Remove Red Wine Stains From White Clothes With a Hot Milk Bath
Wine stains suck, especially if your brand new white shirt is wearing red wine. There are many ways to get rid of these stains , but consider pouring yourself milk the next time that happens to you.
I found this tip, courtesy of Christophe Jasmine, owner and manager of Thazard , while reading about some of the other great wine stain removal tips at Wine Folly . Here’s what Jasmine recommends :
… I start by bringing some milk to a boil (enough to cover the stain), remove it from the stove before it actually boils, soak the painted piece of material for about 30 minutes, then rinse with cold water and finally I throw it in the washing machine along with the rest of my clothes. Any cycle will do (yes, even a thin one). It works for me every time.
Ok, how does it work? How does milk make the blush disappear? No, you don’t paint red with white. It actually has something to do with what is in the milk. The color-giving substance in wine or phenolic compounds do not like to hang in water or other materials as much as they like to have fun in the organic, fatty phase – like in milk. This way, the dye is actually absorbed by the fat of the milk itself , leaving stains on your clothes. And the higher the fat, the better, so use whole milk if you have one.
According to Jasmine, the best part of this trick is that you can just keep drinking when a spill occurs. The warmth and fat content of the milk should do the trick when you get to it. So you don’t have to hit the big red Wine Spill Emergency button, rip off your clothes and waste half the party quoting Lady Macbeth in the bathroom.