"pine Mouth" bitter taste after weeend Rawsagna binge

[jojoroxx]

OK people. I get the recipes together and assemble about $80 worth of ingredients to create a single pan of raw lasagna. We were going to eat "something besides carrot juice and kale chips." It featured marinaded zucchini cut lengthwise with a veg peeler layered with macadamia nut and pine nut 'ricotta' , a verry tasty pine nut pesto, a walnut 'meat' which was verry spicy and good, AND wonderfully salt/oil softened spinach....Ok everything sounds good so far. It tasted great. And we basically consumed only that for the weekend.

By Sunday night the young thai cocunut i was having tasted awful! In the morning along with a pounding headache my smoothie was GANK!! That anything was wrong with me didn't hit me til that night when, after making the cook at work throw out the carrots because "they are too bitter to serve!" the A+ watermelon i opened for my girls literally tasted like bleach in my mouth !! ...while they were in bliss...i thought something is very wrong here. Literally EVERYTHING i put in my mouth tastes like oven cleaner!!!!! Sweets especially. I am so hatin it.:(

Quick Google search led to brain tumor, liver inflammation or freaking PINE MOUTH!!??!?!?!?

News to me, it turns out there is this bizarre reaction to pine nuts called "pine mouth" which produces symptoms 1-3 days after ingesting suspect pine nuts. It is linked to IMPORTED nuts. And some theories point to chemical washes that are being used on the nuts or that other varietal pine nuts, not fit for consumption, are being passed off as the real thing. It is a relatively recent phenom as well, 1st documented in '01.

I learned that one is cautioned to look for and purchase ONLY the LARGE WHITE pine nuts that have been hopefully harvested stateside. The small, brownish and imported pine nuts are to be avoided.

FYI this annoying condition of a metallic / chemical taste in mouth can last up to 2 weeks!!!!:eek:

Sign me, back on kale chips and (ick) carrot juice...;)

[gritsnla]

Interesting! Hope you work that awful taste out pronto! You can try some more recipes, just forego the pine nuts. I love a simple breakfast of chopped apple, raisins, sunflower seeds, and raw honey...yum!

I guess it's a good thing I'm too cheap to buy pine nuts..LOL! Again, wishing you some quick healing of your tastebuds.

[jojoroxx]

the crummy headache lasted for 2 days...and now the only food i can get down is kale salad with extra lemon, or curried air dried cashews. Pretty funky situation. There is even a facebook group (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=363321305833&v=wall#!/group.php?gid=363321305833) for 'pine mouth' sufferers. Too funny!!:p thnx for the luv.

[RawKnitster]

What a nice dish to have turn so awful. I hope it is over soon. It is my understanding that almost all pine nuts are from China.

That is why I only buy organic pine nuts. They are so expensive either way, a few extra dollars per pound hardly makes any difference. Around here regular pine nuts are about $20 a pound, organic about $26 a pound. I have not bought any for months.

I've had tasty success substituting other nuts for pine nuts, like macadamias, walnuts, or soaked almonds.

[babeak]

I have had this happen to me 3 times. I don't eat pine nuts any more. It is absolutely awful.

I am thankful that it is not a permanent condition. The first time it happened I had no idea. I think after the third time it happened I found out what it was.

I think it happened to me with organic pine nuts.

Anyway, I am done with them. I don't ever want that to happen to me again.

[Stina]

How weird, thanks for sharing, further enforces my strong belief in supporting local farmers.i cracked up when you said it was eight y bucks worth of ingredients, know what that feels like.

[ferb]

The first time I tried pine nuts I was inthe throne room gor two days. I just add a few cashews yo ny recipes that calls for pinenuts.


How are you doing today?

[Jeannie]

The last 2 days I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me.. everything I ate tasted revolting!
I thought it was chemical poisoning from the tick treatment that I poured on the dog! I even called the vet to ask if there had been previous reports of this type of thing!

You just have to love GOOOOOOOGLE!! did a search, and found the problem..

I ate pine nuts on Sunday!!

According to reports of lots of people, everything is going to taste disgusting for the next few days.. hopefull not weeks!! :sadtears:

[Jeannie]

Oh, forgot to ask.. does anyone have ideas how to combat this? I have read that charcoal tablets will work but...my feeling is to just do a water fast for a few days, at least water seems to taste okay.

[Mrs. Papaya]

This happened to me too! Probably not as bad as you had it, because I didn't have quite as many pine nuts, but it definitely happened. Everything tasted metallic/bitter, even when I just drank water. I googled and figured the pine nuts had to be the culprit. I read that this can happen with pine nuts from China. I bought the nuts at a fairly high-end grocery store (and paid dearly for them) but there was no indication of where they had come from. They weren't organic.

I was eating a pate that included pine nuts...I probably ate some of it over the course of a few days and then the bitter taste showed up. It lasted a week and then, thankfully, went away.

I too am now scared off from pine nuts. I used to love them but this experience left a bad taste in my mouth (lol). Interesting that the large white pine nuts are apparently okay...I'm still afraid to try them again, though. Pine nuts are too expensive to fool around with. And the thought of eating something that has possibly been treated in a weird way in China is scary.

[Jeannie]

I sent an email to the company that I bought the nuts from to let them know what happened, and they sent me an email saying that this is a fairly new phenomena, they have been in business for 25 years and only recently have had reports such as this. Also , the strange thing is that not all people are affected. Bizarre!!

The company has offered to reimburse me.

They also said that they have conducted tests on the nuts and have not found them to contain any chemicals or pesticides. I read in one article that they generally don't need to use pesticides on pine nuts, as mostly birds target them.

I am glad to say that food is tasting a little bit better today, so hopefully it is going away now. Fingers crossed!

No more pine nuts for me from now on, just in case!

[streetsurfer]

Interesting. I've never had it happen yet when I've eaten pine nuts. All I can think of is it's some of the plant sterols or oils doing it. Is there a resemblance to the odor of turpentine or pine-sol? If so it may actually be a health benefit. Plant sterols are important for us. Maybe it is also cleaning out metals, or other wastes from our innards? Just a thought. It is reassuring to hear they had tested their seeds and found no residual chemicals.

I do think the charcoal tabs and/or oil pulling may help...rubbing garlic or oregano oil on the soles of your feet, your lower abdomen, wrists or neck (the highly absorptive parts of our wrapper) might help. It could mask or replace the taste with a new different taste. who's going to try it first?

[dairine2003]

I've had it too. It's happened twice now, and only in the past 6-8 months. I've eaten pine nuts my entire life and only had this reaction just start happening. I've tried nuts from china and india and it happened both times. I have no idea but I won't be eating pine nuts again. It's very suspicious though.

The nasty taste lasted over a week for me, and from what I read, most people said you just have to wait until your new tastebuds grow in. I noticed it was much worse when eating/drinking anything sweet.

[Jeannie]

Interesting. I've never had it happen yet when I've eaten pine nuts. All I can think of is it's some of the plant sterols or oils doing it. Is there a resemblance to the odor of turpentine or pine-sol? If so it may actually be a health benefit. Plant sterols are important for us. Maybe it is also cleaning out metals, or other wastes from our innards? Just a thought. It is reassuring to hear they had tested their seeds and found no residual chemicals.

I do think the charcoal tabs and/or oil pulling may help...rubbing garlic or oregano oil on the soles of your feet, your lower abdomen, wrists or neck (the highly absorptive parts of our wrapper) might help. It could mask or replace the taste with a new different taste. who's going to try it first?

You might have a point there about the cleaning out of metals, but the strangest thing is, this is a relatively new occurrence.

Not sure if I want to chase all my customers away today because I am reeking of garlic!!! :LOL: Seriously though, I did read somewhere the other day that if you rub garlic on the soles of your feet, a while later you will taste it in your mouth...hmmm.... will that work with ice cream too???? :excited:

[Jeannie]

I've had it too. It's happened twice now, and only in the past 6-8 months. I've eaten pine nuts my entire life and only had this reaction just start happening. I've tried nuts from china and india and it happened both times. I have no idea but I won't be eating pine nuts again. It's very suspicious though.

The nasty taste lasted over a week for me, and from what I read, most people said you just have to wait until your new tastebuds grow in. I noticed it was much worse when eating/drinking anything sweet.

Its horrible to be torn between hunger and having to endure disgusting tasting food, isn't it? Juice is the worst!
I will appreciate and savour every single thing that I eat from now on!

[Mary Kay]

Thanks for sharing. This is TOTALLY new to me! Good to know. I have some pine nuts in the freezer --been there for a year or so, and I take out what I need, and have never had this.

Jeannie, I'm cracking up about the ice cream-on-the-feet-thing!

Mary Kay

[streetsurfer]

Jeannie, I'm cracking up about the ice cream-on-the-feet-thing!

Mary Kay


Me too. I pictured it in a "What would you do for a Klondike bar?" commercial. :LOL: