I googled and found this site and it's been so helpful to read. I bought pine nuts from Trader Joe's on Sunday and added them to a flatbread that night. The bitter taste in my mouth started Tuesday morning and it's been very strong. I know I've bought pine nuts from Trader Joe's before without incident. But after buying them at Whole Foods a few years ago and liking them better I've been getting them there. Out of convenience I purchased these at Trader Joe's.

This is such a strange thing since it seems that there's no rhyme or reason for why it happens in some people sometimes with some pine nuts.

Hi,

It's been a few years, is this issue of problem pine nuts over?

I need to buy some and want to avoid stepping into this issue.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

It's been a few years, is this issue of problem pine nuts over?

I need to buy some and want to avoid stepping into this issue.

Regards,

I think if you avoid Chinese pine nuts and buy the Turkish ones, you'll be fine. Both are available at Tenuta's in Racine. The Turkish cost a little more, but since this issue surfaced I've avoided Chinese pine nuts completely in my own cooking. I can't speak for what I've been served in restaurants.

Aren't most of the pine nuts from China though? I know that all of Whole Foods packaged ones are. I don't know about their bulk ones, or if they even carry bulk ones. I know a few years ago when I researched this, there was a company in California that grew their own, but when I was looking they were out of them. They were strictly mail order. I can't remember the name. The only thing I used to use them for a lot was pesto. When they got to be $25 a pound, I just substituted walnuts. Last time I bought some a few weeks ago, walnuts were $7.99 a pound bag at Trader Joe's though. I believe they are cheaper at Aldi's though.

As far as I know even the Chinese pine nuts are still $20 a pound.

I reluctantly purchased pine nuts this summer from Costco, reluctantly because they were from China. But I needed a lot of them so I rolled the dice. I baked a couple of almond-pine nut cakes that I've referenced elsewhere (a la Pasticceria Natalina) and used others in bruschetta and pasta. On the plus side, I didn't experience any of the bitterness complained of. However, I didn't find them to be as aromatic and flavorful as the best ones I've tasted.

For folks who are up north, Poeta's in Highwood carries Italian pine nuts and they're very good.

=R=

Poeta's Food Market
520 Green Bay Rd
Highwood, IL 60040
(847) 432-3037

Lets keep this thread up since pine nuts are so hard to find and expensive and then again the pine mouth problem seems to crop up. I see tiny bags of pine nuts at the grocery and buy when I am in need but would like to buy a bigger supply but want something high quality. I use pine nuts in pesto, and some baked goods. Also any mail order sources that are good are appreciated.

ronnie_suburban wrote:For folks who are up north, Poeta's in Highwood carries Italian pine nuts and they're very good.

=R=

Poeta's Food Market
520 Green Bay Rd
Highwood, IL 60040
(847) 432-3037

These cost $10.95 for a half pound container. I was hoping they might measure out 3/4 pound, because at this price I didn't want extra. Nope, half pound or full pound only, so I bought half pound.

These nuts were smaller than those at Costco, they toasted up nicely for the Caponata I made.

Regards,

Cathy a half pound of pine nuts roughly translates to a part of a cup or what? Or a full cup or more. Trying to visualize.

toria wrote:Cathy a half pound of pine nuts roughly translates to a part of a cup or what? Or a full cup or more. Trying to visualize.

About a cup.

I am wondering about their availability in some of Chicago's Nut companies. There is the San Fillippo company as well as Superior Nuts and this one called Chicago Candy and Nut. Perhaps someone know of an outlet type place for them where they could be purchased in larger quanties cheaper.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/chicago-candy-and-nut-chicago

I can't get enough pine nuts -- salads, pizzas, pastas, desserts . . . I've recently purchase pine nuts from four different places: Eataly, Whole Foods, Costco and Harvestime.

Eataly's were easily the best (and most expensive), and you can tell that they're the Mediterranean ones. That's because they're noticeably longer and less round.

Costco's and Whole Foods' were just fine. I'm guessing they're Chinese or Korean, but they were fine for most uses. I didn't detect off flavors, though they just didn't have the same wonderful taste or aroma as did the ones from Eataly.

Then there were the ones from Harvestime. These were awful. When I opened the container and smelled the pine nuts, there was a noticeable ammonia odor that never really dissipated. I toasted some and though the ammonia flavor disappeared a bit, it never really went away completely and the nuts were just not very flavorful. Also, they were noticeably smaller than even the ones from Costco and Whole Foods.

In sum, I would absolutely avoid the pine nuts from Harvestime. Costco/Whole Foods would be just fine (though Costco's are less expensive). But if you want the best, Eataly.

Note: I'd be shocked if some of the better Italian shops around (e.g., Graziano) don't have them, but I haven't checked of late.

BR,

Thanks for this comparative, because I haven't bought pine nuts since this off-taste issue began. I have to admit the price presently is a bit off-putting.

Doesn't Trader Joe's offer pine nuts? Has anyone had any recent experience with them?

Regards,

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23891758
This 2013 scientific study of "pine mouth events" attributes the cause to one species of pine, Pinus armandii, the Chinese white pine:
"Between July 2008 and June 2012, the US Food and Drug Administration received 501 consumer reports of prolonged taste disturbances consistent with pine mouth syndrome. Consumers consistently reported a delayed bitter or metallic taste beginning hours to days following consumption of pine nuts that recurred with intake of any food or meal. This dysgeusia lasted in some cases up to a few weeks, but would eventually resolve without serious health consequences. To evaluate these reports, a questionnaire was developed to address various characteristics of the pine nuts consumed, pertinent medical history of complainants and other dysgeusia-related factors. Pine nut samples associated with 15 complaints were collected for analysis. The investigation of reports found no clear evidence of an underlying medical cause or common trigger that could adequately explain the occurrence of dysgeusia in complainants. Rather, the results of our investigation suggest that the occurrence of "pine mouth syndrome" in US consumers is correlated with the consumption of the pine nut species Pinus armandii."

After reading this, I Google searched "pine mouth" and "Pinus armandii" together, and found this LA Times story from last year that had the helpful information that eating sugar, to cure the bitter pine mouth taste, actually made things worse:
http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-ra-bad-taste-in-my-mouth--20140722-column.html

And, this Wired article http://www.wired.com/2014/07/orange-juice-toothpaste/ posits an interesting theory that some pine nuts, when reaching your small intestine, stimulate an overproduction and dumping of bile into the gut, with the side effect of a bitter metallic aftertaste.

Cathy2 wrote:Doesn't Trader Joe's offer pine nuts? Has anyone had any recent experience with them?

I'll let others answer this question -- I've never tried TJ's.

BR wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:Doesn't Trader Joe's offer pine nuts? Has anyone had any recent experience with them?

I'll let others answer this question -- I've never tried TJ's.

Hopefully by now Trader Joe's now purchases the correct species.

Thanks Tom for highlighting the issue of genus and what caused the metallic taste.

Regards,

As long as we're getting in to the details, pinus armandii (Chinese white pine) is a species, not a genus. The genus is pinus, which encompasses all species of pine trees and all their products, including pine nuts.

Katie wrote:As long as we're getting in to the details, pinus armandii (Chinese white pine) is a species, not a genus. The genus is pinus, which encompasses all pine trees and all their products, including all species of pine nuts.

Thanks, Katie, you are quite right. I've edited my post, changing "genus" to "species" and "pinus" to "Pinus."

I feel like if you're going to ask stores about it, it's very important to get the pronunciation right.