Tomato Stains Revisited and Tea Stains, too
Friday November 25, 2005
Remember when I put my plastic spoon out in the sun because it was stained with spaghetti sauce? Well, even if you don't -- the experiment worked. The spoon came out completely clean and looked brand new. (See the spoon before and after.)
So, "Brendan" recently left a comment and asked what it is about the tomatoes that caused the stain. According to wikipedia, it's the lycopene:
"Lycopene is not water-soluble and instantly stains any sufficiently porous material, including most plastics."
In more stain-related news, I have found that the sun, if you can get it these days, is quite handy for stains. I live in the South, so we're big fans of "sweet tea." What I'm not a fan of, however, is a perpetually stained tea jug. So I set it out in the sun just like I did the spoon, and voila -- who knew that pitcher wasn't brown to start with?
Comments
Ok, but does anyone know how to get tomato based stains out of clothes. I am fed up washing childrens clothes several times only to eventually give up and admit defeat and throw the clothes away. Does the sunshine method work for clothes too? And even if it does, is there anything else I can do to remove these stains as I live in cold and rainy England!
Many thanks
Call me a nut but I carry a stain stick in my purse at all times to hit the stains that set in like that, right away. It’s by Spray n’ Wash or Shout, I think. Green tube that looks like a giant glue stick and is about the same texture. Then when I get home, I soak the item overnight after disolving a little OxyClean powder in some boiling water first, topping with the hottest tap water I have. Very rarely does anything need a second wash. If it doesn’t come clean the first time, don’t put it in the dryer and let it air dry or put it right back in the soak. Hope this helps…Kristen
(In rainy, dreary, Surrey, BC, Canada)