When in practice, I get to see a fair number of individuals who have traditionally perplexing health issues. Over the past couple of weeks I experienced a mysterious issue of my own. And I had no idea what was causing it. The symptoms? A bitter, metallic-like taste in my mouth, but only when I ate. Pretty much everything I ate would bring on this symptom, though it would fade quite quickly after eating.
When I have experiences such as this, it’s not my way generally to panic or over-analyse (as perhaps evidenced by the fact that I have had only one doctor’s consultation in the last 20-odd years). I am agreat believer in the self-healing powers of the body, and that most things are self-righting. Sometimes, the best thing to do about an illness or symptom is nothing at all.
Sure enough, after about a week, the symptom disappeared. And I thought nothing more of it, until this morning, when I think I accidentally unearthed what caused my taste-related symptoms. I came across this in a US on-line newspaper. It seems that the cause of my symptoms was pine nuts. Apparently, I was suffering from what is being termed ‘pine mouth’. Eating pines can lead to a bitter/metallic taste in the mouth that can last for days. No-one seems to know what, precisely, is causing the problem, though.
10 days ago I ate some pine nuts as part of salad I had made to accompany some barbeque food. Now I think back, it’s after that that my symptoms developed. I can’t be 100 per cent sure when they disappeared, but think it was the following Saturday (6 days later).
It occurs to me that pine nuts are a reasonably commonly-eaten food. I imagine, therefore, that ‘pine mouth’ is reasonably common. Until this morning, I honestly had not even heard of ‘pine mouth’. I’m hoping this blog might raise some awareness about this issue, and prevent any undue anxiety or needless consultations with healthcare practitioners.
I have never noticed anything like that from eating pine nuts, but it is quite possible that it only happens to some people.
Beth
Thanks for that John. This is something I have experienced too, most recently this week. I did wonder whether it was due the iodine or selenium supplements I take (NZ soils are deficient in both). But now that you mentioned pine nuts, my most recent episode coincided with using pine nuts in a stir fry.
I have been experiencing this same symptom for about a week. About a month ago, my wife decided to get some pine nuts and I would frequently grab a few. Then about a week or so ago she bought a new type of pine nuts. I noticed that these tasted better than the last box. I have been eating some every day. But shortly after I started, I experienced a bitter taste, mostly when I ate, but not with all foods. This was a complete mystery to me. I did a search this morning finding this article. I will lay off the tasty pine nuts for a week and see what happens. Has to be more than a coincidence.
I heard about this on the radio the other day. A doctor who experienced it wrote a case study or a paper about it, which is why it is getting media coverage now. There are two theories about how this occurs: one is that the nuts are rancid, as pines nuts go “off” very quickly compared to other nuts (however, I find that rancid nuts taste and small so bad it’s hard to eat them, but I suppose mild rancidity might not be apparent). The other theory is that it occurs with pine nuts from China (of course 😉 from pine tree species that don’t have a history of being edible, but are now entering the pine nut market.
Hee hee, another plant that hates us. Probably serves us right for eating them!
Peter
You may be interested in an answer written by ATTRACT ( a clinical query answering service for primary care professionals in Wales) on “pine mouth”. This includes a link to a recent press release from the Food Standards Agency who are collecting reports on the issue. This is available to view at
http://www.attract.wales.nhs.uk/answer.aspx?criteria=&tagtrail=%2FENT%2F&qid=6188&src=0
I also experienced it too…….but the pine nuts were toasted and mixed with a salad. Not when eaten raw.
CHINESE pine nuts can give a bitter taste. The european ones do not.
Saw this mentioned in a cooking blog yesterday, which was addressing using pine nuts in pesto sauce.
Apparently, you were lucky because the bitter mouth effect of CHINESE pine nuts, for some people, can last up to two months according to this article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1184261/Pine-mouth-puzzle-Why-nuts-leave-bitter-taste.html
I had this – & in a panic, googled “bitter taste in mouth”, convinced I had something sinister…& immediately Chinese pine nuts appeared as a cause! I was wary for a long time, as the taste lasted several weeks, but recently had some delicious sage pesto in Italy, with no ill effects. I now buy organic European pine nuts & the problem has never returned. I notice however that my local Berber resto in Paris has stopped serving pine nuts with mint-tea…
I too have been suffering from the metallic bitter taste. But, I also have a white/yellow coating on the back of my tongue. Doctor put me on 2 rounds of antifungals they seemed to help a little. But, I still have the problem. Then yesterday I saw a news story about the pine mouth syndrome…the bitter metallic taste. I thought thats me!
But, the thing is…I don’t eat pine nuts. I eat tons of Blue Diamond Almonds. All day everyday. I’m hypoglycemic and nuts are a quick source of protein. And I have eaten a few that tasted rancid but I didn’t think anything of it until I saw the news story on pine nuts.
So, I decided not to eat anymore almonds. It’s been almost 24 hours. I still have the metallic bitter taste. But, that coating on the back of my tongue looks a little better. Maybe it’s just me. But, I can’t wait to see if the almonds have been my problem.
Experienced this about a month ago, Googled and came across the China connection, talk of chemical sprays, and the problem lasting a fortnight. I’ve used pine nuts for severals years – in fruit salad, and making pesto and had no problem. So I emailed a producer and the supermarket from whom I bought my pine nuts to question the provenance. I’ve heard nothing. How to wake them up? Think I’ll forward this blog, of great Dr B.
I too discovered this about a year ago. It’s definitely pine nuts and does seem to differ in severity depending on whether or not they have been cooked first! And yes it takes about 6 days to return to normal. Eating any type of food or drink brings this awful taste to the mouth!
Yes,Ate pasta with lots of pine nuts ,now suffering from metalic bitter mouth everytime i eat anything,How long will this last ?red wine is rancid as a result.
A small serving of pine nuts (100 grams) provides about 600% the RDA of manganese.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/nut-and-seed-products/3133/2
Manganese induces morphological changes in the tongues of mice.
http://jmicro.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/59/1/71
I am experiencing this right now. Ate chinese pine nuts on Monday night (lots) got the bad taste on Wednesday. OK so I will use these two weeks to go on a diet. Everything tastes terrible so it will be easy. They should sell these nuts as diet pills!
genius!
more than a year ago I experienced a metallic taste in my mouth and then what I thought was some kind of fungus on my tongue, which looked nasty. The GP diagnosed it as ‘Geographical Tongue’ not a fungal infection and said little could be done except scrape it off and mouth hygiene. Dr Briffa’s Penguin book suggested taking zinc tablets over an extended period, which I did. After maybe 4-6 months the symptoms of Geographical Tongue subsided but I still sometimes get the metallic taste. Perhaps the zinc tablets worked, who knows. I do eat a lot of nuts, including salt free pistachios, pecans, and cashews, but I very rarely if ever eat pine nuts.
I had the same thing and tracked it to pine nuts. There seem to be several varieties and it was the smaller ones that did it to me.
Now, here’s where I get into the realms of fantasy but bear with me.
premise 1. Some pine nut oil is reputed to be a good cure for overgrowth of things like helicobacter pylori.
premise 2. Some anti-parasitic drugs, like metronidazole, report a metallic taste in the mouth as a side effect
premise 3. Some pine nut oil gives people a metallic taste in the mouth
conclusion (based on cum hoc ergo propter hoc and probably fallacious) some pine nuts have anti-parasitic properties and consequently have a side effect involving a metallic taste.
Cheers,
Andrew.
Not sure how if any link but my mother has recently (last 5 – 10 years) developed a very quickly worsening allergy to pine nuts. From only 3 or maybe 4 episodes of reacting, I fear she’s looking at a very severe reaction next time. I must ask her if she’s had any odd tastes in her mouth as well. Her only explanation for such a late onset thing is that as a child in northern Sweden she ate masses of pine nuts direct from the trees – and maybe too many of them.
I started getting this awful bitter after taste in my mouth, regardless what I eat. looked it up and found the pine mouth story. While I just got some pine nuts from Trader Joe’s (product of Russia or Korea says on the package) and ate them in the last few days (that is when this bitter taste started) I am astounded to hear about this. I grew up in Greece and as a kid I used to sit on the side of the street and with a stone I broke open the casing and ate TONS of pine nuts without ever getting this bitter taste.
These pine nuts though tasted a bit rancid, not there yet, just the beginning of rancidity. Perhaps thetas is what did it?
Thanks everyone for your comments. I have had this problem off and on for the last year or two. I have the symptoms at the moment- an absoutely foul bitter taste across the back of my tongue that makes everything taste awful. It usually lasts a few days. What have I eaten in the last couple of days? Toasted pine nuts from China which I used to make a pesto. I usually eat them raw on salad so it could be that toasting is the issue or China is the issue. I’ll be looking at the source more carefully from now on.
I have had exactly the same issue on 2 occurancies in the last 3 months. I had to google it to work out what was wrong with me. Never had this before and it does make everything taste awful for 2 weeks!!
I am so glad I read this page, I too have had this horrible metalic tast in my mouth and it turns out I did eat eat a seed & fruit mix about 4 days ago which has pine nuts in it. I suspect the nuts were indeed from China. I have decided to contact the suppliers. Does any one know if these nuts are dangerous to the health? I have never had issues with pine nuts before.
My pine nuts were just purchased at Trader Joe’s at well. I made huge quantities of pesto and the bitter taste has been constant for a week. Bummer, as I love pesto and have huge basil plants outside.
I made Pesto sauce and a day and a half later my boyfriend and I had bitter metalic taste in our mouths. I paid a lot of money for a small container of pine nuts at a local grocery store. I notified the FDA
Thank you for posting this. I was beginning to worry. No other symptoms, just a god awlful foul taste when I eat anything. It set in two days after eating pine nuts. Checked the bag and sure enough they are from China. Any remedies?
this week three of us fell foul to this disgusting experience, after sharing a pot of mixed seeds.we checked the internet and sure enough others have suffered . i tried chewing on raw ginger. very successful, but maybe it was resolving anyhow. i have reported to the local enviromental agency
I am also very happy to have found this information, as I already started to wonder what could be wrong with me. I am using the same bag of pine nuts for more than a month. And I never had a problem until my mom came to visit and used them with the eggplants. Now when I read some of the posts, I don’t think it’s the combination with the eggplant but rather that she roasted the pine nuts! I always eath them raw, and this is the first time I have experienced this problem (to repeat – I was using the same bag of pine nuts).
Ok, I am having the same issue today. I had organic raw pine nuts 2+ days ago. I did not toast them, and I purchased them at my local co-op, but do not recall the country of origin. Crazy, I’ve never experienced this before. Sounds like it is not the toasting, maybe just having gone rancid. They tasted fine to me though.
This can’t be a coincidence.My mouth became very bitter the other day. A day before I ate a salad with pine nuts.Two days later A horrible bitter taste occured. I thought it was my acid reflux problem, but the bitter was very different. gross. Anyway I came across this site and am so happy I found it. Thanks for sharing everybody. We could be spending hours at doctors appointments trying to figure this out.
same here. Chinese pine nuts, toasted, two nights prior to symptoms: severe, bitter taste that originates on back of the tounge and is more intense with food. Have eaten pine nuts for years without any affect like this. Thanks for the info–I was getting worried. Hope the symptoms are brief–and yet another label to watch.
Thank you so much. I’ve had pine mouth for a few days and was wondering why. Turns out I made pesto earlier this week. I was worried that I was getting an intolerance to wheat, as it would get worse when I ate starchy foods.
I’ve just typed in bitter taste in mouth when eating and fortunately this site came up. Yes, i have been snacking on Holland and Barrett’s salad seed mix. Pine nuts are included in the mix, shame because i love pumpkin and sunflower seeds but now i will bin the remainder left. I could pick those ones out but feel they might be tainted too. Just hope this bitterness disappears soon, now I will go and thoroughly brush my tongue and teeth…or maybe not I could lose some weight !!
Thank you very much.
I’ve had these exact symptoms and – to be honest – thought an unstable relative was trying to poison me. I don’t have pine nuts very often but was very hungry a few days ago and found a packet open in the cupboard. This must be the cause!
So glad I found this site. I’ve had this problem 2 or 3 times in the last year and never knew what it was linked to. I had a pasta salad with pine nuts and basil from a local deli store thte day before the symptoms started. So glad I know what to avoid now.
so happy to have found this site with similar comments.thanks everybody for sharing ur stories.Had the same metallic taste in my mouth .Anyhow when i went to the chemist ,she mentioned the PINE NUTS and i suddently realize
that was it-the bloody rocket salads with pine nuts !
the only remedie was squeezing lemon in my mouth.i know its ville, but it did the trick-big time. relieved its not health problems !!!!
OMG – I developed this yesterday and toasted pine nuts for our dinner salad on Tuesday evening. OMG it is awful anything I put in my month turns bitter. I am going to try the ginger can’t eat like this for 6 days. Thanks
I just googled “can’t lose the bitter taste in my mouth” and came to this. I noticed the taste yesterday morning (hard to miss! yuk) after eating a pasta with pine nuts for 2 evening meals. The pine nuts were toasted, but I nibbled on a few raw, so no help there. I bought them a few days ago from a refrigerated case at my coop, and they definitely did not have any rancid flavor. I have experienced rancid pine nuts in the past & did not have this reaction. I’ll call the coop and see where these are from.
Update. I just called my coop. The bulk pine nuts I purchased are imported from China. By the way, pesto lovers, I have made pesto in the past substituting cashews for the pine nuts and it’s delicious that way.
So pleased I’m not dying or suffering some terrible disease!!! What a great website… I too ate pine nuts 3 days ago. I made pesto with a cup of raw pine nuts (which the supplier has confirmed came from CHina) and as of last night I’m suffering from a foul metallic taste in my mouth. When I called the supplier they said I was the 2nd case that had been reported to them in a year… They kindly said they would replace my pinenuts with a product of my choice. Very kind of them.
I’ve been eating sunflower seeds salted in the shell…yup, bitter taste when eating other foods. Nothing tastes good.
Maybe it isn’t just pine nuts.
I think I just got a mild case: it started this morning and has continued throughout the day (everything fine, no taste at all, until I eat something; while eating everything OK, but within a couple minutes of having eaten, bitter taste builds up and takes half an hour to a couple of hours to fade away).
I suspect a lot of people have “mild” cases but never follow up on it, I only knew about it because my wife had a severe case a few months ago (12 days of real unhappiness and hunger)
I did eat some pine nuts a couple days ago at a wedding, but so did she, and only I developed the symptoms;
I wonder whether pine nuts are getting an unfair rep here, don’t a LOT of people eat pine nuts (pesto, salad, etc) at least once a week nowadays, leading to lots of “false positives”? The onset of my symptoms this morning, for example, coincided with what tasted like a bad peanut in a bag of peanut M&Ms; I’m tempted to think my issue has nothing to do with the pine nuts I had a couple days ago, and more to do with this morning’s peanut.
I’ll update to confirm whether my issue lasts days or not. Maybe there’s something else that we should call “bad peanut mouth” 🙂
Tee-hee, turns out she has it too, and she didn’t eat the dreaded peanut, so I guess Pine Nut is back on the chopping block.
So far the only even vaguely convincing or reasonable-sounding argument or explanation I have seen is this contemplative analysis by Greg Muller, a Food Science professor at the university of Idaho:
(URL prevented from displaying, Google “The Curious Case of the Epicurean Nut” to find the article – it’s fascinating reading!)
Basically, the article argues that the taste, although you “feel” it in your mouth, is actually being tasted in your gut, by some recently-discovered bitter taste receptors that, although physically located in the gut, are wired up to the same bit of your brain as the mouth ones (so you fee like you taste it in your mouth).
This would explain why most people (with the exception of a couple of enlightened souls) have been unable to “wash it out” of their mouths – it’s not really there at all!
Now to see whether we can do anything to flush it out of our guts (and/or bloodstream)…
OMG I thought I was losing my mind. I served pine nut in green beans on Saturday night (to 16 people) and on Monday morning I tasted a piece of the beef tenderloin I also served. At first it was delicious and then when I swallowed it just left a horrible bitter taste in my mouth.
I had my oldest son taste it & he had the same reaction that I did. However, my husband and other son said it was delicious. Then I tasted something else & got the same reaction so I knew something else was going on.
Called my son today to see if he was still having the same problem & he said he was. We both had the pine nuts un-toasted and toasted. I think my other son who toasted the pine nuts might have had them un-toasted as well but am not sure.
CanNOT wait until this is over because it is awful. I have the bad taste in my mouth even when I am not eating but it is really bad when eating or drinking anything.
I have no idea if I will ever try one again even though I LOVE(d?) them. No label on the container so no idea where they were from. So far no one else from the party has mentioned this problem.
Bought a variety of nuts from Mrs Mays and have only eaten the sesame seed one – found that I have the bitter taste in the back of my throat after eating or drinking – I also the worst breath ever-do you think that sesame seeds also causes this problem
Weill I never. I have recently experienced this and had some quite dark thoughts about what it might indicate.
However, I have recently take to eating a seed mix which has contained lots of pine nuts. I generally only have a couple of teaspons worth and don’t have a problem with taste. However (and twice now) i have over indulged in the eating of seeds and have had the bitter taste issue. I am so glad this is a known issue and corresponds with what is happening to me and there is no dark side. Phew
Having been told my cholestrerol is on the high side I was told to pick up a diet sheet from my GP.
Amongst the items to eat regularly are Walnuts and Pine Nuts. I sometimes have pine nuts in a chicken pasta and have no ill effects, but after a couple of days of eating walnuts, which I bought from Holland and Barrett last week, I started with this terrible bitter taste on Saturday morning which I can’t get rid of. Has anyone else had any similar affects with walnuts?
I know this blog is 4 years old but I googled “horrible sour taste on my tongue” and this came up. I know that the majority of it identifies pine nuts as the source of the horrendous problem but when I saw Moira’s question about walnuts I had to respond.
I am currently sitting here with an overpowering sour taste in my tongue (or at least that’s were it feels like it is coming from). I’ve had this problem for years and there’s times when it’s not as intense but lately it’s overpowering. It’s like I continually have a lemon in my mouth. It totally destroys the taste of my food and it often makes me feel nauseous. Although I don’t eat pine nuts I do eat walnuts several times a week and sometimes eat almonds, filberts and cashews as well. Yesterday I did eat a few walnuts and some cashews as well so I’m wondering if something in nuts in general can have this affect. So Moira I wonder if you were ever able to confirm that walnuts were the culprit?
So THAT’s it!! Had pine nuts in a salad on Friday and by yesterday morning had a bitter taste in my mouth. Dumped half a container of apple juice this morning thinking there was something wrong with it. My evening glass of wine was not too impressive, either. Finally, just a little scared, I turned to Dr Google and found this. I too have had a small number of pine nuts before with no problem, but that salad contained quite a few, and they did not taste all that great even while I was eating them.
So … about 4 more days of this? Mouthwash helps a bit.
I have the same taste from bad Walnuts and the symptoms I have (with pine nuts) are that the bitter taste is akin to eating a bad walnut. However, I have not had a prolonged bitterness after eating such walnuts and this only lasts a few minutes (for me) and that the taste can be washed away. The pine nut thing is different – same taste sensation as per bad walnut but can’t be wasked away and last for longer than a week.
I hardly ever eat PINE NUTS but served them for dinner 3 days ago and then yesterday had some more in a salad for lunch! I have had this terrible taste in the back of the roof of my mouth for 3 days, I was wondering if it was a symptom on a disease lurking, so I AM SO GLAD TO READ ALL THESE COMMENTS, I haven’t enjoyed my morning coffee for the past few days, I thought it was the milk was bad, everything I eat is just tasting weird, whilst all around me are enjoying! I hope it the symptoms pass… it is a good time to start to loose some weight though, turn something bad into something good!!
I am so happy like all others who have read this. I thought I was going nuts, but actually it was the nuts. I guess it’s just a waiting game now. Thank goodness for google and the rest of the world! I am not crazy!!!!!
Hi readers,
I’m a food scientist in the Netherlands and I am starting to investigate this problem of the pine nut syndrome. For my research, I would like to obtain pine nuts that have caused the taste disturbance and would greatly appreciate it if anyone who has experienced it recently and still have some of the offending pine nuts on hand to contact me at pinenutsyndrome@gmail.com. Thank you very much and I hope that your symptoms will ease out soon!
Best regards,
Grace Tan
My 13 year old daughter, my 9 year old son and myself all have had this awful taste in our mouths for nearly a week now, its comes and go’s but mostly appears when eating/drinking. We had eaten pin nuts a few days ago, and glad we seem to have an answer to this mysterious taste. Thanks guys
Glad to have found this site as I was beginning to become concerned.
I purchased some pine nuts from Holland and Barrett on monday and have experienced the taste problem since eating some of them.
Again they are the small ones from China.
Been having similar problem excect hasn’t gone away and I had no idea what was causing it. I have it all the time not just when im eating but it’s alot stronger while eating. Now that I think back I have had pine nuts in the last week so I hope thats it and will go away soon.
Wow wonderful to find out. I have only had pine nuts about 3 times in my life, last times were 3 and 5 days ago.
Now I have a fuzzy tongue, and food (especially apples) tastes bitter and metallic.
Good to know the source. How do we fix it?
Ate pine nuts first time for my life on weekend. Holland and Baratt salad mix=pine mouth
At last someone has uncovered the mistery! Was given pine nuts a couple days ago in a pasta dish and I’v had this funny bitter taste ever since! Now I can get on with life and hope it will go!
Hi. Just to say my symptoms cleared 4 days after eating the dreaded walnuts! I noticed these came from India though, not China. I took them back to Holland and Barrett in order that they were aware of the effects I experienced and should anyone else be suffering. They had not heard of any problems, but they refunded my money just the same. Needless to say I didn’t buy any more nuts!
Thanks all for posting your symptoms and remedies (ginger or lemon). I too have been suffering for 2 days with a bitter taste on my tongue and thought something was terribly wrong with me. My case, however, came from eating almonds. The origin of these nuts are unknown because I purchased them from a bulk bin. Any other remedies are welcome as well as anyone who has had this symptom from almonds.
Message for Grace Tan, researcher.
This is a message for Grace Tan. I have some pine nuts for you but the email address does not work.
Would you please post your email address again??
Message for Grace Tan.
Hi, sorry have tried again and it does seem to work now.
Tatiana, your remedy of squeezing fresh lemon juice was the answer for me. After trying to chew on ginger, which had a minimum effect on the taste buds, I finally resorted to sqeezing a whole fresh lemon and drinking the juice. This finally worked for me. Thanks everyone for confirming that I am not crazy but perhaps allergic to nuts!
Victim of this as well after a healthy portion of pine nuts with my pesto pasta a few days ago. It took a day or two to manifest itself and I’m hoping it will disappear soon. In my case I have a bitter taste at all times and it isn’t affecting the taste of food yet. My pine nuts were purchased from Tesco but need to check the source yet.
Well I’ll be darned. I wondered what was wrong with me. Thank goodness for the internet! I would never have put it down to the pine nuts I ate five days ago! Funny thing is I noticed that they looked and tasted different to the ones I’ve always bought before. Pesto season is upon us, I wonder how many others are suffering the same disgusting symptoms – I feel like telling my doctor to be aware. (Hamilton, NZ)
I too had this experience. Not having lemon juice, I took a litle red wine vingear and swished it around in my mouth. Seemed to do the trick
7 days ago I had raw pine nuts (not toasted) with my salad and have been experiencing these exact symptons since then…bitter, metalic, bile taste when I eat or drink anything, yuk not pleasant! The packet was brand new, so not rancid and yes, they were a product of China bought from the health food section at Woolworths. I’ve eaten pine nuts many times before and never had this reaction but had never had this brand. The other 2 people who also ate them when I did were unaffected (I do get reflux). I was so relieved to discover this website and very thankful that there wasn’t something more serious wrong with me which is what I feared.
I had pine nuts in a dish that I ordered from a resaurant last Monday. Tuesday night at dinner time was when I noticed that my chicken tasted funny. The next day, my cereal and everything that I ate had the very bitter taste in the back of my tongue. This lasted for 6 days. It kept getting worse everyday. My tongue was very sore. I was desperate to try anything to help get rid of this I made Yogi ginger tea and drank it and within a few hours felt a difference. Then I ate something and sure enough it was gone!!! 6 days of suffering with this taste was so terrible I wanted to CRY. I will never eat another pine nut as long as I live.
myself, my mum and my dad all have this blasted pine nut disorder, i hope it goes soon!
My patner and I have had this for three days now. We knew if it was both of us it must have been something we ate. Now I know. The pine nuts say they are packed in Australia using imported ingredients I will investigate
Hallelujah!! I thought there was something seriously wrong with me with this bitter metallic taste in my mouth. Went to my favourite restaurant last night and didn’t enjoy a single bite of my usual favourites (or glass of prosecco!), my cereal this morning also tasted disgusting. I can trace this back to Marks&Spencer pasta salad 2 days ago, which didn’t taste the same as normal (must have changed their pine nut supplier!), must go buy a lemon now…
I can’t tell you how pleased I am to find this website. I’ve had a horrid bitter taste in my mouth for 4 days now. Now I realise it is related to ‘Holland and Barratt salad seed mix’ which contains the offending pine nuts. I’ve been eating pine nuts for years and never had this problem but it seems the ones from holland and barratt cause this weird taste. Thanks everyone.
I bought some Coles brand pine nuts a few days ago from Coles in Perth, Western Australia. It says ‘imported ingredients’ but doesn’t say where from.
Was enjoying them so much I have been putting them in stirfries, salads etc (raw) and now have a very strong bitter taste in my mouth.. has lasted all day, but it is worse after eating and drinking. Will try the lemon juice remedy. Have not had this problem with other brands before 🙁 Hope it isn’t pesticide!
I have that bitter taste too and I just had pine nuts a few days ago that were deffinetly bought a few months ago, but they tasted fine! now I see the consequence…
I think my namesake, Chris D, is on to something! He points out that Pine Nuts contain 600% of RDA for Manganese(Mn). One of the symptoms of inhaled fumes of Manganese is a bitter/metallic taste in the mouth.
Dietary differences could account for the variation in symptoms, i.e. those consuming a diet already rich in Mn would be likely to suffer the most severe symptoms, while those deficient in Mn may have little or no symptoms.
I’ve noticed my symptoms are particularly bad when I eat wholemeal bread – a rich source of Mn.
BTW, lemon had no effect on me – still suffering 6 days later!
Oh, and Nicola, it seems all the tests carried out on suspect nuts have come up with zilch, so there doesn’t seem to be a health risk.
However, most people are saying the nuts from China cause problems, whereas the European nuts do not. Could the Chinese nuts come from trees growing in soil much richer in Mn, I wonder?
I am very grateful for everyone reporting the exact same symptons. I made pesto yesterday morning and was eating raw pine seeds, toasted pine seeds and the pesto. When my sandwich this morning tasted terrible I thought it was the meat but anything I drink or eat is the same. My seeds are a no name brand of a local grocery chain which I will notify of the problem. The nuts did come from china. The best before date was Aug/10 but hadn’t been opened til yesterday and didn’t smell or taste rancid. I have never had this problem before and hope it is an isolated incident as I have some very tasty new pestos in the freezer but will gladly throw out so nobody goes through this. I did the lemon juice squeeze and will try some ginger tea. Plan on putting this info on facebook since as noted it is pesto making season as we clean up our harvest. I am in Ontario, Canada
I am so glad to have come across this!! Yesterday I started experienceing this terrible taste in my mouth, I thought it was my reflux..but have never experienced this before, nor am I currently having symptoms of reflux. I finally came across this posting today and remembers that last week I ate a handful of raw pine nuts with my dad (somethign I havent eaten in years!). I just called my dad to ask if HE has a bad taste in his mouth and sure enough — he does!! At least I know what the cause is and can work on the remedy now. THANK YOU!!!!!
I’m experiencing the same bitter taste in the back of my mouth as you all have. I made pesto from nuts purchased from Trader Joe’s within the past week. Very unpleasant.(unfortunately, not unpleasant enough to make me stop eating, as many of you mentioned!)I, too thought something could be seriously wrong with me, so I’m grateful to have found this site.
Susan
Unbelievable!! Yesterday I made a wombok salad with pine nuts aghhh I remember over the last 4 years having this metallic mouth thing and realise it has been since getting this recipe that uses pine nuts.
Sad thing is I gave the recipe to my daughter to cook for her boyfriend…Wonder if they also have this taste?
Someone should send this blog to Today Tonight or A current Affair to be investigated. What a relief to find this sight…I was worried I may have had an old silver filling causing problems in my mouth.
Oh dear, oh dear…I am from the Philippines. When I went to the States Last February, I made sure I bought some pine nuts to take back home so I can make my own authentic pesto. My cousin got the nuts for me from an LA supermarket. It took me months to get down and concoct the pesto and all the time, the nuts were kept in warm storage. When I finally got around to making the much-awaited pesto, I open the pack of nuts and saw “Product of China” on the plastic pack. I tasted the contents and found them rancid but still went ahead and made my pesto. I was told they didn’t come cheap and the stocks aren’t that abundant in stores. This was last Saturday, November 6. In less than two days, here I am with a bitter taste in my throat, which is also experiencing a slight burning sensation. I thought it was my acid reflux, but then I came across this site. Thanks to the Internet, I am confident I am not seriously ill. Next time I make pesto, I’ll make sure to use our own delicious native cashew nuts.
Well that’s interesting! I was thinking maybe it was the poppy seeds in the bread I’ve been eating, but discovering this page has been an eye opener! I started having this weird, bitterish taste in my mouth yesterday. So it has been 2 days now. But the day before yesterday I ate a large amount od pine nuts in a bean salad. It had olive oil and lemon juice in it, and I didn’t notice a bad taste at all. The pine nuts do look smaller than the normal ones I eat, and they were a cheap black and gold label. It doesn’t say on the bag where they are from. I love pine nuts!! I hope it doesn’t happen again.
Thanks for the info!
Oh my goodness! Thanks for the thread starter. I was starting to put names to my wife’s cooking until I accidentally googled for ‘bitter taste mouth’ and came across this thread. Yes, I had ‘Pesto Pasta Salad’ from boots for the first time last saturday which had a dressing of pine nuts!! I noticed my mouth tasting bitter since monday whenever I eat or drink something! There is no other reason I could possibly think of. Thanks once again. Hope this thread sheds some light to many other victims.
So comforting to see I am not alone. The bitter taste is more external for me although my taste buds do seem a bit off. Licking my lips is horrendously bitter. Out out of curiosity I tested the skin on the back of my hand and arm. Same horrible taste. I came on line to find a recommendation for a cleanse. The pine nuts I had were a small player in the multi grain/seed bread I ate. It also had lots of pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds. Nothing tasted rancid but of all the different foods my family ate that day only the 2 of us that had the bread have this terrible bitter taste to our skin. I think it is the common denominator. Wondering if other nuts/seeds are also culprits,not just pine nuts.
Glad i came across this thread,could not believe my wife when i told her i was going to take my bottle of wine back because it was so bitter,after she tried it and said its fine,i thought she had a cast iron mouth,it was only in the morning having a mug of tea and toast that i still had the bitter taste,still have,3rd day,i had a bag of pine nuts four days ago straight from the packet,still no sympathy from my wife,she said they were for a special meal she was making and i should not have eaten them,hope she gets the trots,i was a bit worried because i have a problem with my thyroid (under-active )and when looking for answers it came up as, over – active thyroid can cause bitterness in the throat,so i now hope it is the nuts rather then the thyroid,as regards my wife meal,it will be special,because she will be eating it on her own
Also very glad to have found this site! Had bitter taste in my mouth a few weeks ago for about a day and have had it back again for the last few days. Its horrible! Have been eating heaps of pine nuts lately too. Have been eating two different brands, Ducks and Lucky. Ducks are the small ones and Lucky are the larger type. Both say on the packet that they are made from imported ingredients; probably from China then. I am in Tasmania, Australia.
Same symptoms for me, two days after consuming pine nuts. I looked on the package and, sure enough, they were from China. I live in Switzerland, and will look for European pine nuts in the future. This will be my test of geographic origin.
I am so thankful to have found this website!! I had this bitter taste in my mouth from time to time and I thought maybe I do have some liver problem. I was kind of worried that something was wrong with me. Whenever I ate something sweet, it tasted so bitter that I thought maybe my tooth filling was broken and I was tasting it. That is how bad it tastes like.
Today I found this website, and I realized that I did eat Pine nuts a few days ago!! Come to think of it, my last experience was due to the same Pine nuts as well. I bought this packet from a patrol station a few months ago and it said made in US, but it might have been from China. I live in Singapore.
I just “googled” why do i have a bad taste in my mouth when I eat or drink anything. Am surprised to see so much about Pine Nuts as a cause/factor. Crazy thing is I did have Pine Nuts on Sunday…and by Wednesday I could hardly eat or drink anything as it gave a weird icky taste in my mouth – towards the back of my throat. It si Friday – and I ate a banana this morning – there it was an icky taste and almost a slight burning sensation from the back of my throat. YUCK. Am slamming water now trying to get rid of it. Cannot wait to get home and look at the Pine Nut bag and see if they are from China or not.
Thank you all for your pine nut horror stories! I was initially relieved that I didn’t need to see the doctor, but now I’m irritated that everything tastes so disgusting. 6 days? I hope not. I threw those pine nuts in the trash!
WOW!!!
I can’t believe it! I’ve been going crazy trying to figure out what’s been happening with my body! I know my body very well, and like the doctor says, most of the time I let nature run it’s course without medication. I’ve been trying herbal teas with honey, with no help in sight.
I googled bitter mouth, but I was not setisfied with the info.. It was not describing my condition.
Finaly today, just like Susan, I googled “bad taste in the mouth when I drink and eat”, and voila!!! The mistery has been solved.
I ate pine nuts Friday night as I was making pesto. Saturday morning when I ate breakfast I felt the bitterness 🙁
Thank you everyone for taking time out to write and inform others like myself.
All the postings put my mind to rest.
Just to double-check, after the bitterness goes away, I will eat the same pine nuts again, it will be a good confirmation for me.
Rodica
WOW! I’ve had this exact problem over the past few days and couldn’t figure out what it was. Three days ago I ate a few pine nuts in a Korean after dinner drink. Thanks for the help!
This same thing happened to me 4 days ago after eating some Trader Joe’s pine nuts. the sad thing is that i don’t even care for pine nuts, i just ate them because they were sitting in the cabinet. This bitter taste has been ruining everything i eat for the past 3 days, but luckily, i found that consistently brushing my teeth after everything i eat and especially brushing my tongue where it is most bitter has actually helped, and seems to have now made it go away after a total of 3 days 🙂 im just happy this is almost over 🙂
Wierd, i have had a foul taste in my mouth for three days now like metal/detergent. It worsens when i eat and disapears when i dont. I have never had it in my whole life. I remember now eating pine nuts raw out of the packet just before this taste started. wierd because i love them and eaten them for 10 years in salads, pastas etc.. never happened before.
i just re-smelled the packet and it defo smells like the taste i have in my mouth. Im amazed the taste has driven me crazy, you learn something new every day. The packet said they come from china, my partner ate them and didnt have this. Like said its wierd because its the first time they have done this.
saying that we had them toasted last saturday night, then i was fine sunday. sunday night i was picking on them raw before dinner, then monday at breakfast it started.
What a relief to read all of your pine nut reaction
stories. I made pesto with raw pine nuts which seemed fine on the night but next day the wholemeal
bread toast had a strong metallic and subsequently bitter after taste for everything i eat. Yuck!
The best antidote i could find was yoghurt but still not perfect and this is Day 4.
Thanks for that.. I toasted pine nuts, ate loads of them and have had this foul bitter taste at the back of my tongue everytime I eat.. at least I know it will pass but its horrible
I made a rice pilaf on Friday night and was snacking on the pine nuts fresh from the package before they were toasted. I was the only one to get Pine Mouth. The rest of the family ate the nuts but only had them toasted. Maybe this makes a difference as to who gets this condition. I don’t think the nuts were rancid as the best before date was July 18, 2011. I doubt that I will be eating pine nuts again in the near future, this aftertaste is horrible.
Good grief, I have been thinking the worst for the past three days – I have a bitter taste in my mouth, I thought it was some kind of brain problem (who knows it still could be…) But the pine nut theory fits perfectly as I bought two bags from my local Chinese supermarket. I ate half a bag raw, as I toasted another batch for my girlfriends salad – she doesn’t have the taste and I do – I think it’s all down to the roasting, I would imagine roasting will denature the active chemical that causes the pine mouth – The pine nuts are going in the bin but at least I’m gonna be able to sleep now with a weight off my mind – I’m also going to get stuck into the raw ginger…
Hi, AMAZING!! I have had a bad taste in my mouth for a few days now, I was starting to Get worried, BUT I came across this website, saw Pine Nuts and Eureka!!! Thats what it is…I ate some a few days ago in a mixed nut bag with seeds – THANK YOU.
I’m devastated, it’s Christmas in two days and I have this awful bitter taste in my mouth! I hope it goes away by then, but I gather from these posts that it may take a little longer. Those raw pine nuts in my salad are the culprit. Thank goodness for this website, luckily it’s nothing serious. Things could be worse!
Thanks for blogging this observation. After googling my symptoms I thought I might be suffering from a diabolical life threatening oral cancer – Nope! it’s only pine nuts in the salad three days ago – thank goodness!
Great to know what’s causing it! This is the second time I have had this awful bitter taste, but hadn’t thaught that pine nuts would be responsible, i love them and have eaten the same brand from the supermarket for years! I just remembered that I took probiotics last time to try to get rid of the taste and it went away quite quickly after that, I’ll get onto that tomorrow.
Thanks everyone. I too googled, ‘bitter taste in mouth’ & thankfully came across this site. What a relief to know that I don’t have a permanent aversion to eating, wouldn’t that be sad!! I might leave the pine nuts out of my crunchy noodle salad from now on if this is the consequence. I made the salad for New Year & had no reaction, but after finishing it off today (the last bit had had a huge percentage of pine nuts)I couldn’t get rid of this terrible taste. Have just tried some ginger so will see how that goes. Will keep you posted.
So pleased that I found this site. Yes, I’ve recently eaten pine nuts. Just checked the pack from Tesco – produce of China! Never again! I love pine nuts but from now on I’ll check the country of origin. These are unusually small, come to think of it. I’ve been getting this bitter taste every time I eat or drink anything -if anyone reading this has ever vomited bile, than this is what it tastes like – & I really thought that I had some kind of gastric cancer. Mo
Very happy to come across this site. This happened to me last week. Someone left pine nuts mixed with some other nuts in our office and I ate ’em 2 days in a row instead of snacks (thinking it healthier).
I have had a bitter mouth since last 4-5 days now…and, it was worrying me quite a bit now as I did not know the reason. I was actually ready to go to the doctor if I didn’t come across this site. Thank you for the information!
i have this at the moment i had pine nuts over the weekend the taste is driving me nuts no pun intended is there anything you can do to get rid of the horrible taste or do i have to just wait?? sorry if you have already mentioned this but there were a lot of comments i just scanned through them all!!
got the taste, worried, googled and found this blog, checked daughters opened bag of seeds and nuts that i had sampled 2 days ago, 10% pine nuts! Checked the sell by date, whoops – 10 Nov 2010. Will check origin tomorrow with manufacturer but i’m going with rancid theory.
Absolutely got the pine nut mouth ……. so glad to see the reason. But did anybody else get an achy tummy aswell? Ate the pine nuts on Monday night as a topping for a salad and had a sore tummy for two days and a bit of nausea as well. Oh yes and the pine nut mouth has fully kicked in with horrible after tastes from all food and drink.
I thought I was dying. The taste is terrible, nothing will get rid of this foul taste. I am on day 4 and it has not gotten any better. I made a Salame de Chocolate(an italian dessert) and ate a handful raw and a few that I toasted as well for the recipe. I am afraid now to dare eat the chocolate roll…what a waste! As well as how disgusting this is!
this bad taste has been with me for over 2 month now after some almond cookie from a friend, had root canal done and taste still there! Dentist can not explain!
Never heard of this but definately got it! Unfortunately I went on a pine nut binge and polished a whole bag. Was out last night and complained as thought my wine was off. The only thing that tastes ok is diet coke. Just wondering how long it will last due to the quantity consumed. Anyway, nice to know I’m not dying.
I am so grateful to everyone who has contributed to this site! I have problems with my sinuses and I was beginning to think it was something to do with that until I read these emails on this site. It actually gets worse when I eat and after about five miarenutes I fee sick. just cannit get rid of it. I have managed to find the empty bag in the bin and yes, they are from China, I think they were rancid. These pine nuts are called “BESANA” and they come from China and were purchased from ASDA in Leeds, Yorkshire, so will be contacting them first thing in the morning.
I thank you everyone from this site, I also suffer from this problem and decided to go to the doctor tomorrow, but I found these pages. I ate pine nuts (chinese) a few days ago and now all my food has bitter taste, even water, I do not how many days I have to wait now that the meal was nice again. 5 days has passed, hope that remained little.
Hideous taste now explained. We had pine nuts on pizza on Monday, by Tuesday pm all of us including 2 and 4 year old have pine mouth. Yuck. I am so glad I found this site.
We also all had, in addition to bitter mouth, tummy aches, wind, diarrhoea and sore bottoms. Pine nuts from Tescos, bought this week, expiry date August 2011, we have all eaten pine nuts before, never had this effect. As well as health food shop, supermarket and restaurant versions, I have eaten the raw from the shell, bought from a roadside in Russia as the locals do, and I never had even a hint of this taste.
I have this as well….I ate alot of pine nuts in a salad 2 days ago and yesterday was when this symptom developed. Nothing tastes right! Yuck – well, at least I know it’s nothing serious. And this was the first time I had ever tried pine nuts! Add that to my “do not ever eat again” list.
Thank you thank you thank you. I was so worried so I googled as did everyone else and finally found this despite the vile taste in my mouth I feel very relieved
Yes i have the pine needle taste in my mouth. I have eaten roasted pine nuts in salads for two nights. Didn’t know the cause until I found this site. I phoned “Sunbeam” and they said there imported nuts were from China and that the symptom only affected some people. My wife has no symptoms. They said I would have the symptoms for about 10 days. Will try the ginger remedy.
Thank you. I have had a bad taste in my mouth for almost a month. Never had pine nuts, but have lately been snacking on almonds. I too was fearing the worst, but I will avoid the nuts for a couple of weeks and see if I get better. Thanks for the hope.
Hi,
Thank you. I too have a very bitter taste in my mouth specially after eating something. I was very paniced. So I googled and saw this wonderful blog. Then remembered that I ate some pine-nuts last wednesday for the first time in my life. I also ate some cashews and almonds later that week. Thank you again for publishing such useful information.
Interesting. I ate pine nuts from Trader Joes a couple nights ago. I’ve been sick with the flu, so when I had the awful taste today I assumed it was that. Apparently not! I also noticed with wheat bread it seems worse. The nuts I ate were raw(the package says toasted) last time I ate from the same pakcage, I cooked them even more on the stove…so maybe thats why we didn’t get this then.
Hi,
I developed a severe bitter taste whenever I eat or drink, nothing tastes good. I was analysing all kinds of possible diseases, being a medical person. I never knew about this `pine mouth`syndrome. I had a pine nut salad 5 days ago and I cannot get rid of this bitter taste. I`m a wine lover and this problem has ruined my meals. Anybody knows how long it may last?.
wow. I’ve been thinking something was seriously wrong with me. This has been happening to me for about the last 6 months (strange, since I’ve eaten pine nuts for many years) and I was looking for the cause….worried it was a much more serious situation. I started to get the “bitterness” on Superbowl Sunday, of all times. And have had it for 3 days since. Started my internet research again today and found your post. WOW. Guess what I made myself for dinner on Friday night? Yes, pasta with A LOT of pine nuts (because I love them). Well, guess they will now be off the menu. Guess that’s ok, since they are so expensive anyway. Just wanted to say thanks for the post. I was starting to think I needed a neurologist!! Ha.
Kudos to you.
I am on my 2nd round for pine mouth, the first was several months ago when I had no clue what the gawdaweful taste was, till my husband looked it up on the internet and found it was pine nuts. I tried it again with fewer nuts just to see if taking a few would do it…..well….I guess I did NOT build up any immunities! It is interesting to me, I used to eat them as a kid with no problems. I have eaten pesto with no problems. This seems to be a recent problem that keeps escalating. Yes, the china connection might be part of it but I think there is more to it.
Remedies? well, I have been drinking detox tea and that helps for a little while. (I was able to get down my “chocolate quota” before the nasty taste came back :o) Tomorrow I’m back to guzzling more tea!
I have also thought that this should be marketed as a sure-fire diet pill!
Ah-ha! Thanks everyone, that has put my mind at ease. I was baffled by the horrible bitter taste that occurred in mouth after eating anything, even honey! I found it particularly bad after drinking milk. And yes I ate a big bag of over priced pine nuts a week ago, and the taste is as bad as ever in my mouth, hope it goes soon!
The pine nuts I had were smaller than usual with a dark `head`and they came from Turkey, the date was ok.
This is great, thank you. Same story here, pesto for pasta four days ago and last couple of days awful bitter taste. New brand of pine nuts, never used before. They are small ones, and from ‘imported ingredients’. I now know why the nectarine and vanilla jam I made this morning tasted a bit bitter!
thanks for this blog. I am experiencing this bitter taste and I wasn’t able to know the reason for this. When I looked back, I did actually ate pine nuts few days ago. I remember when I ate the last of those nuts a very strange and strong bitter taste exploded in my mouth.
I phoned Sainsbury and they said the Pine nuts did actually came from China.
I also had the bitter tongue taste and i thought it was from making
ginger tea,using fresh ginger root,but i did eat a hand full of raw pine nuts from Trader Joe”s which were from Russia or Korea the other day. i am now experiencing a bitter taste in my mouth…this puts my mind at ease now that i found out this info! If you want to lose weight eat a handful of Pine Nuts!
Over a year ago, I ate a bag of pine nuts… something I often used to eat with no ill effect. I suffered from Pine mouth after that last bag and it lasted for about 3 months (or more)with me. I dare not risk using pine nuts any more not even just to sprinkle on salads. The taste has come back again now (about 6 months later) I have not knowingly eaten these nuts again but I do not avoid anything that has nuts in, so just maybe more pine nuts have sneaked into my food. I guess I can cope with this, it is most unpleasant but at least it does not seem to be harmful.
Thank heavens for this website! I have a bitter taste in my mouth and I ate a small amount of pine nuts two days ago. I’ve made pesto with those nuts and have frozen it. I hope I don’t have to throw out the pesto! I will try the lemon juice “cure”. I had a choice of buying the more expensive Turkish ones or the Chinese, and I bought the Chinese.
Hi,
This weekend i was preparing some pesto for my friends who were coming for lunch. As i was putting the pie nuts of Chinese origin in my mixer I took some and placed in my mouth and chewed them.
The day after I noticed that every time I ate or drank something, I was experiencing a bitter taste on the back of my mouth. I already been having this for 2 days. I never eaten pine nuts directly so this must be the culprits. When I used pie nuts of Italian origin nothing happened.
to me so it must be them.
Do someone know what to do get rid of this bitter taste, please.
Hi David,
You must be the same nationality as myself.
This is my 16th day with a bitter taste after eating pine nuts from `Smart`. I have tried everything possible to no avail, drinking green tea, gargling with wine vinegar and also with lemon juice. According to Dr. Moeller it depends on one`s enterohepatic circulation. These are inedible pine nuts and our local authority for food safety knows about this problem.According to FDA it can also last for 6 months! I ate 50gms.
Even Turkish ones have the same effect, I suspect they are also Chinese.
Hi David,
You can contact Sandro Sammut of Health Environment on 21324093 and inform him.
Hi,
I became aware over the past few days of a bitter taste in my mouth. As I feel so well it was an enigma. Out of curiosity I decided to do some research on the net and voila here I am. I had consumed some pine nuts in a chicken sandwich. As I had made the recipe myself I knew there were pinenuts in the ingredients. I am sure pinenuts must kill any bacteria/virus hovering in the system as the after effects of eating them is so ghastly nothing would survive!
Thanks for sharing your experience as it has solved my problem!
I will now make enquiries as to where the New World Supermarket sources their product from.
Thanks. Horrid bitter taste. Really dreadful. Continually there. I ate pine nuts two days ago. Had not eaten them for a while. have had similar taste before but not as bad as this. Good bye to pine nuts!
I had this bitter after taste 1 day after arriving in singapore. i had eaten soem salads with nuts at the hotel and not sure what type of nuts was put on it.this might be it…thanks.
Like everyone else…! I too ate pine nuts..suddenly all makes sense! How do you get rid of the taste now though??
Ditto! I Googled “bitter taste in mouth after eating” and found this page, so thanks for the answer! Shame about the pine mouth symptoms though as I rather like pine nuts!
Wow. I never even made the connection. I ate a bag full of holland and barrett pine nuts on saturday night and the taste started on sunday night. I t has happened 2 or 3 times in the past 2 yrs which corrolates exactly with when I discovered pine nuts.
The taste is horrible. The other times, the taste lasted about 5 days. Roll on friday!! Thanks for the heads up
OMG thank goodness for this site, I have never experienced this before and had lots of pine nuts. On Sunday went to a friends and had some raw and some cooked, noticed they were very small but apart from that all seemed good. Woke up Monday with a awful taste in mouth thought it was my throat, then thought I had reflux problem, now I know. Its wednesday and still have it but just going to try lemon, will let you know how i get on
Thanks so much. You have got to be right! I have had a few in the last couple of days and just recently today, noticed the bitter taste. It makes sense. Enjoy your nuts.
Chalk up one more story!
Bitter taste for days -> blerk! -> Google -> this site -> recollection of “imported” pine nuts a week ago.
Please, please, please may it be temporary.
Hi,
Not so temporary,I`m sorry to say so. I`m in my 4th week and cannot get rid of the bitter taste. I have undergone a barrage of tests, up to now all normal. I even had a colon detoxifying session to remove ? any circulating toxins[ it is awful, one day no food + washing down 4 sachets of Klean Prep in 4 liters of water] all to no avail. What next, I do not know,maybe a test for heavy metals? I cannot have any red wine it tastes awful.
I am soooooo glad to have found this website! I thought forsure I had something really wrong with me like mouth cancer or some organ failure as I have NEVER experienced this before. I ate Pinenuts at my Mother-in-laws on Monday (today is Thursday). Interestingly enough that evening when we got home I mentioned to my husband that I had a “strange” taste in my mouth and chalked it up to the new brand off coffee she was using. The taste is getting increasingly worse! I had red wine last night which tasted terrible!!! We planned a date night for tomorrow (a rarity) and we are going to an expensive restaurant! Any suggestions?????? Help!
Could not figure it out until I read this article. I have always eaten fresg pine nuts from New Mexico that were in the shell but only recently purchased already shelled pine nuts from Sams Club, and now I know what it is. Terrible bad bitter taste every time I eat anything. I won’t do this again. Live and Learn!
thank you for this info. I have had my pesto pine nut pasta numerouse times, yet this week since having it I have had 3 days of the pine mouth. sometime reaction to food we have had before then come up. great share. pine nuts, it ties in with my timing of this and what I ate
marvin I hear ya. i was thinking the wine I buying was off. nope just taste that way. ;-(
oh my gosh i don’t know if you will read this but i think your absolutely right. since yesterday my mouth has tasted weird in the back. 2 days ago i had some pine nut for the first time in like 5 years I’m pretty sure that’s what it was too. i just hope it goes away soon!
….Don’t eat the pine nuts at The Study Hotel Yale in New Haven…. I also have the classic symptoms… starting 2 days after eating toasted pine nuts on salad. Am just praying I’m not one of the unlucky ones where symptoms go on over a week….
Someone needs to do something about these dodgy Chinese imports, if that’s really what’s causing it.
This is amazing, yesterday I had this horrible, I dont know if I’d describe it as metallic, but definitely bitter, taste everytime I put food in my mouth. Even tea! I googled it today seeing as its persisting, never though I’d find anything. But this is the first thing I read, and I too have been eating pine nuts! Just out the bag, I love them. But they’re expensive so I havent bought them before.. Think I’l have to stop them now because I cant deal with this flavour forever!!
just checked the bag – Product of China!! (from tesco)
Like others, what a relief to find this thread. A bitter taste in my mouth became noticeable yesterday, and today it’s really horrible. I thought it might be related to some dental work I had done 4 days ago, but having read this (and other sites) I realise I ate a handful of pine nuts a few days ago – not many – about a dozen I guess. It was a newly-opened packet from Tesco, well within the BB date – and yes – they were from China too.
Eating is unpleasaant, and I can’t face red wine or coffee – so it must be bad!! However, I did find tonic with a fresh lemon slice was palatable, as was Yogi Detox tea which I normally don’t like. But a surprise find – mini sweet tomatoes cut through the bitterness for me and briefly made some other food more palatable.
I can’t believe this,my sole reason for being on the internet is to try and find out why the back of my mouth tastes so weird,I have been complaing about this for 3 days and low and behold I had a pine nut salad about the same time as this has happened to me.It is driving me crazy so I hope it clears up real soon..A big thank you for hopefully solving my problem..
Has this `pine mouth` ever persisted for more than a month, does anybody know, as I`m now worried as it does not seem to be subsiding?.I`ve had it for over one month and still doing tests.
Thank you so much for this post! It is nice to know what this is and that I can expect a bitterness from pine nuts. They are worth it to me still 🙂
Wow, thanks everone! pine nuts from China straight out of the bag never again everything tastes awful can t even face finishing my wine or tea.Might just tuck into some ginger. How weird never would of thought it, has never happened when they have been toasted.
Bought Pine nuts from Waitrose last week,to make pesto pasta. Looked on the pack and found out they were from China!Couldn’t believe the metallic taste the next morning in my mouth.Haven’t been able to eat or drink properly for 5 days!!!Thank god i found this site,was so worried!!!
I have found that eating stewed rhubarb helps to clear the truly revolting taste. Thanks to everyone for sharing the information – no more pine nuts for me!Ever!
Thank god I found this site! I had the foul bitter taste in the back of my tongue after eating a salad which contained pine nuts. At first, I was anxious and didn’t know what was going on…I thought I’d ingested some poison, or that I’d burnt and permanently damaged the taste buds with hot soup.
Only when I found this webpage, did I realize the pine nuts were the cause (I think they were slightly rancid). Saved me from a trip to the clinic.
But I do wonder why, if pine nuts are such a common food, “pine mouth” isn’t more popularized? I’ve never heard of this until now.
yup, me too- had some coop pine nuts the other day on pasta, for the first time in quite some weeks, and have had a weird bitter taste every time I eat or drink. It sort of overlays the real taste of things. I think the pine nuts were quite a few weeks old as it was the remains of a bag i had used previously, and they were toasted, but I’ve never had a problem with pine nuts before. Maybe you just become sensitive to it after a while, like with allergies. So annoying!
ps- not sure if they were from China, I’m going to check next time I’m in there, but I don’t trust anything that comes from that country, it could be sprayed with god knows what, they have very little regulation.
I have the bitter taste in my mouth since eating pine nuts on the 13th. My mom made the dish so I have no idea where they are from.I have never had this before now. Thanks for the info
What a sanity-saver this information is! Made a garden salad with pinenuts that I roasted the other night, and sometime thereafter started with the horrid taste at the back of my throat that continues to plague me whenever I eat or drink anything.
Mine were Trader Joe’s Dry Toasted Pignolias/Pinenuts (though they didn’t appear toasted), and they were a “Product of Russia or Korea.”
The pinenut aftertaste seems the worst to me after dairy products (a glass of milk tastes like poison) and after my hot “healthy” herbal tea (an infusion of dandelion root, alfalfa, p’au darco, nettles and milk thistle), after which the taste is so bad I thought for sure I had suddenly contracted a catastrophic illness.
While writing this I’m eating quinoa with raw honey and cinnamon; I have to say, the bitter taste doesn’t taste so bad – the nutty taste of the quinoa seems to almost mask the pinenut problem (or blend into it?).
Thanks again!
PS: My husband has it, too. Poor guy, he was snacking on them earlier this evening. Now he knows better!
Wow this makes total sense, I bought a seed mix from a well knows ‘cheap’ supermarket in my haste at having a more balanced diet and not eating cheese strings at my desk and have had a metallic-almost bile like taste in the back of my mouth everytime I eat, combine that with a stomach bug I contracted this week and I was having a serious panic!
Thank you for posting this-makes me feel much better now I know…will be sticking to cheese strings from now on 🙂
I live in China and buy all my pine nuts from Metro Supermarket. Small pine nuts. I have been using the pine nuts foor years for pesto and in saldas but have recently started feeding handfulls as a filler. And sure enough, I experience this bitter taste all the time when I eat and drink. Actually I believe it is the taste of resin. I will get off the pine nuts for some time, but again I have not ha this horrid experience when using it in pesto only when over indulging with handfulls of pine nuts to retain the snack craving.
I have numerous salad and salad dressing recipes which call for pine nuts. I have made these for years and never had this problem until this past week. My husband and I have been going crazy trying to figure out why everything we eat tastes so awful. I tried to buy an additional bag of pine nuts last week at our grocery and did notice that they were from China so placed them back on the shelf. It would really be a shame to have to stop using these in recipes but the bad taste for days just isn’t worth it!
glad I did the research – thought I was nuts! (no pun intended!) This is the first time in ages I didn’t buy organic pine nuts – a spur of the moment purchase for a salad. Now I guess I know why I was doing it before, but I just thought it was a leftover from when I only ate organic.
I’d even described it to my husband as a ‘bile’ taste.
Looking for mexican and european pine nuts only now – and now I know why!
How bizarre!
I’ve been eating pine nuts for years and never had this problem! Just came across this while searching for ‘bitter taste’ as I’ve had this problem for a week – when I toasted loads of them to eat with some goats cheese!
I’ve been snacking on them since then as well. Shame to chuck them in the bin as they’re expensive, but I won’t be eating any more of them.
I got my pine nuts from Sainsburys and I just checked the packet and sure enough, they are from China.
I have had a bitter taste in my mouth for almost 2 months. I’ve been on 2 rounds of anti-fungal meds, tried salt water gargling, washing my mouth with lemon juice but nothing helps. My doctor is next recommending a brain scan. Has anyone had the bitter taste last this long? Does anyone have any idea how to get rid of it?
Any advice much appreciated. I do use sunflower seeds on my salad.. so I’ll try eliminating that.
Hi Diane,
Take heart, I`m on my 7th week, I have carried out a barrage of tests, all normal thank God, the only test left is an MRI.I even had an ENT exam, CXR,etc.. The picture fitted the `pine mouth` syndrome but it has become too prolonged. Red wine and certain types of fish[salmon] bring out the bitter taste in force.I`m suspecting I may have a sluggish gallbladder which with enterohepatic circulation may prolong my symptoms. One may try having a fatty meal to stimulate the gallbladder to secret bile + ? the toxin and then to eliminate it by having charcoal tablets.
Thank you all as this has put my mind at rest as I thought the worst! as I have had this bial bitter taste a few times now, who would have thought pine nuts (most expensive nut on the planet, I think!) could cause this. I will wait a couple of weeks and try them again, just to make sure. lol
Thanks everyone, had this awful taste in my mouth for a week now, really starting to worry, i dont usually like searching the net for diagnoses as it always seems to lead to something awful, but having found this article it has completely put my mind at rest, as the onset started after purchasing a pine nut seed salad from julian graves and happily munching my way through the bag over the last week. needless to say the rest will be going in the bin. shame!
Thanks so much for this.. have been out of my mind.. have just started with the most disgusting taste in my mouth on eating..it happens every few months… I was planning to go to the doctors on monday worrying about all sorts.. bought a packet of pine nuts a few days ago from the coop and have been sprinkling it on my porridge(something do every few months.. this started a few days after.. I feel sooo relieved now i can link something in to it
cheers Edwina
My sister happened to mention that she had a funny taste in her mouth for days. She has been visiting me and my family and 3 days earlier I had served a vegetable dish with Pine nuts. It turns out that all 6 of us had developed “pine mouth” and had been suffering in silence. None of us had ever heard of it before until 10 minutes ago when we Googled “metallic taste in mouth.” Eureka!
How funny is that! I Googled bitter taste in mouth, and got this site….remembered eating pine nuts just before it started (about 2 weeks ago) and saw the reference to Chinese nuts. I checked the pack and yes, they are Chinese! Never heard of it or had it before and I’ve eaten loads of pine nuts…obviously not Chinese ones!
I found this article on google because I’ve had the problem twice in the past week and now it’s really bothering me. And, it turns out I had a small handful of pine nuts about half an hour ago (and also a few days ago). Bingo!
Can’t believe you have written this – I have been experiencing this bitter taste whenever i eat for the last few days and was worried i had a bad tooth or something worse!
casually googlesd the question and this answer came up!
Bingo about a week ago i put some pine nuts on my my salad and after eating a few thought they looked a bit strange in places only to discover they were out of date!
This must be the answer – i love them and wonder if I will have the same symptom now with fresh
ones?
Anyway thanks for this tip!
I am so glad to know this. I have been complaining for a few days abt this metallic/bitter taste in my mouth after i eat or drink. Turns out I have been eating pine nuts for the last several nights in salads. Who knew?
Thankyou everyone above, i thought i was going insane. Im feeling slightly sick. And everything i stick in my mouth makes me want to cry, the metal taste is the worst thing ever…..DUE to pinenuts i ate two days ago. SO hope this doesnt last long as im unable to eat or drink anything. Havent got any lemons or ginger here might have to visit the shops tomorrow instead of the planned doctors appt. Thankyou
Two days of this wierd metallic taste in the back of my mouth drove me to the internet this morning. Just about everything I have read about “pine mouth” articles agrees with what I have been experiencing. I immediately went to the freezer and found that my Amport Foods bag of pine nuts just purchased from Sam’s are a product of China. There is a disclaimer on the back of the package stating “Caution: In rare instances people may experience a sensitivity reaction to pine nuts, termed “Pine Mouth” which is characterized by a metallic tase that resolves without treatment.” I have never been allergic to anything in my life and find the use of the word “rare” dismissive and alarming. Has the FDA, USDA or CDC had anything to say about this recently? Can the problem be traced to a specific variety of pine nuts that should be eliminated from the market?
Yesterday I began having a terrible taste in my mouth. I just googled metallic taste and came upon this website. When I read the word pine nuts my jaw dropped. I began eating pine nuts on Wednesday. I enjoyed the taste so much I ate them like candy. At first I thought the food I was eating tasted bad. Then I realized everything I ate or drank tasted bad. I only hope the bad taste disappears soon. I also have a slight upset stomach. Thank you for providing me with peace of mind. My package doesn’t expire until 11/04/11.
I think I should add one more thing. My eyes are scratchy the way they were as the result of a severe allergic reaction to sulfa. I realized this before I googled your article.
I suspected that it is not due to some personal illness since my wife has complained about the same strange taste. Sure enough we have recently bought a small bag of pine nuts at Trader Joe’s in Los Angeles and the bag indicates ‘Product of Russia and Korea’. In keeping with a healthy life style we have slightly overeaten the nuts and now are experiencing the ‘taste’. I am originally from Russia and clearly remember eating tons of pine nuts (we called Cedar Nuts) at a Black Sea resort without any problems, so these recent nuts must be from the Asian part of Russia bordering Korea and China (Far East). Are we sure it’s not related to pine nut processing?
http://www.which.co.uk/news/2011/03/pine-mouth-lingers-on-249471/
suggests they are inedible pine nuts from rogue Chinese suppliers.
see also:
http://conversation.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/complaints-help-solve-pine-mouth-mystery/
I’ve got the bitter taste, plus had stomach cramps for several days, after eating Holland and Barrett Salad sprinkle. I’ve complained, but I see someone way upthread had a bad H&B salad mix so I’m not expecting much to happen.
If you’re in the UK please report it to:
toxicology@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk
and to wherever you got them from as well. Shops should be using a FSA approved suppliers list and by the looks of it most of them are not. But if people don’t do anything and just throw the nuts away the FSA can’t clamp down on them.
I actually felt sick when I discovered that I may have eaten something that’s not edible.
Raw pignolias (pine Nuts) my wife give me some of those and now it’s been 3 days and still have that horrible mouth bitter teaste.
thanks for the info, couldn’t figure out why I had this but I just bought a bag. at least it solved the mystery
Hooray for the Internet… especially this site! I was planning to call my Dr. tomorrow about the horrible metallic taste I’m experiencing when eating. So glad I found this site. I have been eating pine nuts from a Trader Joe’s in California labeled “Dry Toasted Pignolias” the bag indicates it is a Product of Russia and Korea. I plan to take the bag back tomorrow to TJ and discuss the problem with them.
I have never eaten pine nuts until a few days ago. I had a salad with them in it. It was such a good salad I had it two days in a row. I have had this metalic or soap taste in my mouth with eating ever since. I threw my breakfast out two days in a row because I thought my food had spoiled. I had a friend taste my turkey meat because I couldn’t tell if it was good or not. Thanks for letting me know I’m not “nuts” and it will go away.
I’m also experiencing a bitter, ‘metallic’ taste in the mouth which gets worse after eating or drinking. The bitter taste disappears after 30-60 mins but immediately returns after any food or drink. I ‘Googled’ my symptoms and found this and some other sites and the No.1 culprit seems to be pine nuts.
I’d been eating some pine nuts in the past 3-4 days from Sainsbury’s supermarket. Checked the pack best before and its Nov 2011 and the source of the nuts is China. Not ‘off’ but possibly inedible… Thank you to the person who started the thread, it has saved me a visit to the doctors.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed on this matter as it helps enormously to be able to find information on these really unpleasant symptoms! I have followed the advice above and just sent my e-mail off to:
toxicology@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk
reporting pine nuts of Chinese origin purchased last Sunday at TESCO. Hopefully someone there will be able to look objectively at this matter and we can all find out what is going on, why it’s going on and how it can be stopped.
In the meantime, I’ll be waiting for the current “bout of bitterness” to go away and then hunting down some European pine nuts to do my own research 🙂
Thank goodness for the Internet. I too am experiencing these symptoms of a vile and bitter taste in my mouth and a nasty headache. I was wondering whether one of my fillings was decomposing! I found this site and I too have recently eaten raw pine nuts mixed in Cous Cous.
They were about a week out of date. When I read this article I immediately binned them.
Thanks very much!
Eureka!!!
Was tormented by a bitterness in my mouth no matter what I ate.
Yesterday I ate a bunch of tiny pine nuts and there you go!
Uber healthy!!! They will give you strength and worth the bitter after taste days to come.
Can’t believe I have found the cause of this terrible infliction at last. I have had it for 3 weeks but as I didn’t link it to pine nuts I kept eating my pesto. I went to doctor and he thought it may have been a throat infection so gave me antibiotics, now I have Thrush on my tongue from the antibiotics! My husband has eaten more of the pesto than me but is not affected. I have eaten pine nuts for years and never had any trouble before. I am sure these were from China.
Bitter taste in mouth, ate pine nuts from China 2 days before – thank you Waitrose! I have never tasted anything like it before – everything was rancid. 5 days later it HAS gone, and I am back to normal. Never been affected before, and eaten pine nuts for decades! The only foods that did not taste awful for ref were Chinese and Beer! Lemon juice was a 5 minute fix at best. What have China done to Pine nuts?!
I’ve had a bitter taste in my mouth after eating since making pesto out of pine nuts a couple of days ago. I also ate a good handful in with my salad yesterday and was wondering what was going on as i’ve no other symptoms.I’ve have never had it before but have often eaten pine nuts. I’ll have to be careful to check the source in future.
I started having a bitter, somewhat metallic taste each time I ate something, started Friday. It is now Sunday and I decided to Goggle the symptoms and Bingo I had eaten pine nuts Friday morning. This never happen before and I have eaten pine nuts many times. This was a new package, packaged for a Korean company in California. Might have been product of China and repackaged. I am very glad I found this site as I also was concerned it might have been more serious. The bad taste is still there, but not as bad as yesterday. Thanks All…