Which other spices besides cloves will react with plastic?

I am reading that cloves can cloud the plastic in my grinder at Cooking for engineers

Does this happen with any other spices?

spices grinding

Best Answer

I've had a good look and as far as I can see only cloves and allspice have this property. Most websites specify that it's due to an oil present in cloves however according to Wikipedia the main chemical components in clove oil (admittedly not cloves but fairly similar) are:

Bud oil is derived form the flower-buds of S. aromaticum. It consists of 60–90% eugenol, eugenyl acetate, caryophyllene and other minor constituents.

Leaf oil is derived from the leaves of S. aromaticum. It consists of 82–88% eugenol with little or no eugenyl acetate, and minor constituents.

Stem oil is derived from the twigs of S. aromaticum. It consists of 90–95% eugenol, with other minor constituents.

As neither eugenol, eugenyl acetate nor caryophyllene have this property the oil that does cause 'plastic clouding' must be fairly low.

Likewise the main chemical components of allspice oil according to Essential-oils.co.za are:

eugenol, menthyl eugenol, cineol, phellandrene and caryophyllene.

None of these chemicals have chemicals with that property. However many of the chemicals in allspice and clove are also present in nutmeg, black pepper and cinnamon.

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Can cloves melt plastic?

Compounds in the clove oil cause plastic to \u201cmelt.\u201d It's not the only spice that will do it, either. Turmeric, curry powders and paprikas will also \u201cmelt\u201d plastics.

How do you get the clove smell out of plastic?

If you have a plastic cap that's scratched and permeated with clove; soak the cap overnight in a strong solution of water and baking soda. This may help with the clove aroma, but won't fix the scratches.

Can I put whole cloves in a blender?

So, how do you grind cloves? You can either use a dedicated spice grinder or coffee grinder, you can get a milling/grinding attachment for your bullet blender, or you can go old school and use a mortar and pestle to grind your cloves by hand for the freshest tasting spice you can get.

How do you turn cloves into powder?

How to Grind Cloves

Bring a cast iron or other non-coated pan to medium high heat.

Place whole cloves into pan and toss for 2 minutes or until fragrant.

Immediately remove from heat and let cool.

Move cloves to a spice mill, coffee grinder, or mortar and pestle.

Grind until cloves are a fine power.

Eat 2 Cloves per Day, See What Will Happen to Your Body

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Nick Collins, Miguel Á. Padriñán, Fredox Carvalho, Glaucio Guerra