness and with practically nothing else left in the kitchen? A big, honkin’ bag of Trader Joe’s pine nuts. I’d never have guessed there could be a connection.

They were lousy pine-nuts anyway, but now I have another great reason to avoid them.

I developed the same problem exactly a week ago. I bought the 4 oz bag of “Toasted Pine Nuts” from Trader Joe’s to sprinkle in my pasta w/ garlic, olive oil & fresh basil. Sure enough, the next day I noticed the funky taste in my mouth. It’s horrible! It’s really bad after consuming dairy products. I will *never buy pine nuts from Trader Joe’s again, that’s for sure!

I’m a little reluctant to say this in case its not true but….I think its gone!! 7 days. Fingers crossed. Every morning its been like groundhog day, wake up have sip of coffee, think it’s going to be ok and then after swallowing–AAARGHHH. Now tonight (I’m in UK) it feels different, I can’t remember it after dinner… pleeeaase let it be gone…..
Speedy recovery to all of you. I won’t be having pine nuts again.
Well ….maybe in pesto…

..well…here I am too…it all started 3 days ago…right after making homemade “pesto” for our pasta…ate pasta a couple of times…then one morning had a breakfast burrito …tasted like pure pepper…
I was starting to freak out a bit..coffee…cheese…everything tasted like bitters…since I take heart medicine…thought something was going haywire with the meds…
…sure glad I found this site…whew…going to wait and see if my taste buds get back to normal…before I meet the Grim Reaper…
…reminded me of a time when I was a teen…watching movies in a dark room…stuffing my face with cheese-its…turned on the lights…the box was full of black ants…they tasted like little pieces of pepper…ugh…so I went thru all my boxes of food…nope…those darn pine nuts..have to be the culprit…think my friend got them at a Safeway in Santa Cruz area…

I was going crazy trying to understand why I had this bitter, sour , mettaly taste in my mouth and my son googled it and found this . I had eaten pine nuts for 2 night in the row ,an handful of them , and they were from trader joe also

Darn, not gone.
and when I said pesto, it will be only ready made. not trusting any make of pine nuts , UK, US, Italy, China ..not worth it.

Lei from Santa Cruz- that was hilarious! ….

“reminded me of a time when I was a teen…watching movies in a dark room…stuffing my face with cheese-its…turned on the lights…the box was full of black ants…they tasted like little pieces of pepper…ugh…so I went thru all my boxes of food…nope…those darn pine nuts..have to be the culprit…think my friend got them at a Safeway in Santa Cruz area…”

It is quite remarkable to see how common this has been. I also consumed pine nuts from Trader Joes in Portland, OR (a few handfuls on a salad) and 2 days later developed the bitter taste sensation. I am at day 3 post-consumption and am still experiencing the same symptoms. I usually buy large quantities of pine nuts from Costco to make pesto but have never had any problems with these. I have noticed the bitterness is particularly noticeable following consumption of the following food items: granola, sweet chai tea, chocolate biscuits, breadsticks, broccoli, strawberries, red wine. Savory or salty foods do not seem to cause the symptoms to the same degree. Hoping it goes away soon!

OMG! I just ate a salad with a bunch of pine nuts on Wednesday. Yesterday I couldn’t get this horrible bitter almost metalic taste out of my mouth. Everything I ate, I started throwing my food away thinking the food in the frig went bad. But yes everything I eat tastes bitter!! Two days now and I’m still can’t eat or drink anything. I even drank sprite and it had no taste. It’s like it’s blocking the other taste buds. The pine nuts came from a publix brand jar, although I added an opened package of pine nuts that were about three weeks old to it. So I don’t know which pine nuts might have been rancid. All I know is that I’m not crazy thinking that I’m dying of cancer or that someone’s trying to poison me. I can’t wait for this horrible taste to go away. Even toothpaste tastes bad! Well good luck to all of you, but I think I will stay away from Pine nuts for a while.

..well…I’m here again…to let you know my “taster” is back to normal…took about 5 days…I’m slammin’ down everything I can to make up for the week of hell…especially threw back a couple of whiskeys…glad the “Grim Reaper” has to wait…

I googled “bitter taste in mouth” because I have been suffering from it for 3 days now. I came across your article and realized the pine nuts I have been eating were most likely the culprit. I bought “Melissa’s Pine Nuts” (Product of China) from Super Target last weekend. I’ve learned my lesson. Yuck!!!

I must say I’m amazed once more–this time at the steady stream of replies to this year-old blog post (guess I was signed up for email notifications by default). There really ought to be a PSA about something this wide-spread (”This is your tongue…This is your tongue on PINE NUTS! Any questions?”), or maybe even an FDA action.

I know the pine-nut vendors say that it’s all “natural” and not a health threat, etc–but having your sense of taste corrupted for up to 2 weeks is not a minor thing, and it isn’t what consumers are expecting…and there’s certainly no warning about it on the packet!

I had pine nuts from Trader Joe’s on Friday and the bitter taste started on Sunday everytime I ate. Today is Monday, I’m having lunch at my desk and decided to google it, since my sandwich is tasting very bitter. Bingo! It was the pine nuts from Trader Joe’s. Thanks for this article!

I purchased the same Trader Joes pine nuts and am having the same problem. How weird! Hope it isn’t serious like everyone seems to think, and will also go away sooner than later.

I never eat pine-nuts and was at a relatives house Saturday and ate 2 pine-nuts that tasted bitter so I figured they were rancid-since then I’ve had this bitter taste in the back of my mouth that will not go away-everything tastes bad-thank goodness I Googled it and found this because I suspected the the pine-nuts but doubted that the bitter taste would last this long after eating just two!
I will never eat them again that’s for sure!
This site really helped me feel like I’m not… hmm… ”nuts”!

Please, all you new victims; Take the nuts back to place of purchase, It is not just Trader Joe’s. It was Costco for me.

Even if you no longer have the receipt or the package, take them back. We still have to keep letting them know. Make sure other customers are around when you politely explain what is happening to thousands of people all over the world.

I live in UK. 10 days ago I ate a bag of Chinese pine nuts with my 28 month old son. 24 hours later and suddenly he just started screaming and saying his tummy hurt. He is hardly ever sick and has only vomited once before (healthy breastfed toddler!). Within an hour, he had a fever of 40 and was violently sick. The cramps continued for the next 12 hrs followed by his reactive refusal of all foods and liquids. I also developed stomach cramps, and then the foul bitter taste. I’ve still got it though toddler has just resumed normal eating. No other causes found.

What is going on? Given track record of poisons in Chinese goods, why is there not more happening?

I am so relieved to find an answer to the mysterious bitter taste in my mouth. Last week I bought dry-roasted pine nuts from TJs and made pesto. I’ve cooked with pine nuts for years but this is the first time I’ve had the bitter taste.

Thank you for this information!

I learned from a nut and dried fruit distributor that the reaction to pine nuts is not because of the quality, but an allergic reaction that many people have to tree nuts. He receives an e mail about once a month asking the same question about pine nuts. His response is don’t eat them if it happens to you. PS …. I love Trader Joes

I don’t agree. I have eaten pine nuts for years – often by the handful. Many people who have posted say the same – this has never hapened before.
It may be as Roger Hyam (http://www.hyam.net/blog/archives/60) says in his report that it is a different breed of the nut – a smaller version, but this many people in the world cannot be allergic – when they’ve not been before – and we’re the lucky ones! We know what’s happening by sharing this info – and thanks to everyone who has posted – but what about all the others – who havent yet discovered this site or what the cause of their quite scary symptoms are, and are seeking medical advice? Some serious investigations should be done – no-one ‘who matters’ seems to be taking it seriously. Because no-one has died and symptoms seem to go after about a week – they are saying ‘There is no health risk’………but do we REALLY know this?

To Jodi especially: I believe your fruit and nut distributor is incorrect. I have no allergies of any kind and this happened to me. Elaine in UK referred to an important article about this being a different variety of pinenut. I lost the link, but read somewhere that Chinese people do not normally eat these things.

Yep, trader Joe’s for me also. I got the nuts last week to make pesto this week. I love pine nuts and make pesto a few times a year..The nuts did not stay unopened. I bought them Friday and had a palm full of them. Sunday and Monday had the metallic taste. Had a spicy lunch on Tues and didn’t notice much of a bitter taste, just slightly,BUT silly me goes and eats another palm full of of nuts Tuesday and lucky me I have had the absolute worst metallic bitter taste in my mouth today. Much worse than Mon and Tues. I have no idea how long this will last. I will try the ginger. I did find on Mon I ate the mandarin oranges canned and they were the only thing that did not leave a bitter taste. Gonna eat them again tonight..I tried a lunch and it almost made me vomit the bitterness.
I will contact the FDA at the number I saw previously listed..404-253-1256 and give them my info. I am also going to contact Trader Joe’s and tell them whats up. Everyone needs to contact them as it seems they are the largest culprit here. I read earlier one person said they were told by Trader Joes that they no longer carried the nuts from China. Several have researched the Vietnam, Korea or Russia source and have found that the actual nut does indeed come from China. Well Trader Joes my bag says Vietnam, Korea or Russia, so I was assume you are wrong!
Other symptoms for me is I have been exceptionally nautious this week and have had stomach cramps. Maybe due to other things, but as I know myself, the timing is a bit odd! I love Trader Joes but they need to stop carrying these nuts from this source until its figured out by the FDA…Sucks, I love pine nuts, but I will not buy them any longer unless they are from a well known source that is not affiliated with Asia.

Curtis, I have to agree with Donna in Oregon that what you were told sounds like a cop-out. I have no known allergies. I’ve definitely never had an allergic reaction to pine nuts in any form before my episode last summer. (and I’ve been eating pine nuts and pesto since the ’80’s!) Something is up!

…Hi Curtis…got to agree with the gang…I have no allergies to any nuts….well maybe a few walkin’ around…but gotta say..I eat pesto pizza…and pesto in any way I can get it…and for 40+ yrs….so guess your distributor is covering his butt…my pesto in my fridge never did this…so definitely a bad batch out there…by the way…our pine nuts came from a Safeway in Santa Cruz…not TJ’s…

Hi all, I reported my encounter with this nasty syndrome in March, having eaten pine nuts for years, and with no history of any food allergies. The source was a Safeway in Northern California. I e-mailed the FDA through their website and just heard back today, directing me to these numbers, which victims in California may wish to call:

“You can file a complaint with the FDA complaint coordinator that handles CA by contacting California (Northern)–(510) 337-6741 or California (Southern)–(949) 608-3530.”

I don’t think the symptoms are trivial, and are certainly not an allergy. I’m not a doctor, but the experiences reported here more likely suggest to me a neurotoxin, possibly from fungus, mold or insect contamination. I don’t think testing for heavy-metals or pesticides alone is enough to dismiss the phenomenon as “harmless.”

Thanks Michael for the good information. What I love about this blog is that everyone is so helpful and civilized.

I hope someone who still has some of these rancid pinenuts will contact their local news station, that has an Help/Action reporting segment. It would be interesting to have a News Station have an independent laboratory do an analysis and subsequent report on these nuts, to see if any [bad?] chemicals were added to them (by who knows who?) and what if any side effects (immediate and future) could be expected as a result of eating them.

Or better yet send them to Dr. Oz’s show for them to do lab analysis and a segment of the show about Purveyors of Putrid Pinenuts!
What do you think Dr. Oz?

…Cy…best idea yet…wish I still had the nuts…if you do…oughta do it…and include this “Pinch My Salt” site for back-up…some great ideas out there…

Thanks guys,
I’m on my second week of bitter mouth taste and was getting ready to setup an appointment with my doctor. I had never eaten pine nuts until a recipe called for it and then I purchased it from….Trader Joe’s!!! Well thanks to you I now know the cause. I still have half of the bag but will not be having any more.

I too am suffering with pine mouth. In doing some research I found a comment suggesting the bitter aftertaste was a result of combining pine nuts with citrus–apparently triggering some sort of liver cleansing action and the taste is related to that. I have no medical background and can’t confirm any of this, however, I did drink two orange and lemon drinks mixed with mineral water at the same meal I consumed the pine nuts. Did anyone else combine citrus with the pine nuts?

OMG, I can’t believe I found this posting, and more amazingly that there are soooo many people who have had the same experience. I hardly ever eat pine nuts, but sure enough a couple of days ago I had a bunch. Did not combine with citrus, though. My GF ate the same exact meal, and she has no such symptoms. I’m thinking that there’s a genetic component.

Hi Brian…you know…it is kind of weird…I asked my friend if she still had the pine nuts that gave me the problem…she says…Nope ! …I ate the rest of them…so what’s up with that…how come some of us are affected…and other’s skate by with no symptoms?

I had pesto from Costco (their Kirkland brand) on Sunday night. Monday evening, I poured a glass of red wine and almost spit it out. It tasted horrible, bitter. Thought it was a bad bottle. We went to dinner at a pizza place and I noticed then that the same bad taste was in my mouth while eating pizza and drinking another glad of chianti that I knew was good. So I’m very relieved to know the cause. Don’t know if the pine nuts in the costco pesto comes from any particular place, but it sounds like their pine nuts come from China so maybe their pesto does too. Anyway, I hope this goes away soon. The bummer is we’re headed to a five star restaurant tonight.

I’ve eaten pine nuts for years, make pesto every week in the summer — keep them in the fridge and generally buy them in bulk from Whole Foods and never had a problem.

Will try the ginger with hopes I can enjoy food this week — my niece get’s married on Friday, so bummed nothing is tasting good

Lei and Brian, I think it is a matter of susceptibility kind of like what we see with some people who eat asparagus and have smelly urine while others aren’t affected.

“Asparagus, a green vegetable belonging to the lily family, has one notorious side effect for some diners who eat enough of it. Within a half-hour of asparagus consumption, some people notice their urine has acquired a very pungent odor, often compared to rotting cabbage, ammonia or rotten eggs. The effects of asparagus on urine are generally fleeting and harmless, but it’s not necessarily the consumer’s finest hour, bodily excretion-wise.
The good news is that asparagus does not affect everyone. Studies conducted on the “asparagus urine” phenomenon (aren’t you glad you didn’t volunteer!) indicate that roughly 40 to 50 percent of those tested developed the distinctive odor. Surprisingly enough, there is also a segment of the population who cannot smell the sulphurous fumes of asparagus-laced urine. It is believed that both the generation of the odoriferous urine and the ability to smell it are based on genetics. Only those with a certain gene can break down the chemicals inside the asparagus into their smelly components, and only those with the proper gene can smell the results of that chemical breakdown.

Scientists are still not entirely sure which set of chemical compounds contained in asparagus actually cause the smelly pee. The stalks themselves do not acquire a similar odor as they are prepared, so whatever happens most likely happens after ingestion. Experts believe that those with a certain gene produce a digestive enzyme which breaks down the asparagus into various chemical compounds. One of those compounds is called methyl mercaptan, which is the same chemical which gives a skunk its defensive smell. One theory suggests that asparagus breaks down quickly in the body and an enzyme releases methyl mercaptan, which eventually goes through the kidneys and is excreted as a waste product in the urine.

Others suggest that the asparagus smell is created by other chemical compounds called thioesters. There is also a compound called asparagusic acid, which is not surprisingly found primarily in asparagus. If these compounds are broken down and mixed with the genetically-created enzyme, the results could be a strong smelling urine. This smell is actually considered to be good news, since it proves that the asparagus eater’s kidneys are functioning as they should.”

Lei and Brian, I think it is a matter of susceptibility and kind of like what we see with some people who eat asparagus and have smelly urine while others aren’t affected.

“Asparagus, a green vegetable belonging to the lily family, has one notorious side effect for some diners who eat enough of it. Within a half-hour of asparagus consumption, some people notice their urine has acquired a very pungent odor, often compared to rotting cabbage, ammonia or rotten eggs. The effects of asparagus on urine are generally fleeting and harmless, but it’s not necessarily the consumer’s finest hour, bodily excretion-wise.
The good news is that asparagus does not affect everyone. Studies conducted on the “asparagus urine” phenomenon (aren’t you glad you didn’t volunteer!) indicate that roughly 40 to 50 percent of those tested developed the distinctive odor. Surprisingly enough, there is also a segment of the population who cannot smell the sulphurous fumes of asparagus-laced urine. It is believed that both the generation of the odoriferous urine and the ability to smell it are based on genetics. Only those with a certain gene can break down the chemicals inside the asparagus into their smelly components, and only those with the proper gene can smell the results of that chemical breakdown.

Scientists are still not entirely sure which set of chemical compounds contained in asparagus actually cause the smelly pee. The stalks themselves do not acquire a similar odor as they are prepared, so whatever happens most likely happens after ingestion. Experts believe that those with a certain gene produce a digestive enzyme which breaks down the asparagus into various chemical compounds. One of those compounds is called methyl mercaptan, which is the same chemical which gives a skunk its defensive smell. One theory suggests that asparagus breaks down quickly in the body and an enzyme releases methyl mercaptan, which eventually goes through the kidneys and is excreted as a waste product in the urine.

Others suggest that the asparagus smell is created by other chemical compounds called thioesters. There is also a compound called asparagusic acid, which is not surprisingly found primarily in asparagus. If these compounds are broken down and mixed with the genetically-created enzyme, the results could be a strong smelling urine. This smell is actually considered to be good news, since it proves that the asparagus eater’s kidneys are functioning as they should.”

I am so grateful for these posts because my bitter taste/pine nut story is like so many I just read. I made pesto this weekend (with pine nuts from Trader Joes Bakersfield, Ca) and of course ate some of the left over roasted nuts by themselves. A few days later food started tasting bitter and then a lingering bitter taste. As it persisted I started researching causes–I would have never associated the two things without this site. I’m so relieved to have an explanation and not worry about possibly having had a strange chemical exposure or something.

Got my “Pine Mouth” from Hummas mixed with pine nuts, sampled some at ShopRite and it was soo good I baught 2, and ate most of one at work. Now 2 days later I have this metalic taste in my mouth. Thank you all, I now know I’m not pregnant or dying.

Trader Joe’s should be ashamed! Ate pine nuts from that store at my friend’s house, and got this terrible flavor. Prior to this, ate pine nuts from a co-op all the time, and never had a problem like this. Trader Joe’s is selling Rancid cheap food to maximize profits. Everyone should prioritize their health and well-being and abandon this ugly corporation! Find or start a co-op in your neighborhood! As for Trader Joe’s, They are asking for a class action law suit. It has been over a year since this article came out, and they continue to poison us with their rancid products!

I hope Lulu signed up to this blog. It is not just Trader Joe’s. It is Chinese pine nuts.
Mine were from Costco. They were sold at many retail outlets. Joe’s and Costco just happen to be huge. They should all be ashamed for continuing to sell these things, but it is our duty to let them know with calls and letters and returned products how widespread this problem is.

I had a few pine nuts on a homemade pizza Sunday and Tuesday started experiencing the nasty bitter taste after eating.

Our pine nuts were labeled “David Lewis Orchards” but on the back say “COD China – mfg. in a plant that may use sulphur dioxide, peanuts, other nuts, dairy, soy & wheat.”

I am allergic to sulfa drugs (e.g., the antibiotic bactrim makes me break out in hives) and given the label warning wonder if there is a connection. Is there some sulpha product being used in the Chinese processing of pine nuts that triggers a reaction in people sensitive to sulpha? Apparently about 3% of people are allergic to sulfa:

http://allergies.about.com/od/medicationallergies/a/sulfa.htm

Trader Joe’s doesnt carry any products from China

I have this pine nut issue as well. Switch from soy nuts to pine nuts for some varitey in salads. Does anyone have a remedy to cover up or remove the aftertaste?

Wow, so relieved to figure out why I’ve been having this bitter/metallic taste at the back of my throat every time I eat or drink something for the past few days. Last weekend I made a pasta salad with lots of pine nuts and I enjoyed the leftovers for the next couple of days, then started getting the symptoms. Oddly, I also woke up with an occular migrane this morning and was astounded that you said you got a headache as well. I was really getting worried that something more serious was going on, but thanks to unearthing this information I now feel comfortable waiting it out a few more days. Thank you!

Sixth day into my eating of pine nuts and still getting that awful taste. If truly no health risk, pine nuts could definitely be on the menu to lose weight for food addicts as NOTHING TASTES GOOD!!!

I too am suffering with this ‘pine mouth’! I bought some pine nuts from Asda supermarket, ad have had this bitter metallic taste after-eating for a couple of days. Im drinking aloe vera juice to try and get rid of it!

Trader Joe’s pine nuts (Pasadena area) are the only ones I buy and this has happened to me twice now in the last year. Yuck.

Thank god for this blog! I recently bought a small bag of bulk pine nuts for a “make your own pizza night” with the kids on a Friday. My individual pizza was loaded with them, and I had been popping a small had full as a snack all weekend thinking at $23.00 a pound I was indulging in a super cool treat just for me. Well by noon on Sunday I suddenly had this horrible taste in my mouth that I could not get rid of. I’m horrified that I’ve got dragon breath to go with it so I’m on the gum and mint kick, but even super minty gum taste bad. I hope it resolves it self quickly. For now it’s working pretty well as a wait loss program because even snack foods taste like crud and it seems to be “enhanced” by eating or drinking anything. I’ll be pounding water all day in hopes to flush it out of my system and tossing my left over pine nuts tonight.

I just paid $26 a pound at Whole Foods for the pine nuts that gave me this bad taste. I love pine nuts and this has never happened to me before. I hope this goes away soon. It’s ruining all my meals.

Hi to all the new victims out there. Please don’t throw out the nuts. Take them back and make a polite fuss, even if you did not save the receipt. I printed out parts of this blog and gave it to the manager at Costco.

I had ‘pine nut mouth’ about 8 mos. ago and found this site.
It lasted about a week and was from a salad at a restaurant.
I sent an e-mail to let them know ,but I’m sure restaurants overlook
this kind of situation due to buying in bulk or they thought I was nuts.
Anyway just last week I had a very mild type of pine mouth but had not eaten
pine nut foods of any kind, Won’t do that again! I racked my brain to figure
out what it was and all I could come up with was the Crest white strips
I had been using the last 4 days could be expired. The box was gone and I
had no date. Well I know they had been around awhile. It’s was mild but all the same symptoms. Old peroxide perhaps? strange….. A.

Another victim (I think, since I just started looking into this). My wife made a strawberry crumble for dessert Saturday night with pine nuts from Union Market in Park Slope. Sunday I was fine, but yesterday and today I’ve had the persistent metallic, sour, medicinal taste in the back of my mouth. Like when you dry swallow a pill. Only occurs when I eat or drink ANYTHING. Trying to see if anyone else who had the dessert has similar symptoms.

Clarence, my Pine Mouth issue is exactly the same as yours. My first serving of pine nuts was on a Friday night, a few hand fulls followed on Saturday, and on Sunday while shopping at Sam’s Club around lunch time, I ate a sample of a cheese ravioli and instantly got this horrible medicine/disinfectant/bitter/yuck mouth taste in my mouth. At first I thought it was from the sample food, but the taste would not leave my mouth all day and every time I ate or drank something it seemed to be “reactivated”. It’s getting better but is still a problem on Tuesday. My close friends insure me that my breath doesn’t stink so I guess I’ll just press on and pound fluids and hope to wash it away.

I m having a bad taste at the rear of my mouth everytime i eat or drink anything even water or coffee its drivingt me crazy have had it for about 2 days now . I ate pine nuts 4 days ago but only a hand full not even that much. thank you all for your stories.

A way to stop the taste as much but not completely is to brush the back of your tongue , cleaning it as good as possible has given me a bit of relief. Please anyone try it I would like to hear your feed back cheers

Me too! Pine nuts from Trader Joe’s just like a few other posts. My husband and daughter ate the same dish but didn’t have any taste disturbance, but I munched them from the bag while I was cooking.

thank you blogger and thank you the universe for google! i have been experiencing the bitter taste in the back of my mouth for several days-and not feeling so great either. ( wondering if there is a connection) sure enough, I made a big batch of pesto with my TRADER JOE”S pine nuts. It’s curious, because I noticed this particular bag the nuts were much smaller and when I opened the bag I could smell the scent of pine. I had never smelled that before and I use a lot of pine nuts.
My lymph nodes are very swollen and I did have a headache but, like I said, this could be a coincidence.
I will definitely bring back my bag to Trader Joes and give them this URL. They need to pull these off the racks. My daughter works there and I’ll make sure they hear about it. I know they had changed who they were buying pine nuts from because they were responding to concerns about Chinese pine nuts. The bag I bought said they were a product of Korea. I live in Arizona.

What a deterrent to eating! My pine nuts were also Trader Joe’s from Korea,Russia or Vietnam. They were just purchased at the TJ’s near LAX and brought to me here in Florida the next day. I used all the basil out of my garden to make pesto and now this! yuck. My husband and I both are suffering from pine nut tongue. The pine nuts I have been using from my local market are from China and they didn’t have this affect on either of us. Twice the price of Trader Joes’ , but who cares?
Pesto is great made with toasted pecans and much cheaper – so guess who is giving up pine nuts? You got it! I have tried a lot of others spices to try to offset this and nothing has worked – tried chili oil, avocado, tumeric, garlic, parsley, arugala (yIkes, that one was bad) and chocolate mint from my garden which was pleasant – am eating it now but the bitter is slightly coming through.

I did talk with the manager at my Trader Joes and he mentioned that the FDA is looking at a recall of some pine nuts-not because they are toxic but for taste reasons. I bet this is the reason. I urge all of you to make it a point to discuss this with the store you bought them in-if enough of them are returned they will do something about it.
I gave them a note with this URL on it so they could see for themselves.
Today I still have the taste but it is getting better.
Did anyone have any other symptoms-headach, swollen lymph glands or general muscle ache or fatigue?

It’s basil season again here in the Pacific Northwest. I have just harvested some basil and started thinking of making pesto. I decided to buy a few pine nuts from my local store to test them out before making pesto with “tainted” nuts. I’m happy to report that these nuts are labeled to have come from the US and that I had no metalic taste after eating a handful!!! I’m so happy!!!

All of this makes me wonder (yet again) what it is that sets off this phenomenon. I’m buying from the same store, I swear the sign said US nuts last year….
Are there more of us brave souls who have tried pine nuts again now that summer (and pesto season) are here again??

Nancy……………I hope you don’t get hit again but it takes a couple of days remember……………?! You’re braver than most of us – wouldn’t want to go through that again!

Hi again,

I returned both packages I had in the freezer that I had eaten from to Trader Joe’s. They are taking this very seriously. They refunded my money and sent me a small gift card. They took notes about the complaint and said they would keep me posted on the investigation. I didn’t realize how expensive pine nuts are! More than $7 a package! The Barefoot Contessa has a fabulous recipe for pesto with walnuts and pine nuts. I wonder if you could make it with only walnuts.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/pesto-recipe/index.html

I would be interested to know where/what the USA source for pine nuts is.
I never had the bitter taste problem with pine nuts from China but apparently others have.
I’m switching to other nuts for my pesto…actually I tried salted roasted cashews once when I was totally desperate-wow! talk about good.

I find that walnuts only are okay but the flavor isn’t as complex. The roasted quality of the pine nuts is what gives it such a nice flavor and it is the kind of nut that they use in Italy.

We’ve been making pesto with cashew nuts instead of pine nuts. Since my experience not a single pine nut has passed my lips – I’ve picked them out of a couple of salads I ordered that didn’t mention they had pine nuts in them. I NEVER want to go through that again!

Try making pesto with toasted pecans. Slightly toasting them brings out the flavor. I have also used walnuts but agree with Carol about the fullness of flavor. Both good, but I prefer the pecans. Will take her suggestion and try cashews next time. It’s been a week and the bitterness is leaving my tongue, but it is still sore and raw. Ouch.

Now four days since I had the first handful of pine nuts. Had a second handful two days ago. No bad taste. Either the pine nuts are different this year or I’m different this year…. (bought them at the same store). Something’s different!!

Trader Joe’s near LAX has pulled the pine nuts off the shelves. Maybe all TJ’s have? Anyway we got our money back with lots of apologies. It has been 2 weeks and my mouth is still dry and somewhat metallic. My tongue soreness is finally going away so hopefully my tastebuds will be back to normal soon.

I live in NJ, and purchased store brand pine nuts from my local Shop Rite for a recipe I made that night (Thursday). Symptoms appeared the next evening – the cherries I had been enjoying for several days tasted terrible. I chucked them out. Bitter and metallic taste continued all weekend, pizza tasted awful, white wine was like lighter fluid, and I was convinced I had some scary disease. Luckily I discovered what it was yesterday, I checked my packaging, it says MADE IN USA. I called my store and this morning the manufacturer returned my call, and he says the nuts came from China and I am the third person to complain about this and he wants a picture of the packaging b/c it’s incorrect.

I called the FDA, they seem unconcerned, they say it’s allergies. B-S! I’ve been enoying pine nuts for years (usually in restaurants, I rarely buy them) and I’ve never had this problem.

Gargling salt water before I eat seems to abate the bitter taste, but it comes back 10-15 minutes after I finish eating.

Two times I have had the bad taste in my mouth. I didn’t realize unti the 2nd time that it was the damn PINE Nuts fromTraders. Beware Pine Nuts from Traders will do this. I went today and they are nut on the shelf anymore..

I had never heard of this before until yesterday. Everything I ate was bitter, at first I thought it may have been a change in the oil used by the restaurant; but then EVERYTHING was bitter. I asked my sister-in-law if the food was bitter and she was experiencing the same thing, but not just about the restaurant’s food, but also everything. I ran some searches online and found some articles are pine nuts…bingo! We both had pine nuts one day prior. I buy pine nuts all the time and never had any problems until the last batch that I bought at Trader Joe’s.

“pine nuts turn rancid quite quickly”. i guess i should have read this instead of eating a singe trader joe’s pine nut (probably 8 months old) two days ago, which has ruined all my food experiences today! thanks for solving my mystery though, i never would have guessed.

Mystery solved! Thank you for posting this. Like many others here, I thought there was something wrong with me. I made pesto w/ pine nuts from Trader Joes, which I had stored in the freezer for several months. They tasted fine and I toasted them before putting them in the pesto. It took 3 days for the “Pine Mouth” symptoms to begin after eating the pesto. It’s now been 1-1/2 days that I’ve had this acrid taste on the back of my tongue. I will contact Trader Joes about this.

I just had a friend that had the pine nut problem and cured hers with vinegar! She rinsed in pure vinegar, and the problem was cured! Try ig…

So I just got a bag of mixed nuts, and decided to treat myself and got some Pine Nuts to add to the mix. I often bought Pine Nuts from Save-on-Foods with no problems, however this time I was shopping at The Great Canadian Superstore. Unfortunately they are known for poor quality goods, but I thought hey, they’re just nuts right? I have had this completely awful taste in my mouth for several days and will now be rinsing my mouth with vinegar, if not I’m going to go buy a Ginger root tomorrow!!!

Thank goodness I found this, because i was starting to wonder what the heck was wrong with me. Everything tastes bitter and I’ve been sucking on Tic Tacs like crazy to try and combat it. I made pesto with Trader Joe’s pine nuts this past week, so I’m guessing that is the cause. I cannot wait for this horrid taste to go away.

I’m in the UK and noticed the taste in my mouth right after a meal I made with pine nuts on Friday night. My friend who i also cooked for is fine though. I had also forgotten i had pine nuts in a restaurant salad Friday lunch, and in a Pret salad on Thursday, as well as Weds night having pesto and pine nuts in a meal… I don’t normally eat so many, although I’ve eaten them for years, but i hadn’t noticed I had been having them most of the week as it was in small doses here and there! By Saturday the aftertaste after eating was quite pronounced. It’s Day 3 (now Monday) and I think it’s diminishing slightly but it pretty foul. I got worried so Googled Bitter taste in mouth after eating and found this blog yesterday! I’m in Bristol in the UK and having called in on a couple of health food stores today to find a remedy, I found one of their staff had Pine Mouth a couple of weeks ago – but hers lasted 3 weeks! I hope it goes faster than that! Another shop served a lady recently too who tried Zinc for the Pine mouth taste disturbance as it’s supposed to balance out the taste buds or something.Not sure about that. I’m trying the Ginger remedy that Donna in Oregon above mentions – with root ginger, and also chewing on Crystallised Stem Ginger. Hope it works! Anyone with any other UK related incidents be interested to hear!

Wow! I am SO happy to have found this site- I thought there was something wrong with me. I have been making pesto the past several days and using pine nuts- from China. I love pesto so much I can eat it with a spoon. I just called our co-op and they are going to look into this. I have never had this happen before- I am thankful for everyone’s comments!!

Thank you so much ~ I started freaking out this afternoon after a few days of everything tasting so bitter and awful, and yes, I started eating Kirkland pinenuts purchased from Costco (produced in China) late last week. That must be it. You know, I never purchase any food items made in China anymore, but noticed the “product of China” label on the bag after eating some and thought “Oh, come on… a few pinenuts from China aren’t going to kill you.” Well, that’s it… NO more food purchases from China, period.

Kristen, it’s not just the China pine nuts as you can see by all the posts. My China pine nuts were fine – it was the multi country Trader Joe;s nuts that got to a lot of us.

I too am in the UK and relieved if not somewhat dismayed to find pine nuts being the culprit. I bought mine from Morrisons and they don’t specify a country of origin but I have never had a oine nut reaction until now. It was two days later when I had a sandwich from M&S which i thought was off, then a cup of tea which tasted bitter. Another cup of tea later led me to the assumption it was my brand of tea but then we went to dinner at a friend’s last night and her tea tasted bitter also. I was offered a glass of red wine which just compounded the problem and i concluded it must be tannin related. When i got home I googled my symptoms and discovered the pine nut problem. I am relieved in particular because I had cancer last year and during the chemotherapy was warned that a vile taste in the mouth could be a side effect. I was going to contact my oncologist until i came upon this blog and realised that those innocent looking nuts were the culprit. I haven’t found anything to relieve the symptoms but drinking water between mouthfulls of food seems to neutralise it temporarily. I am trying salted rice cakes which don’t seem too bad but have yet to find anything which doesn’t tast like it’d been doused in hairspray! I will try some extra strong chewing gum and post again if it turns out to have any benefits. Not sure if there is any point taking my pine nuts back to Morrisons but I will keep checking back on this site to see if anyone comes up with anything that might help

To Sarah in UK, It is very important to take the pine nuts back to the store, even if you have no receipt. If everyone who had this problem made the connection, and returned the culprits to the store, there would be the beginning of awareness into how widespread this problem is. Also, I suggest reading through this blog’s archive. A few people had remedies. Ginger Tea worked for me. Recently someone was very positive about vinegar. If I ever find myself with pine nut disorder again, I will try the vinegar.
(Wine and sugary foods tasted worst to me last November.)

Adding Cosentino’s in San Jose to the list of grocery stores selling this “bitter” brand of pine nuts. I thought at $40/lb they could do better job in sorting them out.
Bitter taste is really annoying, but… hey, on the bright side, already lost couple inches from my waist.
Regarding antidote for biterness: Looks like the cream of asparagus soup relived symptoms for couple hours.

Me too! Trader Joe’s purchased, freezer stored, but alas, the bitter mouth. I’m a dental hygienist and had an armory of horrible medical conditions dancing thru my head and began to worry about all the salmon i eat (mercury?) Boy, this site turned the light on! Thanks so much, i’ll try the vinegar, ginger, asparagus soup etc., and return the pine nuts.

I just took a bag of pine nuts back to TJ’s, along with a printed article about “pine mouth”. The manager accepted the return, but said that the problem was only with nuts from China, and that is why that had not been available in the store for such a long time. My package listed the origin as Korea, Russia or Vietnam & I told the manager that they are definitely in the BAD category too. Now I have just read posts from A YEAR AGO from people who got pine mouth from TJ’s nuts from these exact same countries – NOT CHINA. How is this possible? I would be SO disappointed to have to QUIT SHOPPING AT TRADER JOE’S!!
Are there any theories about why only certain people are affected? Could it be a blood-type thing? I’m O positive, for whatever it’s worth.
I’m on day 3 of this nonsense, but I’m going to ignore the bitter taste of a cocktail now anyway…

I had the EXACT same pine nuts as you from Trader Joes. “product of korea, russia or vietnam”
The only thing that tastes vaguely normal is green tea. Sadly I can’t live off of it.
Thanks for reporting this!

Six months ago, I had “pine mouth” from pine nuts I purchased from Trader Joes. The package listed the origin as Korea, Russia or Vietnam. I had stored the nuts in my cupboard and they were open for about 4 months over the winter. Last week I found some pine nuts from Turkey at my super market. I took them home and ate two. The next day I was fine. I got up the courage to make some pesto. I had a large portion of pesto pasta with fresh basil from my garden, and guess what? NO “pine mouth”!!! From now on, I’m only going to eat pine nuts from Turkey and possibly Italy. I’m curious if others have had the same experience. I purchased the Turkish pine nuts from Market Basket in Westford, MA. They are made by Great Lakes International Trading Company and are called Mediterranean Pine nuts- $5.99 for 4 ounces.

Cindy,

A while back I read that the nuts from Korea, Russia or Vietnam are really the Chinese variety of Pine Nut, but they are just packed in those other places.

I have not eaten any pine nuts at all since last November.

Man, I thought I was going crazy! I Googled “bitter taste in mouth” today, after almost two days of a bitter taste taste that gets worse when I eat or drink. This was one of the first things that came up, and I was astounded–we just had pine nuts on a home-made pizza the night before I noticed the taste. First time I’ve had pine nuts in months, maybe years, and this happens. They weren’t from Trader Joe’s, but they were from a similar style of market–I wonder what’s going on.

Well, I’m super-relieved it’s not a tumor. I hope it goes away–my special weekend project was going to be making amaretto truffles, but I’ve been putting it off, because there’s not much point in making sweets if they’re going to taste like soap!

OMG !!! I have had this terrible bitter taste in my mouth suddenly and would never have connected it to the pine nuts I had a few days ago. I never eat them so don’t have a history with them but thank you all !!

pine nuts from the bulk bins at whole foods which I believe to be the culprit of bitter mouth for me. organic, but its hard telling where they r from. Im going to try the tomatoe juice as mentioned above, and see if its helpful.

Wholefoods Dallas bulk bins here too. Made pesto and had a few handfuls and still have the taste 5 days later. So bizarre, I thought it was related to recently purchased vitamin D!

Has dr oz acknowledged this at all???? Just got over worst 10 days of my life!I will never eat pine nuts again!!!!!!!!

I ate organic (and very pricey) pine nuts allegedly fresh from an upstate NY farm 48 hours ago and am in the midst of this…wondering how long it will last. Good to know I’m not alone. Good luck to everyone.

I don’t think the issue here is rancidity. Usually you can tell when a nut is “off”. Does anyone know? From what I have heard it is just a different kind of pine nut.

I agree with you Carol, I don’t think the issue is rancid nuts, but I don’t know what it is! Quantity consumed?? Other foods in combination with pine nuts??

So I ate some pine nuts yesterday. At first I was like, “hey these pine nuts taste funny.” After looking at the packaged date, I realized it was because they were way too old to be eating. So I threw them away and thought nothing more of it. This morning I woke up with to this bitter taste in my mouth that wouldn’t go away. I’ve brushed my teeth like half a dozen times and rinsed my mouth out with mouth wash a few times. So obvisously I googled it and here I am. The issue definitely was that the nuts were rancid. Does anyone know how to get this taste out of my mouth??

I posted earlier but I know it is difficult to filter through all the comments. However, this happened to a friend of mine and she got rid of the taste with vinegar. She rinsed her mouth several times using vinegar. Try it to see if it helps…..

I have had this problem for three days and it was getting to the point this morning where I literally couldnt eat anything because of the bitterness afterwards. However, I think I might have finally beaten my tastebuds into submission with some seriously strong mouthwash, about ten of the sourest sweets I could find and not eating anything other than spicy food all day. It now seems almost back to normal already! Good luck to anyone else with this ailment, its truly horrible!!

Today is the third date after eating pinenuts from Trader Joes. On Saturday, I made a nice roasted vegetable orzo salad with pinenuts as a topper. I noticed the bitter, sour taste in my mouth yesterday, and today it seems worse. Truly a bizarre experience, especially since I’ve been eating pinenuts for years. I’m bringing them back to TJs.

I am so happy I found your blog as well! Couldn’t believe I wasn’t being a hypochondriac! I’ve never had a problem eating these nuts before- used to work in an Italian bakery and ate yummy pignoli cookies all the time and love them in salad.Guess there’s a first time for everything… Ate pine nuts in my salad on a Saturday and Sunday morning everything tasted horrible! Thought it was the cinnamon stick in my tea, but all day the taste was in the back of my throat. It’s been four days now and the bitterness is still there. Hope it’s gone soon!

Thank god for the internet. I have, quite literally, been tearing my hair out. I had pine nuts following a health kick for the first time about four days ago. I made my husband try them – and he only had a few – and my 12 year old probably had 1 or 2. Admittedly, I substituted a meal for a bag of these nuts, but they have ruined my last week. Everything tastes bad, particularly after I eat anything, although it’s a bit better if I eat satsumas. Coffee tastes rancid, and dairy products; good god, vomit time. But, at least I know that my husband’s attempts at diagnosis were incorrect; we had cancer, pregnancy ( all of us, including him – and my 12 year old!) and various other things he’d never heard of. Thankfully, I’m on the satsumas and off the pinenuts …. forever. Cheers for the help.

Thanks so much, this is my 4th bitter mouth day and I was starting to freak out. I did have pine nuts in a batch of pesto I made and the nuts were from Trader Joe’s. First time this has ever happened. I wish there was a way to neutralize the bitter taste but I’m glad it’s not something that will last forever.

Curtis, regarding a previous post…The pine nuts from Trader Joe’s do come from China. I still have my bag and they did indeed come from China..They are just packaged in other countries. I submitted a detailed complaint to Trader Joes in June about this issue and why on earth they still carry the nuts. (they have rec’d numerous complaints ) Well no comment. I will no longer shop there as I must simply question their practice of quality control. Esp since most of the products they obtain come from other countries…and yes, CHINA! I am consciously trying not to purchase anything any further that says China on it as I question just how safe their products are..edible or not. And my pine nuts will soon be evaluated by the FDA. Ought to be interesting!

Response to Cindy….The pine nuts Trader Joes say Russia, Korea and Vietnam are the countries they are packaged in, but I was told the actual nuts were obtained from China. And Sofia, if you still have your bag, please contact the FDA and send them the nuts. Companies will not stop importing these nuts until the FDA gets involved to find out exactly what is going on here. There are too many of us who have eaten pine nuts for 20-30 years and now suddenly are afflicted by these symptoms. Something is wrong!

When I took my bag back to TJ, the manager told me that the nuts were being evaluated by the FDA-but not because they were harmful to your health but because of “taste issues”. If you look at other posts when you Google: bitter taste pine nuts, there’s an interesting post about pine nut oil being used to curb the appetite.
Sure, no one wants to eat when everything tastes bitter.

You are doing God’s work here pilgrim. Thanks so much. It is pesto time here and basil grows like trees here in Tn. I usually buy from Whole Foods but was desperate the other day and bought from the local Megamart.

The one concern I have, apart from the days of culinary wasteland, is that there are nasty molds associated with poor storeage of some such products. The mold that produces aflatoxin, nanogram for nanogram amongst the most potent toxins on Earth, were first associated with poor storage of peanuts.

Anyway thanks, I thought I was going to need to cut back on alcohol.

IF you want to get better from PINE MOUTH gargle with hydrogen peroxide~! It worked for me.

I had homemade pesto the other night and stored the leftovers in the fridge. I used some to spread on a sandwich, and while I was eating it, I was experiencing this “pine mouth.” I thought it was a bitter green pepper I was also eating, but it wasn’t. I thought eating something sweet would alleviate it, but no. Brushed teeth, gargled, and nothing helped. So, after reading all the entries on this site, I can also say my pine mouth came from Trader Joe’s pine nuts. Freshly purchased too, by the way. I will be reading the label to see where they came from before they are returned to the store.
Italian pine nuts for me, or walnuts in the pesto next time!

I’ve been eating pine nuts for days in various recipes as I use up the veggies and herbs in my garden and got gobsmacked with this yesterday. And just like everyone else I thought “brain tumor.” I’m not happy at the the thought of this lasting for days or weeks but on the bright side it’ll do wonders for my diet because nothing is appetizing right now. As for pesto, walnuts work very well for that. As someone says above, you’re doing God’s work here.

I made pesto sauce with very expensive baby pine nuts from the local grocery store ($8.99 for a small plastic container). A day and a half later, my boyfriend and I both had metallic tastes in our mouths. After a google search, I learned it was the pine nuts. I notified the FDA and the grocery store. Everyone should notify the FDA so they can help regulate bad pine nuts.

Thanks sooooo much for posting this. Last night I went out to a local bar with my boyfriend. I usually have the same drink, Bacardi O and Redbull. I took a sip of my drink and suddenly was shocked by a nasty after taste. I figured the owner cheaped out and got a less expensive energy drink so I didn’t complain and kept drinking the same drink. Fast forward to today, EVERYTHING tastes like I just walked into a cloud of hairspray with my mouth open. My stomach is a little upset, but that could be from the Bacardi. I googled “bad taste in back of mouth” and the first link my eyeballs flew to in horror was “pregnancy symptoms”. Now after reading this I feel a little silly for jumping the gun as I use pine nuts every time I make an Italian dish and I made one Wed. and was munching on a handful as I was cooking. I find it odd that my boyfriend ate them and had no reaction. Lucky me I guess! lol Good to know this isn’t some freak disorder though! Thanks!

Thank you to everyone who is posting here! And thank you to the ones reporting pine nut issues to the FDA! More education will result in less unnecessary medical expenses and will hopefully put a kabosh on importing pine nuts from China unless there are much stricter guidelines. I am livid with Trader Joes not responding to complaints and still carrying these nuts on their shelves. Please, please keep reporting them if you have these symptoms. I as well as the rest of you never wish to experience this ordeal again! (unless you want to lose weight, hah!)

I first experienced this with bulk pine nuts and from research on the web determined they were probably from China and processed in a way that was poisonous, as research pointed to this bitter taste reaction as a sign of being poisoned. May not be true, but I found that somewhere. So I did email the grocery store and let them know what happened as just an FYI, and I never heard from them. I too determined that I would only buy the more expensive ones in the jar, that I had previously purchased and not had any trouble with. Well, I recently had trouble with those too. It is day 3 of bitter taste for me. The first time my spouse experienced it too, but this time he did not, and I find that strange. Almost everything I eat now, tastes bitter. Also, the first time it lasted almost 2 weeks, so we will see how long it lasts this time. So if it is just bad pine nuts, or the way they are processed, I will be very cautious about using pine nuts anymore. I think it is time for me to substitute something else when pine nuts are called for. I hate that the bitter taste in my mouth spoils my morning coffee

I am also a victim of the pine nuts syndrom. I ate a some pine nuts from Trader Joe. At 4 AM, I felt sick , and vomited what was left in my stomach. Apparently, I had not digested them well. I have had that bitter taste in my mouth for 3 days now, and I thought there was something really wrong with me.
Thank you to all who posted. I am relieved this will eventually go away.
I won’t eat another pine nut for the rest of my life.

My “pine mouth” finally went away.. it lasted about a week. YAY! I did email Trader
Joe’s about my episode, and even gave them this website. Here’s their response:
(unedited)

“Hi Paula,

We apologize for the experience you recently had with the Trader Joe’s
Pignolias/Pine nuts purchased in our store. We appreciate you bringing
your concerns to our attention, and for allowing us the opportunity to
address them. What many of our customers have recently reported has been
a naturally occuring situation with the pine nuts, and we assure you
that it has nothing to do with where they are sourced from. However, our
pine nuts do not come from China.

The issue of the taste disturbance experienced after eating the pine
nuts has been reported from several of our customers recently, as well
as numerous other cases discussed with other retailer product. Generally
what occurs (again, this is a naturally occurring phenomenon) after
eating the pine nuts is that a bitter, metallic taste can develop 1-3
days after consumption, and can last for days or weeks. However, while
very unpleasant, it does not represent any health concern. It is also
not linked to any sort of contamination, pesticides or heavy metals.
Some of the pine nuts involved in some of the cases reported were from
China, but this is not the case with all, and there is no conclusive
link to any particular species or source country.

Of course, we are offering our customers the option to return the item
for exchange or refund, and our most sincere apologies (eventhough it is
not as a result of any fault of ours–it’s nature!). Please know that we
are currently selling through our remaining stock of this product and
will not be reordering until the matter is resolved.

Thank you,

Nicki K.
Trader Joe’s
Customer Relations”

So YAY Trader Joe’s for recognizing this problem and depleting their stock. But, they should also post a disclaimer above the product on the shelf stating the possibility of developing this bitter taste. But, I’ve eaten pine nuts for years, and this is the first problem I’ve ever had.

Reply to Paula..
Paula this is a canned repsonse from Trader Joes. I have read the exact same email from others. I have contacted them and asked them to give me the specifics on where the nuts came from. I also questioned them on a previous persons comment from them that they test their nuts. Um really? Where’s the report? And why no contact if they are so confident on the quality of the product? As for a natural occurence, don’t buy into that! I strongly believe there is a contamination on the
pine nuts from China and with a lack of quality control, we really don’t know what we are consuming.
I have been eating pine nuts for over 30 years now, since my teens and I have never experienced issues with Pine nuts until recently. Another person had researched the pine nuts packaged in the other countries incl Russia and Vietnam, and no surprise found they were still sourced from China.
Trader Joes will not answer my specific questions I have addressed to them, because frankly they are not being honest with the consumer here.
Until consumer affairs gets involved more seriously investigating this issue, I suggest no one eats pine nuts from Trader Joes. As for other institutions, I can not say as I have not been involved in any purchases from them.

Just an fyi for you

This is also the response that I received from England. Because no-one has been hospitalised or worse (!) they are saying there are no health risks. This has not been investigated, tested and therefore not proven.
Interesting that Trader Joes say,
‘Please know that we are currently selling through our remaining stock of this product’. That’s good of them! At least they will get their money back – and no thoughts for the people who have yet to suffer this horrific experience. Many of whom will go through it, first thinking there is something seriously wrong with them and only relieved IF they happen to come to this site.
As you say Pam, ‘I suggest no one eats pine nuts from Trader Joes’ – there needs to be some sort of warning given to people and if the traders don’t do it – maybe we should be contacting local newspapers or radio?!

Oh, curse the Pine Nuts! Who would have guessed that a little crunch on my healthy salad was going to make me curse the darn things! I always keep my tree nuts in the freezer, so when I started having the bitter/metallic/sour taste a few days ago, I discounted the nuts and thought it might have been a rancid baking product. The power of Uncle Google, saved the day again.

The response from Trader Joes is ridiculous. ” Although very unpleasant, it does not cause a health concern: what about a person’s well being, not being able to eat and losing weight. Those aren’t health concerns?

Exactly……………not being able to eat is the point – it’s not about being off your food or having no appetite! For me – I was scared to eat cos I knew what was going to happen. Being physically sick has also been mentioned by many including myself. That can’t be normal can it?!

Reply to Elaine:
Wow, your response from them really takes the cake! Until they can prove to the consumer, (which they can’t at this time), they are blowing smoke! Nausea, vomitting, bitter taste, weight loss, and worst of all medical expenses for people in a panic is completely unacceptable. They continually say its a natural occurence because they simply have no answers. And I told them I want the reports, the specifics, provide that to me. NO RESPONSE!! To me that says it all.

I just feel for the people who wasted their monies making Dr and dental appts thinking they had a medical or dental issue. Should Trader Joe’s pay for those expenses? I dont consider visiting a medical professional a natural occurence related to the side effects of consuming TJ’s pine nuts.

Once again, Please, please report them if you have had an issue and contact the Food and Drug administration. Continual complaints might finally wake someone up and start seriously investigating food consumption issues on products imported from China. Its been in toys, materials, electronicsl, etc. Why on earth wouldn’t food be a concern also? I’m just saying!

And yes, local television will be the next step!

This is a follow up for all of you poor people suffering right now. I am finally recovering from that awful bitter taste. It has taken 6 days. The 3rd day was the worst. I also suffered from nausea for 3 days.
Ginger tea with honey helped the nausea. Peppermint tea with honey was the only thing still tasting good, so I drank a lot of it to flush out the poison. I do think we had symptoms of food poisoning. Those pine nuts are not fit for human consumption.
Unfortunately, the FDA is not doing its job. They can’t even keep deadly supplements and drugs off the market or inspect fish and most imported foods. Check the cover story from Consumer Reports about that problem.

Great relief to read the posts and will definitely try the ginger tea remedy tomorrow! Day three since eating some homemade basil and pine nut pesto. Fortunately my daughter is fine. Very interested to read future posts or info on more specific cause as not everyone consuming the offending nuts is affected so difficult to declare the batches faulty. Though no need to see GP now will mention it next visit to see how widespread info about the condition is amongst the medical profession.

From wikipedia:

Risks of eating pine nuts

A small minority of pine nuts can cause taste disturbances, developing 1–3 days after consumption and lasting for days or weeks. A bitter, metallic taste is described. Though very unpleasant, there are no lasting effects. This phenomenon was first described in a scientific paper in 2001.[12] Some publications have made reference to this phenomenon as “pine mouth”.[13] This is a relatively new phenomenon which might be caused by the nuts spoiling and having gone rancid. It has been also hypothesized that this bitter side effect is caused by an allergy that some people may have to pine nuts, but this does not explain the recent appearance of this syndrome. Another theory attributes the phenomenon to nuts imported from China[14]. It has been hypothesized that the nut trees are absorbing something and passing it on to the nuts, or the nuts themselves are being treated with something before packaging. Metallic taste disturbance, known as metallogeusia, is reported 1–3 days after ingestion, being worse on day 2 and lasting for up to 2 weeks. Cases were self-limited and resolve without treatment.[15]

My goodness! I am relieved to find a reason for this horrid taste in my mouth that has persisted now for 3 days. I ate about three tablespoons of pine nuts (purchased at TJs); they had come straight from my freezer. I’ve had this problem before, possibly coincidental with pine nut consumption in pesto. This time there was a clearer cause-effect because I ate alot of pine nuts. Hah! I thought it was my GERD acting up, so I took a Pepcid (even though I have no other symptoms).

Same story, lasting 3-4 days for 3 of us who ate pine nuts from Trader Joe’s. It did seem that the price was suddenly much lower than in the past.
Their explanation is rather feeble. Birth, death, and most illnesses are natural phenomenon but that doesn’t make illness and death any more acceptable for most people.
The natural phenomenon seems likely that they are selling pine nuts that are not safe for consumption. The species of pine nut is likely inedible and not identified by picker, wholesaler, or Trader Joe’s. Since they look similar, the only way to know what you’re getting is to eat them and wait. Hopefully they will identify the edible strains and have an easy way to confirm the source by testing the nut batches. Until then “eater beware”.

As I mentioned earlier, when I opened my bag of pine nuts I noticed a distinct piney smell that I had never smelled before. I also noticed the size and shape was different.

Also, I didn’t feel good ( headache, a bit achy, tired) for a few days but it could have been coincidental. I do have a sensitivity to toxins that can brig about symptoms like this even if I am exposed to strong cleaners, perfumes, etc. The bitterness only lasted 3-4 days for me.

I love you! I thought I was having a stroke (one that has lasted for two and a half days). Everything has an aftertaste, I decided was that of eating an orange rind. Turns out, I had a good part of a 1/2 cup of pine nuts I bought from my local co-op five days ago and have been eating in salads and two loaves of bread that I made with them.

I have been feeling fine, otherwise. Now, it will go away, right? It is a total bummer to eat a fresh raspberry only to have it taste like orange rind!

Strong ginger tea made with fresh sliced ginger pieces and ginger tea bags with some honey really helped. Symptoms greatly reduced next day which was day four. Back to normal taste buds day five! so hang in there future sufferers ..there is an end to this distasteful state of affairs!

I am so relieved. I was just about to throw ot 4 litres of lamb/bean caserole because I had thought I’d overdone the Rosemary in it – making it bitter!!!!!

For 3 days I attributed the vile bitter aftertaste and the bitter taste of everything I have been having to my head cold/sinuses …..but I have been eating and eating everything under the sun and the taste in my mouth wasnt improoving. It never occurred tha the vile taste of food and the bitter after-taste of everything I have been having may be due to the little pine-nuts….from our local Haris Farm Markets that I used for my homemade pesto

From now on I will stick to the smaller stores which would be quickly made to change suppliers… if people worked it out that is…….

Cheers,

Not going to Trader Joe’s for my pine nuts any more. On day two of bitter taste to everything.

It seems to me that there are enough people here that we could do a sort-of scientific analysis to determine what exactly causes this problem. We figured this out because everyone who suffered from it ate pine nuts. Maybe if we spell out the particulars, we can figure out other common denominators.

I was the only one to experience this, even though there were about 8 people that ate with us. I did eat the most because I was the cook. I went back to the Co-op in St. Paul that I purchased the nuts from, and it says they came from Tierra Farm in New York (www.tierrafarm.com). There is no indication on the website where the nuts come from, but they claim to handle and sell only certified organic products. I get the feeling that the farm imports or buys them from somewhere else. I am in no way disparaging Tierra Farm. Really, I have no way of knowing for sure that the nuts really came from them – that is just what the sign said. We also don’t know whether they were old or what. They were refrigerated when I bought them and I used them the same day. Half were toasted and went in a salad. Half were toasted the next day and used in bread. I am on day 5 and the symptoms are fading.

Thank goodness for GOOGLE! I googled “bitter taste in mouth” and this was the first link I clicked on and thank god I did, it just answered all my questions about what’s going on!!! I bought pine nuts from Whole Foods a few days ago (the kind that you can scoop out yourself). I started getting the bitter taste in my mouth the day after…but because I didn’t realize the culprit was pine nuts, I continued to eat them (little bit at a time). Since yesterday, I’ve stopped eating them and I feel that the bitterness is getting worse (I’m guessing it just get worse before it gets better)!!! I know there is light at the end of the tunnel at least! I called my local Whole Foods about this. The guy said I was the first one to report this but he was very apologetic and told me to return them for a refund. The pine nuts did come from China. He said he will report this to the buyers.
I tried the ginger tea with honey and lemon as a previous poster mentioned…but it didn’t work for me!

It has been a few weeks and the taste has gotten much better, it took about a week. I still get occasional bad taste in my mouth when I eat certain foods and when I brush my teeth. Found out the pine nuts came from China.

Day 4…5 days after eating pine nuts on a salad at one of my favorite pizza places in St. Louis. I have talked to a few doctor friends and no one has ever heard of this before. I have eaten pine nuts before with no effect. This sucks. I will post back to detail duration.

I am a recovered victim of pine nuts “pine mouth.” I am AMAZED at how many people have been afflicted with this, as I was. It took me about a week to ten days to feel free from that bitter taste. But, the other night, I had bruschetta, homemade, with homegrown tomatoes, basil (purchased from Trader Joe’s), garlic, balsamic vinegar & olive oil, and I nearly detected that same bitter taste. OH NO!! … Almost like the basil triggered it.
Luckily, it was just that isolated incident, because it didn’t happen since (YAY!)
I sent this website/blog address to Trader Joe’s with my original complaint. I wonder if their customer service is observing this site at all, or maintaining obliviousness (is that a word?)…
I still shop at TJ’s though…. they are pretty much unsurpassed in many ways.

Since last night I have had this awful bitter metallic taste in the back of my tongue/throat after I eat anything. I just discovered this site..I too ate pine nuts (from Whole Foods bin) with pesto, like two nights ago, then I had a few pine nuts yesterday. I was really worried something was wrong with me, so I called my dr. before seeing this site. I called Whole Foods..they said they hadn’t heard of any complaints, and that nuts get rancid. But the pine nuts tasted okay. I didn’t ask where their pine nuts came from. What is it in the nuts that is causing this? I have had plenty of pine nuts from Italy before, and I never experienced this symptom.