Tom, if your still lurking? I was thinking about this off & on: One of the first things that struck me was you might get that rubber taste, and also if you wanted to see if it changes anything you could try dumping some powder into or on something hot enough to melt the rubber. I'm not sure if that would work to see if the rubber came together at a melting point, but at what temperature would it start to melt? Might be to hot or hotter than what you'd heat any of your food too. This was only a thought as I agree with most of the others that it should be safe. Tom D Compton wrote: Here is a question for all the experts out there. I usually just lurk and learn, but this time I need some real help. I screw a canning jar onto my blender blade assembly and grind the peppers right in the container. As the volume decreases, I keep adding dried peppers till all is ground and the jar is full. This year, almost at the end, when I unscrewed the blade to add a few more peppers, I found about a one inch chunk of the (rubber?) gasket missing. -- Have A Good One Styx >:o)>