Q. My girlfriend bought a pound of pine nuts last week and we went through the whole bag. Now I have such a terrible bitterness in my mouth I can’t stand it. I tried everything possible and it does not go away. I cannot enjoy any food. What’s going on?
A. Nuts from the Chinese white pine, Pinus armandii, can sometimes trigger a bitter metallic taste that may last up to two weeks (“pine mouth”). Between July 2008 and June 2012, 500 people registered a complaint about pine mouth with the FDA (Food and Chemical Toxicology, Oct., 2013). The nasty taste eventually goes away on its own. Sadly, there do not seem to be any means of speeding recovery from this unpleasant but non-dangerous condition.
