At my place of employment there are complimentary Bananna Peppers for the customers to take and I have developed quite an affinity for them. Alot of times I’ll fill up a styrofoam cup with them and bring them home to snack on later. I have noticed, though, that after a while of sitting in the fridge there will be yellow food coloring and crystallized salt on the outside of the cup, as if the pepper juice has leeched out of the styrofoam. Is there anything in the peppers that might be dissolving the styrofoam? As far as I know this is probably not the case but I am not sure if the acetic acid or salt or any of the other chemicals in the peppers might be causing the polystyrene to dissolve and thus poisoning me when I injest them later.
I’m not sure what a Banana Pepper is, but you might want to hold off on the foam cups, as this article from Cecil warns:
Why does tea make holes in plastic foam cups?
Arjuna34
I think Banana Pepper is another name for Pepperoncini - a spicy/sweet/tangy pepper that is usually pickled in brine and served in salads, on Italian Cold Cuts and other subs. I am guessing the brine is mainly vinegar & salt and therefore fairly acidic. But I seem to recall from chemistry class that acids don’t react with styrofoam, so I’m not sure what’s going on.
Complimentary Bananna Peppers?! 