"Pine Mouth" - I Haz It

[chomiji]

Or at least, I think I have.

Apparently, some people get a nasty, bitter metallic taste in the back of their mouths after eating certain batches of pine nuts (pignolia).

The green bean appetizer at our new local pizzeria place has pine nuts. I had some on Sunday night and ate the leftovers two or three days later. And now I have this distinctive, gronky metallic taste back around my molars and tonsils. It's not like a sinus infection, which I have had before.

Here, have some links about this:

• Pine mouth puzzle: Why do these nuts leave you with a bitter taste? (U.K. Daily Mail, May 18, 2009)
• Foodborne Fear Factor & other random stuff (Minnesota Dept. of Health, June 10, 2009 - scroll to p. 3)
• A nutty problem: Experts try to sort out why certain types of pine nuts seem to afflict some eaters with a bitter aftertaste that can last for days (Baltimore Sun, October 7, 2009)

It can last for weeks, some say ... .

Comments

Gah.

[the-resa.livejournal.com]

I likes my foods to not leave a metallic taste in my mouth for weeks ...

[red_squared]

D:

Does eating lots of chocolate work, to remove the taste?

[jinxaire.livejournal.com]

Blech! I'm not big on pine nuts but at least I don't have pine mouth...

Try this: "put one tablespoon of ginger in 4 ounces of water then drink and repeat every 15 minutes 3 times."

Taken from: http://www.steadyhealth.com/Bitter_taste_in_mouth_after_eating___part_2_t205113_st20.html

I do have a sensitivity to sulphurous foods, though, like onions, garlic and durian.

Re: Gah.

[chomiji]

It's not pleasant! But it's actually going away, it seems. I'm lucky I didn't eat more of the things.

[chomiji]

Actually, anything with a strong flavor would beat it temporarily. It was things with subtle flavors that were hard to eat: my sandwich wrap at lunch today was very weird whenever I got a mostly lettuce-and-wrapper bite (and right now I'm eating a Stayman apple, and every time I pause, I can taste the bitterness again). But it's fading. I'm very glad I only had a tablespoonful or so of the little suckers.

[chomiji]

Hmmm, I may try that if the phenomenon is still there tomorrow. It seems to be fading out, thank goodness.

Ginger is good for lots of things! I love these - and they're good for a sore throat.

[jinxaire.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear it's fading.

Fresh ginger makes me kind of nauseous (tastes like dishsoap to me) but I really do love ginger candy like those gingerpeople chews and Reed's candy. Ironic, haha.