I think I wrote you guys awhile ago about a pine nut related topic. I love them but won't serve them anymore because of a weird reaction my husband had, which you can read about on Wikipedia (which I've copied below) and is pretty scary!:

<B>Risks of eating pine nuts
A small minority of pine nuts can cause taste disturbances, developing 1–3 days after consumption and lasting for days or weeks. A bitter, metallic taste is described. Though very unpleasant, there are no lasting effects. This phenomenon was first described in a scientific paper in 2001. Some publications have made reference to this phenomenon as "pine mouth". This is a relatively new phenomenon and appears to be most common in nuts coming from China. It has been theorized that the nut trees are absorbing something and passing it on to the nuts, or the nuts themselves are being treated with something before packaging. It is also possible that the nuts have spoiled and are rancid, however the foul flavor is metallic and not rancid. Also, it has been hypothesized that this bitter side affect is caused by an allergy that some people may have to pine nuts, but this does not explain the recent appearance of this syndrome. Metallic taste disturbance known as metallogeusia, are reported 1-3 days after ingestion, being worse on day 2 and lasting for up to 2 weeks. Cases were self-limited and resolve without treatment.

I keep pine nuts in the freezer. They thaw very quickly, and they're delicious if you lightly toast them in a skillet.

@Squirrely thanks for the warning!

I love shelled pine nuts. I wait for the season every year and I buy them in pounds (raw). I've tried the unshelled pine nuts from the grocery store but it's not as sweet and it's too dry. Me and my boyfriend can eat a pound of it in one day = )

I got "pine mouth" for the first time a few weeks ago. It was very unpleasant and lasted for 5-6 days! I might not risk eating them again.

After getting pine nut mouth for almost a month I will never touch another pine nut in my life. It was horrible. The worst punishment for a foodie.

I agree! I thought I had something very bizarre going on health wise, and my husband had the same symptoms. Trying to decide if we needed to schedule a checkup, I did a quick search - and came across the "pine mouth" problem.

Reflecting, I realized we'd both had hummous with pine nuts a few days before. It tainted everything you ate, and was almost like trying to have an appetite while dealing with the flu. I too am reluctant to indulge in them again if there's risk of going through all of that once more.

i have heard there is a "u-pick" farm for pine nuts somewhere above Ojai. Does anyone have any info? I'd love to forage my own pine nuts. I am finding it more and more difficult to find pine nuts not from China.

Jeez! I've never heard about pine nut mouth...that would really put a damper on Pesto (the primary thing I make that includes pine nuts). Imagine serving your dinner party a pesto-flavored dish and having this happen?

I remember the difficulty of harvesting pine nuts only to find the tough outer shell. I was camping in a converted old school bus with 2 other guys on a construction project. After work we used the unshelled nuts as currency for poker games...until the squirrels found our stashes...At least someone won.

My GF and I both had pine-mouth after eating the fabulous rough pesto our local pub serves. We'd had it many times before and been ok which is odd. It really put us off pine nuts which is gutting but two weeks of absolutely everything you eat tasting metallic was nasty. We have not had it from other things containing pine nuts so I think it was a particular batch... Most annoying.

I just had pine mouth last month and it was pretty horrible First time ever. Thought it was liver damage, cancer, death etc! hahahaha until i realized I had made homemade pesto sauce with pine nuts!!!

My husband was lucky enough not to have it but mine lasted two and a half weeks. I don't think I can eat pine nuts again unless i'm sure they are not from china.

I love pine nuts and use them in the veggie main dish, nut roast. And they are a great topping for .

...a great topping for main dish, hearty salads. (Sorry about the premature comment posting!)

If you are lucky enough to live in some areas of Australia then fresh bunya nuts are a tasty substitute and can be easily found in parks and sidewalks. I only picked up two cones this year and still have almost a kilo in the fridge (which I need to cook up and freeze before they go rancid).

I've always read the bitter taste that can be caused by pine nuts is due to pine nuts turning rancid (but you won't know till after you eat them and experience that icky bitterness, because they don't taste off).

A few weeks after I first read about this, I ran into a friend I hadn't talked to in a while and she described this weird everything-tastes-bitter experience. I asked her if she'd had pine nuts a day or so before the bitter happened. Her eyes got wide. "Yes!! Pine nuts can do that to you?! I thought I was getting mouth cancer or something!"

Good source for pine nuts or pignoli nuts there are American organic grown they are superb in-shell raw or shelled raw there web sight is www.wholesalepinenuts.com a simple comment to let you know you don’t have to buy importer pine nuts any more.
They have a bitter-free guarantee. Mike