Can you taste if somethings touched a paper towel?

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thatguywhowearseyeliner
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08 Oct 2015, 5:50 pm

I dry my apples off after i rinse them because i need to weigh the slices and water is heavy (dont try to logic me out of it, i know its stupid) and all our regular towels are always wet or dirty or stained with who knows what so i avoid them and use paper ones. In my recent mental decline id started noticing a horrible chemical type taste to my fruit, even after washing and drying it so thoroughly theres no way the pesticides could still be there. But its not there in the fruit my mom packs in my lunch (she doesnt dry the fruit before she cuts it). So like 5 minutes ago as i was eating apple slices i noticed the taste again and i polished the skin of another slice on my shirt and ate it and it tasted just like a normal apple. So im tasting the tiny ammount of whatevers in the paper towel that transfers to my food as i dry it. What the hell? How is this even possible? I swear i can smell it too when i use a paper towel to cover my pizza in the microwave...


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Noca
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08 Oct 2015, 6:03 pm

Are you on any meds that may cause a metallic taste? Some meds can have that effect.

I can't say that I taste if something touched a paper towel. If you really want to challenge your thoughts, then do an experiment. Blind fold yourself, have someone give you an apple that hasn't touched any paper towels, taste that and have someone give you one that has touched a paper towel without telling you which is which, do this several times and record the results. I honestly don't expect you to find that your fruit's taste is altered by whether it touches a paper towel or not but it would be fun to try the experiment anyway. Experiments are fun :)



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08 Oct 2015, 7:10 pm

No, I can't taste if something has touched a paper towel.

Maybe you could try a few different brands of paper towels until you find one that doesn't leave that bad taste? Or get some cloth towels of your own in a color that stands out from the rest of your family's towels (maybe orange or bright green or something) and use those only for drying fruit and nothing else.



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09 Oct 2015, 8:53 am

Are you sensitive to other tastes? A colleague of mine is a "super taster." She's NT but has more taste buds than a normal person. She has to eat only bland food because other stuff is overwhelming. I guess you could google that and see if that's it.



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09 Oct 2015, 9:53 am

I have hypersensitive taste buds, and I don't taste anything from wiping food with paper towels.
I think Noca may have a valid point. Do any of your meds cause a metallic taste? Has your doctor changed your meds lately?


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thatguywhowearseyeliner
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09 Oct 2015, 1:17 pm

glebel wrote:
I have hypersensitive taste buds, and I don't taste anything from wiping food with paper towels.
I think Noca may have a valid point. Do any of your meds cause a metallic taste? Has your doctor changed your meds lately?

My meds were changed so maybe thats it. Its not metallic though it tastes like the pesticides thatre there if it isnt washed. Or i could be doing my thing where i suddenly find a foul taste in something i used to love and have to stop eating it :/


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Noca
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09 Oct 2015, 1:54 pm

thatguywhowearseyeliner wrote:
glebel wrote:
I have hypersensitive taste buds, and I don't taste anything from wiping food with paper towels.
I think Noca may have a valid point. Do any of your meds cause a metallic taste? Has your doctor changed your meds lately?

My meds were changed so maybe thats it. Its not metallic though it tastes like the pesticides thatre there if it isnt washed. Or i could be doing my thing where i suddenly find a foul taste in something i used to love and have to stop eating it :/

Do you happen to take Zopiclone? or Eszopiclone? Both are well known to cause metallic taste in your mouth.



thatguywhowearseyeliner
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09 Oct 2015, 10:29 pm

Noca wrote:
Do you happen to take Zopiclone? or Eszopiclone? Both are well known to cause metallic taste in your mouth.

No im on lamotrigine now. I looked and thats not a side effect so it seems to be my weirdness with foods


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09 Oct 2015, 11:13 pm

Paper towels have different (and, to me, quite strong) smells that vary by brand.

I figure the smells come from the chemicals used to make them and maybe, in some cases, to the plastic they're packaged in.

I've noticed some of them, if you use them for drying, impart their smell to the things you dry (e.g. dishes).


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10 Oct 2015, 12:42 am

I do taste food if it has been on one.


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10 Oct 2015, 12:55 am

Meds can cause foods to taste weird, and you can't taste if a paper towel has touched anything. You can imagine you do though and it can seem like it.

Also, fruit contains a bunch of water anyway. Drying them before you weigh them is pretty moot because of that.


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10 Oct 2015, 1:08 pm

thatguywhowearseyeliner wrote:
So im tasting the tiny ammount of whatevers in the paper towel that transfers to my food as i dry it.


Yes I can taste whatever food has touched...paper towels, plastic, metal, etc.

Any food that contains a lot of liquid will pick up those chemical residues more. It's just like the way bottled water leaches BPA out of plastic.

Foods like fruit or potatoes absorb a lot of water as they grow. They also absorb a lot of pesticides if they are not organic. You might also be tasting a pesticide.

Try using unbleached paper towels (the brown ones, like Seventh Generation). I've never noticed a bad taste with those.



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13 Oct 2015, 1:05 am

I never noticed a taste.


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