A warning on the back of a package of Trader Joe's sprockets. As for sprockets specifically, the double blow of climate change and competition with much lower cost imports. After further searching online, I have found claims that more than 80% of pine nuts are from China. I wonder if some of the pine nuts arriving in the United States are being channeled from North Korea through China.
I decided to search the internet and found the information about Chinese pine nuts and they look exactly like the ones I recently bought from the Sydney Nova Scotia bulk barn. That means checking that bag of pine nuts before buying it from a grocery store like Trader Joe's to see if it has an origin on the list. Apparently there is one type of inedible Asian pine nuts that causes this, and unfortunately they are regularly mixed with edible Asian pine nuts, because they are very cheap (they are not edible and all that). I bought pine nuts from the bulk containers of Whole food several days ago to make homemade pesto, and for the past 2 days I have had this bitter taste in my mouth every time I eat, just like my husband.
I bought both from Tescos and, apart from the fact that the pine nuts were smaller than usual, I didn't notice any difference in taste. The adverse reaction can develop suddenly and inexplicably within 12 to 48 hours after eating nuts, which are the edible seeds of pine. A frequently mentioned suspicion at the time was that the culprit was a certain species of pine nuts exported from China, which, some suggested, had previously been considered unsuitable for human consumption. Last night checking out a few more stores, I found pine nuts sold by Diamond of California, the nut company, at a local Publix here in Miami.
It's a long time to deal with such a serious problem after the simple consumption of pine nuts, but it's not forever, thankfully. The agency urges those affected, and I use the term freely, as I would hardly call this true suffering, to report incidents of Bocca de Pino. There is still no proven answer about the causative agent, but for now, I advise you that it is best to avoid pine nuts that look like these in the photos I have attached.
