This is a separate post since I could not be of much help with the
post on spalting below but have something similar. I made two bowls
our of red pine (perhaps not the best wood but it grows well where I
live). Both bowls developed dark areas (I assume some sort of fungus
or bacteria) as the rough bowls dried. Because of the dark areas the
bowls hardly look as nice as the picture in the link in the post
below. But does anyone know how safe it is to use a bowl with
potentially a fungus in the wood for food - say popcorn? Would certain
finishes help?