Weird question, admittedly, but a couple months ago, I found a jar of thick black molasses (Brer Rabbit brand, I think) in my kitchen pantry that had somehow popped its screw-on top and spilled down the back of my pantry. As I recall, it seemed to have fermented and had bacteria growing in it.
I cleaned up the wretched mess, but today my housekeeper found a can of Mandarin oranges (previously located underneath the molasses) all distorted–puffed out, basically–and said that a hole was eaten into the side of the steel can. I saw the can; she’s right. If that’s not enough, the can is totally empty and the rear wall of the pantry now has a black goo running vertically to the hardwood floor. (A hell of a mess, I assure you.)
At first I thought the can of oranges had gone bad and exploded, but the top of the can has a dried-up black goo all over it. The can also has some bacterial growth like mildew (botulism?) growing on the side, right where the hole is.
A quick Googol search seems to indicate that molasses is corrosive. Could it have really caused that much damage to a steel can? What’s going on–aliens???