Another question about my Spice Cake……

There was Black goo found in the sealed jar of ground cloves that I was going to add to the Spice Cake. It didn’t wash off, stained my fingers and felt a little greasy. Any ideas?

These are the answers I found on the web:

"Spices such as turmeric, curry powders, ground cloves and paprika’s should be kept in glass or tin: they will "melt" plastic over time"

“I should think it's just the clove oils and sugars that have reacted with the metal. Guessing it's quite old, I'd probably toss it and just grind whole cloves as and when you need them.”

So what did I do, you ask?? I ground whole cloves into powder using a pestle and mortar just prior to using them and that ensured flavour and freshness were at their peak. You can’t have Spice Cake without the Spices! ☺