UPDATE 6/6/10: I believe I’ve found the remedy. Read at the bottom of the post.
On Monday night I made a pretty tasty salad of mixed greens, chives and mustard greens from our garden, 15-year-old balsamic vinegar, shaved parmesan and pine nuts.
The pine nuts, I would learn, were a bad idea.
Jessie didn’t suffer any side-effects, but on Thursday morning I noticed that everything I tried to eat tasted incredibly bitter. I could barely stand the taste of anything long enough to swallow it, and have been hungry for two days because I can’t stand to eat more than a few bites of anything other than granola with a splash of milk.
I did some research yesterday evening and came across a plethora of blog posts, comments on those posts, and even a scientific article about the phenomenon. They all shared the exact same problem: An extremely bitter taste on the back left corner of the tongue. An, lo and behold, we all shared another common trait: We had all eaten pine nuts in recent days. And not just any pine nuts — pine nuts imported from China.
Read a description of the problem in a medical journal article from 2001 here.
My culprit was Melissa’s pine nuts, which are imported from China. Is it a different, new species of pine tree? Is it a pesticide? Is it a food hygiene problem? No one seems certain, but every case I read about included pine nuts from China or one of its immediate neighbors.
There are no lasting effects, though the sourness can last a few days or a few weeks — which makes me nervous, since in less than two weeks we’ll be in Aspen for the Food and Wine Classic. I’ll sort of need my tastebuds for that.
I can’t describe how awful it is to be unable to enjoy taste or flavor, especially when you’re a dedicated foodie. Every food tastes like it’s gone sour and spoiled. At lunch on Thursday, during which I choked down some mac and cheese, I put some wonderful beef short-ribs from Amish country in the crockpot with a bottle of wine, quartered potatoes, carrots and garlic. The smell was intoxicating, but when we sat down to eat it that evening, I barely ate a mouthful. The carrots tasted rotten, the garlic oddly sweet, and the beef like it had been boiled in vinegar.
I found no definitive remedies online, so if you ever suffer from this problem, here’s what I’ve found helps, if only temporarily:
- Crystallized ginger gives me relief for 15-20 minutes, enough to get through most foods, though anything sweet will immediately counteract this and go right back to bitter.
- Soda washes out the bitter flavor until you eat something again.
- I got quite a bit of relief, again until I ate something again, after gargling and swishing around warm saltwater and spitting it out.
Things that taste the worst with “pine-mouth”:
- Strawberries
- French fries. I was running around for work today and (I know, shame on me) grabbed fast food from a drive-through. I was close to vomiting after a handful of fries.
- Carrots, especially if slow-cooked in red wine
- Actually just about everything.
Has pine-mouth happened to you? What remedy or remedies did you find?
In the meantime, do yourself a favor and spend a few extra dollars for high-quality Italian or American pine nuts, buy them in small batches, and keep them cold in the refrigerator. Unfortunately the brand I bought said only “store in a cool, dry place,” and were not expired.
UPDATE: OK, so I think I’ve found a remedy, and if not, then a way to significantly speed up my recovery. After trying it Friday night and yesterday morning, Jessie and I went out for a day of exploring and I successfully ate lunch with no bitter taste in my mouth. Same with dinner last night, and breakfast this morning. While most people have said it takes them up to 2 weeks for the taste to completely go away, mine is almost entirely gone after just three days.
So here’s what to do: Freshly squeeze three ripe lemons into a glass. One tablespoon at a time, hold some lemon juice in your mouth and then swallow. Yes, it’s sour and a little painful if you’re not used to sour things, but the sourness forces your mouth to salivate, which flushes out impurities. Repeat this every 8 hours or so for a total of three times, or more if the bitter taste is not gone.
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Owner of a graphic design firm specializing in magazine design and wannabe chef. Former resident of Belgium, the United Kingdom and...North Dakota. 
OMG. I finally figured out it was Melissa’s pine nuts as well. I’m in my 5th day of taste bud agony. Everything tastes like bitter soap. I was really scared at first because a bitter taste in your mouth can mean some serious disease could be lurking. How can this organic company keep manufacturing this crap? And from China no less. Thank you for helping me feel less “nutty”. I’ll try the lemon (acid) taste test.
Sincerely
Elle
I got the nuts at Vons in San Diego
Elle – Thanks for the comment. I really hope the lemon torture works for you. I still had a hint of bitterness that came back about two weeks after the fact, but it was really slight and didn’t last long.
Best of luck, and please comment again if the lemon process works for you, as others will eventually need a remedy, too.
Thank you so much for your blog! I am on day 2 with pine nut poisoning and almost cried when I couldn’t enjoy my morning ritual of creamy sweet coffee. I read that black coffee was tolerable and it was to my dismay because I HATE black coffee. But it was better than metal. I tried your lemon trick and it has helped. I’ve been sipping on lemon water all day and that too it better than metal water. I found that cheese of any kind is the worst. It instantly sours in my mouth so that’s out till this retched curse runs its course. Also I made brussel sprouts last night for dinner and it wasn’t so bad. Spinach and parsley are also ok. I hope your trick really does help move this along faster and I only have to suffer for 3 days as opposed to 10. I will let you know how many days this last.
Seriously! I am on Day 4 of the worst taste in my mouth. It is like a bitter metallic taste (think raw artichoke or banana peel) that only gets worse when you eat something, especially something sweet. Thinking my condition may be a precursor to an illness I started googling and found a condition called “pine mouth” from eating Pine Nuts. A bell went off in my head because I had consumed Pine Nuts 36 hours prior to the development of the condition.
I pulled the half-eaten bag of Pine Nuts I had purchased from Bristol Farms La Jolla out of my cupboard. The product is the 3 oz Melissa’s Pine Nuts. The product says it was packed on 11/18/10 and is a Product of China. Melissa’s is distributed by a company called World Variety Produce, Inc I Googled the product and found your site.
This is the only thing that makes sense (to me) as to why I suddenly developed this condition. I hope it goes away soon because its driving me …. NUTS! I will try your tricks to see if they lessen the bad taste in my mouth. Thanks for posting this.
Best of luck, David. Let us know if the trick works for you as well.
I too had just a few of Melissa’s Pine Nuts from China in my pasta two days ago, and I have that horrible metallic taste. I will try your suggestions, but I am a little concerned about the lemon as I have Gerd and have been told to avoid citrus.
I’m glad to see others have discovered the culprit to be Melissa’s pine nuts. I’m really disappointed in a high end company like Melissa’s selling pine nuts from China. I try to be aware of the source of most things I purchase these days (a challenge in itself if you’re looking for USA!), and never even check Melissa’s. Big mistake. I had them in the freezer with an Oct 2010 date and unfortunately used them in a penne with roasted red pepper sauce dish. I’m in my 3rd day of pine mouth and had to cancel a 5 course wine tasting dinner with friends this evening, hosted by my best friend’s son. I will attempt the lemon treatment with hopes it works. Thank you so much for you input. I did notice in checking Melissa’s website today that her package is now labeled “Italian Pine Nuts”!!
Best of luck, Terri – It’s always a shame to give up a wine tasting dinner. Let us know how the lemon treatment goes.