@TedSez: That's why I keep mine in the fridge. They are oily and the oil in the nuts go rancid quickly. It's a good thing to keep any nuts that you don't use or consume quickly in the fridge so that they last longer.

I'm still perplexed about why the pine nuts are so flipping expensive, it's not like pine trees are hard to grow or find.

Just curious, anyone (I post this as a reply to the poster since they seem knowledgeable) know if/how the so-called "Miracle Berry" plays into this? I was just reminded of them, and it occurred to me that this pine nut incident is sort of like a twisted miracle berry gone wrong.

@talithaborealis: How do you know when you've hit the 'crapload' limit? When they start showing up, undigested, out the other end like corn kernels??

Serves the OP right for buying Chinese nuts. The only nut that ever pass my lips are American nuts.

Because that was my first impulse.

Apparently in most cases the pine nuts were from China and oxidized which causes the sensation of everything tasting bitterly metallic and "off" for a time ranging anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks.

After 3 days I couldn't stand it. I found someone else's recommendation from a doctor to take a supplement called "Parotid" (by Standard Process - search Amazon to buy a bottle of 90 pills). After taking the Parotid twice a day for 3 days the horrible taste subsided. I can't guarantee that the Parotid fixed the problem more quickly, but it was inexpensive and it did go away faster than the two weeks of suffering I thought I was in for.

Go to an Asian market, you can find a number of drinks that contain aloe there, it's not that unusual.

I guess I shouldn't eat any more and should throw them out. I'll sprinkle them out front for the mourning doves (after restraining the kitteh).

But I LOVE pine nuts! Argh!

Ha ha, get this too, you can pick them for free. We used to have day trips where all we would do is drive to a mountainous region and pick pinons all day.

@Spin359:

I honestly wonder where i can buy some of these things. i need to loose weight

You are not the only one wondering!

That was really practical and useful advice.

You must be new here.

Also, the kitty in the picture looks just like our Annie.

It wouldn't be surprising if these imports from China were either too old or were improperly stored, so they had already gone bad by the time of purchase.

This phenomenon was actually documented in the European Journal of Emergency Medicine back in 2001:

"Taste disturbances after pine nut ingestion
A colleague anaesthesiologist experienced two episodes of taste disturbances after pine nut ingestion. At the first time, he just consumed a handful of pine nuts. Two days later, he developed an episode of taste disturbances (bitter, metallic taste). The disturbances lasted a few days. He made a link between pine nuts and the taste disturbances after the second episode when his wife and friends who shared with him a dish prepared with the same pine nuts complained of a persisting bitter taste sensation 2 days after the meal. Examination of the pine nuts revealed they were oxidized and not fit for consumption."

@Deweavy: Tasting metal and spending the evening in the can. That better have been some incredible pesto.

I blame Euell Gibbons.

@Nick1693: Zicam may actually be a 'cure' for this.

@Georgene Singletary Harkness: I actually was thinking about that. Sounds good to me.

So this isn't the result of being shipped on the Chineses poison train?

While I'm using it, everything tastes like copper. (Luckily I only need it during cold season.)

As with the pine nuts, things taste normal in a day or three after I stop using it.

Do I blame my grandma's cooking, or the pine nuts?

And how do you eat? Through a straw?

* Cuz I'm Punk Rock. Duh

So, it's all chemicals, great. How does this help me get the bitter or metallic taste out of my mouth?

Well, we can use chemistry to do that. A bitter or soapy taste would suggest rancidity. Fats can oxidize in light or heat and go rancid. This can occur in filtered oils in 8 months, unfiltered oils in 12 months and in nuts in anywhere from 6-12 months, depending on the oil content. So, if a rancid pine nut oil (a triglyceride for those of you using google scholar) is strongly bound to your taste buds, replace it with another oil. Rinse your mouth with virgin olive oil every few hours and then spit it out. The fresh oil should help to remove the yucky taste as it solubilizes the rancid triglycerides.

What if the taste is metallic? Well, metallic tastes come from metal ions like copper, iron, zinc and sometimes calcium (but for different reasons). Pregnant women and people on chemotherapy often experience dysgeusia, which is a long-term metallic flavor associated with all foods. For pregnant women, its hormonal; for chemo patients, its the medicine.

Now, there aren't chemotherapy drugs in your pine nuts. But there might be higher concentrations of metal than your used to. If there is a lot of iron or copper, some of the friendly bacteria in your mouth might grab onto it for later use. Then, every time you eat something, there's still that metal flavor in your saliva. It could also be zinc, which actually increases your sense of taste temporarily. My advice to get rid of this taste comes from a pregnancy treatment for dysgeusia: rinse with warm salt water 3X per day, and focus on oral hygiene for a few days. Floss really well, then brush with a paste made from baking soda. This will increase the pH of your mouth, and reduce the bacterial population.

The bottom line is, the nuts are either rancid (if they smell stale, they are stale) or contain more metal than pine nuts that you are used to. This could be due to the species, or the soil, but it isn't dangerous. In the future, just buy nuts from a different country of origin (Italy, Korea, the US). And be sure to give the rest of your Chinese nuts to the bird. They won't taste the difference.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): It's actually pretty tasteless, but to those who are thinking of trying it, beware, it has a strong laxative effect

1) Everclear and Nyquil. 'Nuff said.
2) Natto
3) Something about steam from Cleveland.

Everybody just move along...

Maybe they forgot to shake a dead chicken at their tongue, sounds more likely to work than either of those 2 obviously home-made remedies

** Runs off to patent **

That's right, I'm blaming the OP's taste buds for this.

Fat Kid Protip: If you're eating something and it makes things taste horrible, either don't eat it, or you're a fat kid.

I'm a fat kid. No problem with pine nuts here.

rpm773
Scientician