This is taken from an article in the Calgary Herald, dated Monday May 9, 2011., author Denise Ryan. “It’s the sort of thing that drives you crazy; a tin foil taste on your tongue and everything you eat tastes bitter. It has a name – “pine nut syndrome” or “pine mouth”. Facebook even has a Page – “Damn You Pinenuts.” It typically appears about 2 days after ingestion of a rogue pine nut, and can last for up to 2 weeks!
Larry Stefan, from Vancouver, was struck two weeks ago – he simply cannot eat because everything tastes horrible. The syndrome hit him a couple of days after he enjoyed some pine nuts sprinkled on a salad. A wine lover, with a 2,500 bottle cellar, Stefan couldn’t choke down a glass of good red. It tasted like vinegar. A January report in the Journal of Toxicology suggests that taste disturbances following consumption of pine nuts is related to a species from Southern China. It is a relative newcomer to the billion-dollar-a-year global pine nut market. Some suppliers are taking action to limit imports from southern China.
The source of a bag of pine nuts can be problematic to trace, as pine nuts are sold in bulk on the global market, & the pack you pick up off the shelf could contain pine nuts from a variety of sources.”
Very interesting article — don’t think I will be eating pine nuts any time soon — I want to enjoy every glass of my fine wines!!
