I Used to LOVE Joe's Nuts

Nuts, I love nuts.  I love Trader Joe's nuts and seeds, that is until I experienced what is known as a "taste disturbance."


A few days ago I was making a salad for lunch and decided to look through the cupboard for tasty morsels to toss in to my salad meal.  


Oooooooooooooooooooooooo!  I spied a bag of pine nuts, pine nuts that I bought from Trader Joe's, my favorite place to buy nuts because they are so reasonably priced.  


I went against my own rules when shopping and I didn't read the nut label, looking to see where the nuts are from; mistake.  If you are wondering, the nuts come from Russia or Korea.  I had heard that pine nuts from China are trouble because of how the seeds are harvested causing contamination. 


My salad was delicious until I tasted a "bad seed."  Immediately I had a metallic taste in my mouth, a taste that didn't go away.  No matter how much I brushed my teeth and tongue, the terrible taste was still in my mouth.  My dinner was horrible and my wine tasted bad; everything tasted bitter.


Like most people, I turned to the internet to Google my symptoms.  I typed in "metallic taste in mouth" and came up with results, a list that included pine nuts.  I didn't look at the pine nut result until after I read about the serious illnesses that have a symptom of a metallic taste; cancer and HIV were top of the list.  Not having any other symptoms of these serious illnesses, I read about pine nuts.


Eating a rancid pine nut can cause what is known as dysgeusia.  When one eats pine nuts the disturbance is also known as "pine mouth."  It's a weird sensation to lose ones ability to taste, especially when it's a sense that I use every day when I am preparing recipes.  My taste disturbance began like a shot and lasted for 3 days, just like the Wikipedia article had stated.  


What I have learned about pine nuts:

1. Avoid buying pine nuts from China, Russia and Korea.  They could be using a different variety of pine to harvest pine seeds, a variety that causes taste disturbances.
2. Spend the money and buy good quality pine nuts; Pine nuts from Italy are your best bet.
3. Store pine nuts in the refrigerator or freezer to help hold off spoiling

I used to love Trader Joe's nuts.  I trusted this store chain and found myself blindly purchasing nuts and seeds without looking to see where the nuts and seeds originated.  I have learned my lesson.  Imagine if I gave my mom some of these rancid seeds?  I can't even imagine what would happen; I don't want to find out.

If you find that after you eat some pine nuts and you have a horrible metallic taste in your mouth, where everything that you eat and or drink tastes nasty, you are experiencing a taste disturbance.  

What I did to help ease the lousy taste in my mouth was I took 2 teaspoons of Braag's Apple Cider Vinegar before I ate lunch and dinner; it seemed to help neutralize the foul taste.  This morning I woke up and my taste buds are back to normal.  Coffee tastes good again.  

Today I will celebrate with food and skip the pine nuts.