Mostly I blog about tea and chocolate. But when something surprising or interesting happens in the food world, then I want the world to know. In this instance, my whole world tasted bitter thanks to a little bag of Trader Joe’s pine nuts.
I had heard via NPR that pine nuts imported from China (from the cones of Pinus Armandii) could cause “pine mouth” — a condition wherein about two days after eating the nuts everything starts to taste bitter. Everything.
I love pine nuts and this seemed like an interesting experience, so I wanted to try it. But I couldn’t find pine nuts that admitted to being from China. The other varieties I tried didn’t produce this effect — even a mushy, tasteless bag from Turkey that I thought MUST have come from this species of tree proved useless.
Enter Trader Joe’s pine nuts. The packaging stated that the nuts came from either Korea or Russia. No change at first. A couple of days passed and I had totally forgotten about my little experiment when I noticed my lunchtime apple had an annoyingly bitter taste. I assumed the apple was bad and started to eat my other apple. Yuck! Then the penny dropped. In the evening, I ate a chocolate-dipped strawberry that my husband had freshly made. I could only taste the sweetness for a fraction of a second before the bitterness came charging through, swamping everything. Amazing.
At present, there’s no scientific explanation for the bittrnerness, only that these trees have not been a part of our food train until the last few years. Hopefully the nuts are not harmful, but it’s been an interesting afternoon! According to NPR the effect should die away by the end of the week.
Update: it took from Tuesday until Saturday — 5 days — for the effect to wear off. I noticed also that the sweeter the item, the stronger the bitter aftertaste.
Did you have this effect with Trader Joe’s pine nuts? Other brands? Leave a comment.
I have just experienced the same thing…I made pesto on Monday of this week and noticed the metallic bitter taste for the first time yesterday- Wednesday. I used the smaller sized raw pine nuts from Trader Joes (It says on the bag the pine nuts are from Korea, Vietnam and Russia.) Also, there is a disclaimer on the bag that says “Some individuals may experience a reaction to eating pine nuts, characterized by a lingering bitter or metallic taste.” It is small and on the back of the package which I didn’t even notice until after… I did some research last night when I started to worry after even my wine was tasting weird…First my coffee was sour…then a plum was strangely tart, etc, and I found that indeed it was a pine nut connection! I read that there are many types of pine nuts and the ones we aren’t so used to eating are the smaller ones from Korea and China and are most likely the cause of the problem… It’s not an allergy people are having but something else from the nuts. I am so glad I found out about “pine mouth”… I was worried I was Pregnant as a metallic taste is common during pregnancy!
I got “pine mouth” from pine nuts bought at Trader Joe’s last week which claimed to be from Korea. The effects lasted 7 days, and made everything I ate taste simply nasty. TJ’s is markedly unconcerned with this problem since it’s not injurious to our health nor is it caused by anything chemical the pine nuts were treated with (per their reply to my scathing email). FYI per my local food co-op, Asian pine nuts are the only ones available until sometime in 2012, since the crops cannot be harvested every year. After investigating online, I found most all sources of European or American pine nuts are already pre-ordered to the max. So I’d suggest we all look for alternatives to use, like cashews, pistachios, or almonds. Sigh…I do dearly love fresh pesto in the summertime…..
I just had the same experience with raw pignolias from trader joe’s that come from Russia, Vietnam or Korea. I was puzzled about the bitter taste in my mouth and google searched and found the pine nut connection. Amazing! Now I am ready for it to go away…
Ate a very small amount of TJ pinenuts for Thanksgiving. The extreme bitterness started the next day, and I still have it now…day 2. I just found out that my sister has the same problem. Food seems to stimulate the bitterness, even water. I cannot believe this is not damaging to your organs. The bitterness is so intense that I have to rinse my mouth continuously. I have Diabetes II, and currently take medication for high blood pressure and cholesterol. I’m concerned about the additional stress on my liver. I can’t believe the FDA hasn’t stepped in. I think this should be taken more seriously.