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oki doke... will give that a try.

Also, will spend more and try not to complain about it for products made in the US or at a minimum in countries that take pride in engineering a high quality product.

I guess if we buy all the cheap stuff coming out of China we are part of the problem.

FYI about the Usa urban legend:
http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/usa.asp

And a little bit about American companies committing the real Made in USA scam:
http://glo.bmwe.org/public/journal/1999/09sep/b04.htm

There was a time not too long ago when Made in Japan had the same connotation as Made in China does today. Today, Made in Japan is right up there with Made in PickAWesternCountry. I too despise many of the unscrupulous practices by despicable businesses in China. But I blame the entities within the US border for importing this junk and the American public for creating a demand for it.

It has nothing to do with adblock. It's spam that appears in every thread.

Let me tell you about another terrible Chinese import: Pine nuts.

One day, I tried to buy some Italian pine nuts at an upscale grocery store. They told me the Mediterranean nuts had gotten way too expensive, so they sampled me with a bag of the Chinese ones (I knew the manager). I used them to make dinner.

The next day, we were meeting an old friend for wine and a nosh. Before we met up, I was positive that my breath smelled like a dog's, because my mouth sure tasted like the other end of one. I popped into a CVS to buy one of those disposable toothbrush/toothpaste things. They look like a suppository with bristles, so I wasn't surprised at how they tasted.

We're at dinner, and the wine is just awful. Somebody else tries it, says it's fine and takes over the glass. The food was pretty bad, too, and this was an expensive restaurant. The only thing I liked was the fries, although everybody else found them too oversalted to eat.

Starting to see a pattern, here?

It wasn't my breath. It wasn't the food, or the wine. Every thing I put in my mouth tasted like a chewed aspirin. Bitter as hell. Sweets. Savories. Coffee. Booze. Everything tasted like chemicals. Only salt was OK.

Like any self-respecting modern hypochondriacal American, I go home and Google "bitter taste." Up come page after page of hits, all with the same phrase in them: "Pine mouth." It is a mini-epidemic. Seriously. It's called a taste inversion, and it can last for weeks. And it's caused by only one thing--Chinese pine nuts.

Fast forward a few days, and I've got Mulder and Scully in my apartment. Seriously. Two FDA agents in blue jackets with "FDA" in those huge, white letters on the back. Apparently the helicopters were circling too high up for me to hear. I can only imagine what my neighbors thought. Especially when they emerged carrying a package of pine nuts in an evidence bag. I am not making this up.

So, the bottom line is, yes, this is a known health issue being investigated by the FDA. No one knows what Chinese pine nuts actually are--they are clearly not identical to European pine nuts, or perhaps they are processed or stored differently. No one can identify what in the nut is causing the reaction, or why some people eating them will be affected, and some won't. Or whether there are any long term effects.

One thing I do know: if this import came from any other country but China, you'd all have heard about this on the news by now.

Very well said jscout - you are exactly right. When I think about how much satisfication I derive from getting a cart load of Target for $x I realize I am part of the problem. Until fairly recently, I had been a stay at home mom merrily going about her way and not really paying too much attention to world at large (living in my little bubble!). Circumstances have changes vastly in my world - my eyes are opening to what many of you probably already knew -- The US is in deep doo-doo. How and why this is happening is scary, embarrassing and I guess a little bit bewildering.

My apologies for posting about an urban legend... Will read the article you posted. I have become very interested in this topic.

Marcolo,
We were cross posting... Is nothing sacred?...why can't Truffles from France and Pine Nuts come from wherever they come from (preferably someplace other than China).... truly frightening - I get my pine nuts from Trader Joe's - please tell me that isn't where your pine nuts came from.

I don't know what we can do about Chinese anything, except perhaps the spamming that has become ubiquitous.

The same ad was showing up this weekend from a poster with another name I emailed Gardenweb calling their attention to the ads and to the fact that the poster had registered January 5. Those ads disappeared, but the same company has resurfaced with a new name. I think that if an OP gives GW a heads-up at "letters and comments," the newer "poster" can be disappeared as well.

As to whether it is possible to institute a permanent device to preclude the company re-registering with a new user name, I don't know.

Cheers. hbk

Hahahahha, Marcolo! I, too, have experienced the dreaded "Pine Mouth." I cooked with them frequently during our 5 yrs in China because they were readily available in all the stores and weren't nearly as pricey as here in the US. Thank God for the internet on this one, as I thought I was going crazy with the weird taste in my mouth.

I am so grateful to be back here where food is real food. Where strawberries and salmon are not spray-painted red. And I no longer have to get my kids' antibiotics at 3 different pharmacies (different drug lots) because 50% are useless counterfeits. (If it doesn't seem to work, switch lots on day 2 and hope for the best.)

We miss so many things about China...but never miss Chinese-made ANYTHING. )-:

Who knew about Chinese pine nuts?? Incredible.

You're so right jscout - don't blame China if you're buying SUV loads of crap in Walmart every weekend. I'm as guilty as the next person, but at least recognition of the problem is the first step in rehabilitation...

One could write abuse@ecommerce.com
and complain about their client idea-zx.com for posting html spam everywhere or paying a third party to post it.

The physical IP seems to be in columbus, ohio.

Or complain directly to amyliu@zxcabinetry.com - at least it'd annoy her to a certain extent.

BTW, I saw the truffle story on 60 minutes. The impression I got was that because Chinese truffles are harvested by humans, they are mostly harvested before they are "ripe." The Europeans used to use pigs but now dogs. These dogs are trained to only sniff out ripe truffles. It's very possible that if the Chinese adopted the European methods of harvesting, the quality would be very different, maybe even acceptable.

While we're on the subject of truffles, I found out that most truffle oils are synthetic. Pick up a bottle and look at the ingredients. It's called "Truffle Aroma." In other words, you're eating perfume. The Urbani family was featured in the truffle story as legitimate purveyors of truffles. They were highly critical of the French importers of Chinese truffles. But take a look at the ingredients of any Urbani truffle oil. That's right, Truffle Aroma. They are as guilty of propagating substandard truffle products as the importers of Chinese truffles. Bunch of hypocrites.

I totally avoid anything with truffle oil when I see it on the restaurant menu now. It's just not the same.

bmore, all that would do is give them a valid email to send email to. Don't contact them.

They are like stink bugs. Every thread I open, bam, it's there.

And it smells like a stink bug too.

Or maybe that's the pine nuts.

Maybe we should all post a thread...on every GW forum...saying we'd never buy any products from spammers. Like this company :)

Marcolo- That's terrible! I hope you don't have any other problems, from that 'food'. That would scare the $*^& out of me!

Wow. Glad I read this. I had a bag of pine nuts from Costco in the freezer. Took a look and sure enough: "Product of China." In the garbage they went.

Hmmmm...then again, it might be an excellent diet aid. Maybe I should dig them back out.

I just bought pine nuts from whole foods bulk section tonight. I sure hope they weren't from China.- they tasted really good, and so did the blood orange sorbet that I just had!

I made a choice over 5 years ago to try to not purchase things made in China. I no longer shop at Target, and I read labels like crazy. I think about 90% of my purchases are made anywhere but. It's very hard, but in the process I've become less of a 'consumer' and more aware of what I bring into my home. Still bummed that the only brad nails I can find for my cordless nailer are made in China.......

Yup--Whole Foods gets them from China.

Not everyone gets Pine Mouth from the nuts.

Oh, I just realized there's now a notice about the investigation on the FDA website.

Here is a link that might be useful: FDA on Pine Mouth

I bought a jar of pine nuts with large, flowery letters saying "Importato" and a picture of, I cannot quite recall, gondolas and gondaliers or something. Turns out it was "importato-ed" from, you guessed it, China. Can't say I wasn't warned!

Regarding a theme upthread, here is a picture I took from a bullet train a few years ago:
{{gwi:1542881}}

oldhousegal, I commend you. I'd love to be living that way - as they say "every journey begins with a single step".

I found a website created by a grad student from Singapore who is studying "food perceptions" of all things. This entire website is dedicated to unraveling the "great pine nut mystery" (don't you love the internet!).

Here is a picture of pine nuts. "S" is apparently what you want. "A" is what you don't want. Similar in size.. posting another pic below which is a close up of "A".

{{gwi:1542882}}

close up on PNS (pine nut syndrome) inducing pine nut
{{gwi:1542883}}

Funny... Target house brand of pine nuts has only had one reported case of PNS but Trader Joe's has had 69 cases.... maybe I'm not ready to give up on Target yet (maybe I am still being naive to believe everything I read on the internet.... looks pretty credible to me though - will link the website below).

Here is a link that might be useful: The Great Pine Nut Mystery

Bee, I have some email accounts that I use just for this kind of purpose - contacting people who should not get my professional address.

Thanks for starting this thread Mamadadapaige.

And Jscout.
RIGHT ON!!!!! I wish this information were more available
to the average joe. In Germany products from China
have a difficult time entering the country and the
taxes, price hikes etc... go up so if you want the cheap
kitchen cabinets, clothing, lipstick, candy... you will
have to pay a higher price for the made in china products.
The items made in Germany are not cheap but they bring
jobs to Germans and help to keep the country stronger.

I wish the US would so something similar here.
~boxer

I don't usually participate here, but stumbled upon this thread and thought I'd pass on info about pine nuts. I've ordered from this site before. They also carry organic shelled unsalted pistachios, which are impossible for me to find locally. They carry both Mediterranean and pine nuts from china, so you know what you are getting. I try to not buy any food (or much else) that originates in China. Who's regulating anything over there? I have no affiliation, and this site has great customer service.

I also found a source for wild pine nuts from the US. I've just ordered some to try. If anyone is interested, I can pass that site on, too. I usually buy organic, so this link is to the organic choice. I think they might have non organic, too.

Here is a link that might be useful: non-chinese pine nuts.

I've just noticed something. I said earlier that if this product came from anywhere but China, it would be all over the news.

Guess what one single salient fact is missing from the FDA warning page I linked to?

Where they're from.

Do you suppose this is a (allergic) reaction to some part of the plant/nut that is not yet ripe? Thus, perhaps the problem is not the pine nut per se or even literally its country of origin, but its processing? There are plenty of other such fruits and vegetables with this kind of problem - pick em too early and you can die, even, in some instances. Perhaps this is analagous?

I have zero evidence to support this random theory, it just seemed to ring a bell pattern-wise.

I must say when I first read this it sounded like pure hooey to me - sorry Marcolo.

But I guess my suggestion is not entirely without evidence. I did once find some nice pine nuts while out hiking that when I ate them, produced this sort of reaction. They were grown in the USA ;) I just presumed they had been unripe, leading me to wonder about these commercial ones too.