5 ms·

Once I developed pine mouth (https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/about-us/science/food-risk-studies/pine-nuts-and-pine-mouth https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.

Once I developed pine mouth (https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/about-us/science/food-risk-studies/pine-nuts-and-pine-mouth https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/about-us/science/food-r...). It was was one of the weirdest experiences I've ever had; I thought I had stumbled on some strange genetic metabolic disorder that was starting to manifest before I eventually figured out what it was. Basically, everything with carbohydrates started tasting super metallic and bitter, a little like soap or something, and it lasted for days. At first I thought it was all pine nuts. Eventually, after being in a study, and with more attention and study of it, people figured out it's linked to certain reactions some people have to certain species of pine trees in Asia. So then I started becoming picky about where the pine nuts come from, and discovered the US was a major producer of pine nuts up through WWII. I started buying pine nuts from local producers, from which I learned a fair amount about them, that there's different varieties of different size and oil content, with different taste profiles, oil content, and shelf-life. I love pine nuts and am happy in theory to buy them from whereever, but it did open my eyes a bit to possibilities that aren't really being realized. It seems like the US market is drying up due to lack of demand and/or competition, but it would be interesting to see local producers thrive, with an emphasize on varietal quality, sort of like apples etc.

lizknope 5y ago
I had the same thing happen about 10 years ago after buying a bag of pine nuts and eating them all in 3 hours. The strange metallic taste from everything had me worried until I read about it on the internet. It lasted about 3 days and went away. I still eat pine nuts in pesto and probably some other sauces but I never eat a lot by eating them directly from a bag.
tkahnoski 5y ago
Ditto. Mine was most noticeable with the taste coffee. I probably cleaned/rinsed the coffee machine three or four times in an effort to improve what was otherwise something I couldn't control. After about a week of playing Dr. Google finally discovered pine mouth and realizing the home made pesto from last week had pine nuts in it.
- kevinmchugh 5y ago
  Coffee frequently reveals anosmia/parosmia/the end of either. Doesn't surprise me that it would have a similar interaction with pinemouth. It's a strong flavor, early in the day, every day. Since I learned anosmia is common with covid I've paid extra attention to how my morning caffeine tastes.
  - erie 5y ago
    Some people could be craving coffee because of iron deficiency yet coffee contains natural compounds called tannins that can prevent your body from absorbing iron.
  - dml2135 5y ago
    Oh this is interesting -- since having Covid in January, coffee is one of the things that still smells the most off to me.
    - ncmncm 5y ago
      Some people say fluvoxamine will fix that. (I have no personal experience.) It is at least safe to try. Please report results, if you do. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8094534/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8094534/
    - kevinmchugh 5y ago
      Smell training might help: https://abscent.org/learn-us/smell-training https://abscent.org/learn-us/smell-training
germinalphrase 5y ago
Same journey here. I thought I was developing a neurological [edit: problem] or something. It was unpleasant enough that I often substitute walnuts.
- JasonFruit 5y ago
  I refuse to see "neurological" made into a noun; not on my watch! But don't feel bad; "adjective" was originally an adjective as well.
  - germinalphrase 5y ago
    Edited to save your neurologicals.
    - burning_hamster 5y ago
      The fact that your username is germinalphrase makes this exchange so much better.
      - Wistar 5y ago
        Eponysterical.
    - JasonFruit 5y ago
      Thanks. You did me a solid.
      - catskul2 5y ago
        I see what you did there.
        wizzwizz4 5y ago
        I saw your do.
schwartzworld 5y ago
I got called out by the chef at the restaurant I was working at. "It's so weird, my mouth just tastes metallic all the time no matter what I eat." "Been stealing pine nuts from the line?" "Yup."
- Wistar 5y ago
  Pine mouth and Chinese/Asia-sourced vs. Italian/Mediterranean-sourced pine nuts. https://www.britbuyer.co.uk/chinese-vs-italian-pine-nuts/ https://www.britbuyer.co.uk/chinese-vs-italian-pine-nuts/ Also Australia's NSW Food Authority's post about pine mouth: https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/about-us/science/food-risk-studies/pine-nuts-and-pine-mouth https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/about-us/science/food-r...
- neither_color 5y ago
  This seems like a good way to reinforce a keto diet. If these pine nuts don't have any other side effect besides makings carbs taste bad this looks like a new health supplement idea!
  - kevinmchugh 5y ago
    People in this thread report the effect with things other than carbs, "even water tasted bitter". Gymnemic acid could be an option, since it effectively turns off the sweet taste buds.
samstave 5y ago
>> Once I developed pine mouth This is HN. I though you developed an app called "pine mouth"
- squarefoot 5y ago
  And the Pinenut is also a product. https://www.pine64.org/pinenut/ https://www.pine64.org/pinenut/
reeddavid 5y ago
When I found pine nuts for only $16/lb at Trader Joe's, I thought I'd hit the jackpot. I made pesto, and even snacked on the pine nuts while I cooked. Then I had a terrible, 2-week long experience with 'pine mouth'. Everything tasted awful: coffee, muffins, cereal, meat, vegetables – even water tasted bitter. And during the first few days, before I realized what was happening, I threw away tons of perfectly safe food that I thought had spoiled. I never found out how common pine mouth was, but I was really upset that the risk wasn't better communicated.
- Wistar 5y ago
  I looked at the TJs pine nuts just a couple of days ago, and maybe this has been recently added, but there is a clear pine mouth warning on the bag.
climb_stealth 5y ago
Oh wow, I think I ran into this once as well. It was such a strange experience. In my case my Shinramyun instant noodles started tasting metallic and soapy for a few days. I thought there was soap on the cutlery or something and couldn't work it out. I'm so glad you mentioned this as it explains a lot.
UncleOxidant 5y ago
I had pine mouth about 20 years ago. I switched over to using walnuts in my pesto after that. But something in that video got me wondering: The guy talks about how they let the cones ferment for a couple of weeks before they extract the nuts - but then later on says something about not letting them ferment too long. I wonder if this is an Asian method of processing the cones that isn't done in other areas of the world and if the fermentation goes on too long will the nuts be effected and give one pine mouth?

lizknope 5y ago

I had the same thing happen about 10 years ago after buying a bag of pine nuts and eating them all in 3 hours. The strange metallic taste from everything had me worried until I read about it on the internet. It lasted about 3 days and went away. I still eat pine nuts in pesto and probably some other sauces but I never eat a lot by eating them directly from a bag.

tkahnoski 5y ago

Ditto. Mine was most noticeable with the taste coffee. I probably cleaned/rinsed the coffee machine three or four times in an effort to improve what was otherwise something I couldn't control. After about a week of playing Dr. Google finally discovered pine mouth and realizing the home made pesto from last week had pine nuts in it.

kevinmchugh 5y ago
Coffee frequently reveals anosmia/parosmia/the end of either. Doesn't surprise me that it would have a similar interaction with pinemouth. It's a strong flavor, early in the day, every day. Since I learned anosmia is common with covid I've paid extra attention to how my morning caffeine tastes.
- erie 5y ago
  Some people could be craving coffee because of iron deficiency yet coffee contains natural compounds called tannins that can prevent your body from absorbing iron.
- dml2135 5y ago
  Oh this is interesting -- since having Covid in January, coffee is one of the things that still smells the most off to me.
  - ncmncm 5y ago
    Some people say fluvoxamine will fix that. (I have no personal experience.) It is at least safe to try. Please report results, if you do. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8094534/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8094534/
  - kevinmchugh 5y ago
    Smell training might help: https://abscent.org/learn-us/smell-training https://abscent.org/learn-us/smell-training

germinalphrase 5y ago

Same journey here. I thought I was developing a neurological [edit: problem] or something. It was unpleasant enough that I often substitute walnuts.

JasonFruit 5y ago
I refuse to see "neurological" made into a noun; not on my watch! But don't feel bad; "adjective" was originally an adjective as well.
- germinalphrase 5y ago
  Edited to save your neurologicals.
  - burning_hamster 5y ago
    The fact that your username is germinalphrase makes this exchange so much better.
    - Wistar 5y ago
      Eponysterical.
  - JasonFruit 5y ago
    Thanks. You did me a solid.
    - catskul2 5y ago
      I see what you did there.
      - wizzwizz4 5y ago
        I saw your do.

schwartzworld 5y ago

I got called out by the chef at the restaurant I was working at. "It's so weird, my mouth just tastes metallic all the time no matter what I eat." "Been stealing pine nuts from the line?" "Yup."

Wistar 5y ago
Pine mouth and Chinese/Asia-sourced vs. Italian/Mediterranean-sourced pine nuts. https://www.britbuyer.co.uk/chinese-vs-italian-pine-nuts/ https://www.britbuyer.co.uk/chinese-vs-italian-pine-nuts/ Also Australia's NSW Food Authority's post about pine mouth: https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/about-us/science/food-risk-studies/pine-nuts-and-pine-mouth https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/about-us/science/food-r...
neither_color 5y ago
This seems like a good way to reinforce a keto diet. If these pine nuts don't have any other side effect besides makings carbs taste bad this looks like a new health supplement idea!
- kevinmchugh 5y ago
  People in this thread report the effect with things other than carbs, "even water tasted bitter". Gymnemic acid could be an option, since it effectively turns off the sweet taste buds.

samstave 5y ago

>> Once I developed pine mouth This is HN. I though you developed an app called "pine mouth"

squarefoot 5y ago
And the Pinenut is also a product. https://www.pine64.org/pinenut/ https://www.pine64.org/pinenut/

reeddavid 5y ago

When I found pine nuts for only $16/lb at Trader Joe's, I thought I'd hit the jackpot. I made pesto, and even snacked on the pine nuts while I cooked. Then I had a terrible, 2-week long experience with 'pine mouth'. Everything tasted awful: coffee, muffins, cereal, meat, vegetables – even water tasted bitter. And during the first few days, before I realized what was happening, I threw away tons of perfectly safe food that I thought had spoiled. I never found out how common pine mouth was, but I was really upset that the risk wasn't better communicated.

Wistar 5y ago
I looked at the TJs pine nuts just a couple of days ago, and maybe this has been recently added, but there is a clear pine mouth warning on the bag.

climb_stealth 5y ago

Oh wow, I think I ran into this once as well. It was such a strange experience. In my case my Shinramyun instant noodles started tasting metallic and soapy for a few days. I thought there was soap on the cutlery or something and couldn't work it out. I'm so glad you mentioned this as it explains a lot.

UncleOxidant 5y ago

I had pine mouth about 20 years ago. I switched over to using walnuts in my pesto after that. But something in that video got me wondering: The guy talks about how they let the cones ferment for a couple of weeks before they extract the nuts - but then later on says something about not letting them ferment too long. I wonder if this is an Asian method of processing the cones that isn't done in other areas of the world and if the fermentation goes on too long will the nuts be effected and give one pine mouth?