One of the things we got at Fancy Grocery store in Hong Kong was some interesting looking pasta from Italy. We made it for lunch on Tuesday with olive oil, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, and pine nuts. Thursday morning I woke up and had Cheerios with a banana sliced on top. I ate almost the whole bowl, got down to the very last bite and as I was chewing it noticed an awful bitter taste. Thinking I maybe got a bit of banana peel in there or maybe a burnt funky cherrio I went scavenging for something to cleanse my palate. I figured it was a good excuse to sneak one of the coffee shortbread cookies I had bought (there wee little cookies in the shape of coffee beans, so cute.) Nothing. In fact, made it worse. I went upstairs to brush my teeth and it was just horrid. Clearly it wasn’t anything I had just eaten.

We went about our morning and I kept going over in my head what I could have possibly eaten or taken to cause this. I can’t even describe the awfulness of it. If you’ve ever had Goya- thats about the best I can liken it to… or imagine if you were to spray 409 on your tongue (not that I’ve done that) but I imagine this is what it would taste like. I have taken medicine before that can cause a metallic taste in the mouth, but this was more bitter than metallic. But I haven’t taken any medicines. I haven’t eaten anything out of the ordinary. I haven’t done anything with any harsh chemicals that maybe got on my hands before I ate something. I was totally stumped. So, I did what any smart individual would do and consulted Dr. Google for advice. This had Dr. Google stumped too.

Of course all the usual horrific things came up, cancer, neurological disorder etc. but this is the only symptom Im having (at the moment….Im sure if I kept reading all sorts of other symptoms would have started to “appear”). There were several fish type poisonings that could cause it, heavy metal poisoning, tooth decay, GERD, peptic ulcer….none of these were it. Then finally, I found it. On about page 3 or 4 of my initial Google serach the word pine nut caught my eye. Holy Mother Lord. The freaking pine nuts- those seemingly innocent little crunchies that I had in my pasta. Who knew? Here is what wikipedia has to say:

Risks of eating Pine Nuts

The eating of pine nuts can cause serious taste disturbances, developing 1-3 days after consumption and lasting for days or weeks. A bitter, metallic taste is described. In general, a minority of pine nuts on the market present this problem. Though very unpleasant, there does not seem to be a real health concern.
This phenomenon was first described in a scientific paper in 2001.[6] Since the article, experiences of the phenomenon have been reported by hundreds of people worldwide (US, Canada, South Africa, Finland, Iceland, Germany, and many more).[7] [8]
The pine nuts involved typically contain triglycerides formed by 16-18° unsaturated fatty acids. No contamination with pesticide residues or heavy metals was found.
Some of the pine nuts involved were imported from China. However, in many countries packaged pine nuts are not required to state the country of origin or the species, and thus it is impossible to conclusively link the effect to a particular species or source country.

If you just google “bitter taste from pine nuts” there is a whole plethora of people that have had this happen to them. Unfortunately there isn’t much as far as real evidence or research, just a bunch of people who have had the same thing happen. I looked on my package of Diamond brand pine nuts and lo and behold, they are a product of China. I’ve had pine nuts many times before and never ever have had this happen. Its awful and wretched and tastes disgusting. Eating makes it worse. Eating something sweet makes it much worse. So, word to the wise- avoid pine nuts from China. Has anyone had this happen to them?

Filed under: Lets Eat!