Has this ever happened to you?

[Luv to Cook]

Last nite my DH and I made some tilapia. It was very fresh and smelled like nothing. I love to eat seafood, but occassionally it tastes odd to me. A taste I can only describe as pesticide-y. My DH can never taste it, but I guess my tastebuds are more sensitive. What is this and how can I avoid it? Sometimes I cannot eat the rest of my dish in fear of getting that horrible taste!

Thanks.
Anita

[rosen]

This may be hard for me to explain...your taste buds & your sense of smell are closely related (ever had your food taste like the heavy perfume of the person sitting next to you?). Or it could be that the fish or some other ingredient in the meal was performing a chemical reaction to your saliva that gave you this "off" taste. (I know how gross that sounds...but it is true!) You were not dreaming, nor are you paranoid that you are over sensitive...this is just a unique-ness of being you!

[lindrusso]

Does it resemble ammonia at all? I get this sometimes with crab. I have no idea what it is, but I've noticed it and wondered about it myself.

[Vanessa]

I have smelled amonia (or at least thats what it smells like) once with crabmeat. Although DH ate the crabcakes I just could not eat it. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/frown.gif

[Julie O]

The ammonia smell is what chemists call an "amine"; not quite ammonia but close. Anyway, the amines form when the fish is past its prime, so it's probably a good idea not to eat it. (You might want to smell it at the store before you buy it. People might look at you funny, but at least you won't be buying rotten fish.)

[Luv to Cook]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Well, the mystery is still unsolved. The fish I had was very fresh and did not smell or taste of ammonia. I really wish I could describe it. All I can think of is "pesticide-y." I only know of one other person who has had this experience (my roomie from college). We have tasted this same thing on fresh grapes also. Of course, no one else could taste it and thought we were both nuts! Anyways, some day I will figure it out!

Thanks again.

[Carolyn]

My guess is that the problem is in your taste-smelling chemicals. Everyone is different: just read the reviews of the reciipes in CL. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif My husband has many combinations which do not taste good to him. These same combinations taste wonderful to someone else. He has also described a dish as tasting like perfume. It's hard to live with sometimes when everyone else loves the dish and you can't stand it, but you probably have many dishes you do love. Enjoy them!

[lorilei]

I wonder if what you tasted had something to do with chemicals used to mask "off-flavor" in fish like catfish and tilapia...

I read an article some time ago about how fish farms are having trouble with an off-flavor developing in their fish, due to naturally present algae and actinomycetes bacterium. The off-flavor is so problematic that they are looking for ways to mask the flavor. Chemicals are sometimes used for this purpose.

Maybe you tasted an "off-flavor" fish. Or maybe you tasted a chemical they used to treat the fish?

Not claiming to have an answer -- but it's at least a possibility. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

[sneezles]

I agree with off taste of some catfish and tilapia (I personally don't care for tilapia). Some catfish are really mud cats which really have a bad taste. We have lbue catfish in our ponds and they don't taste muddy or funny at all.

[tovie]

I don't eat fish/seafood, but I've occasionally had that happen with fresh fruit, peaches especially, and sometimes apples and citrus. But whenever I mentioned it, my family thought I was nuts, so I quit mentioning it and just try to quietly sneak the offending item into the trash (or feed it to someone else)