Preparing carrots for a Sunday roast, liquifying them ready to glug on the train into work or feeding them in puréed form to your baby is relatively straightforward.
That is, until you drop the carroty goodness onto your outfit, sofa or rug, and are left with a vast, unmissable orange mess to clear up!
The best thing to do is get rid of the eyesore as fast as possible. But how? Follow the steps below to remove carrot-related stains from clothes, carpets and upholstery.
Things to Know When Dealing with Carrot-Based Stains
- Treat the carrot stain quickly. The faster you react, the better your chances are of removing the carrot mark once and for all.
- Make sure you do a patch test with your chosen cleaning solution. A quick test will tell you if the solution will damage your item. Based on the results of this test, you can continue using the product or find something else to treat the carrot stain.
- Don’t dry your carrot-stained items until they’re entirely free from carrot mess. Heat sets stains and makes them difficult to remove. Save yourself the time and hassle by checking your garments over before sticking them out to dry.
- Handle delicate or vintage pieces with care. Items of this kind can be treated at home, but you must use mild cleaners suitable for the material. However, taking these items to a dry cleaning shop may be easier (and safer!).
- Carefully blot and massage the carrot-related stain. Harsh scrubbing actions will result in the carrot mess and juice sinking deeper into the material’s fibres. Consequently, the blemish will be trickier to eradicate.
- Some carrot-related stains will need to be treated more than once. Don’t worry about this; some blemishes are more challenging to remove than others.
- Use cold water. Hot water can set stains, so stay away from it.
- Try to keep the carrot blemish contained in one spot. When removing the mark, work from the outside of the carrot stain and towards its centre.
- If you see ‘Dry Clean Only’ written on the care label, take your item to a dry cleaning shop and get the garment cleaned there. You can buy DIY dry cleaning kits, but they get mixed results. Err on the side of caution and get a professional to help you.
How to Remove Carrot Stains from Clothes
Carrot juice can stain clothes, particularly if left untreated on an outfit. The pigment, β-carotene, is what gives carrots their deep orange colour. It’s this pigment that makes the orange blemish hard to remove.
Follow the instructions below to treat the stains.
Tools you need:
- Teaspoon
- Running cold water
- Optional: Lemon juice
- Optional: White vinegar
- Biological liquid laundry detergent
- Washing machine or hand wash tools
- Optional: Stain remover product
- Optional: Chlorine bleach
- Optional: Oxygen-safe bleach
Steps to follow:
- Remove excess carrot from the item of clothing using a teaspoon.
- Run cold water through the back of the carrot mark.
- For white clothes only: Add lemon juice to the stain to break it down. For colours: Place some white vinegar on the carrot marks.
- Wait five to ten minutes.
- Run cold water through the back of the carrot mark.
- Coat the whole carrot stain in biological liquid laundry detergent.
- Wait five minutes.
- Clean the item of clothing as per the instructions on the care label – use more detergent.
- Start the cycle.
- Check the item after the wash. If there are no carrot stains, dry the item. Continue with this method if you see orange blemishes.
- Use an official stain remover, like Vanish Gold Oxi Action or Dr. Beckmann’s Stain Devil’s Fruit & Drink, to remove the rest of the mark – see instructions on the packaging.
- Once you’ve treated your item of clothing, rewash it.
- Check the item after the cycle. If there are no carrot stains, dry the item. Continue with this method if you still see blemishes.
- For white, hard-wearing clothes only: Soak the item in a solution of diluted chlorine bleach for five minutes, then rinse and re-wash the item. For coloured clothes: Soak it in a solution of diluted oxygen-safe bleach, then re-wash the item. You must make sure that your item is bleach-friendly before trying this out.
- Rinse your garment.
- Rewash your item.
If you can’t remove the carrot-related blemishes from your item of clothing, take your garment to a dry cleaning store.
A professional at the store will have access to different tools and cleaning solutions and be able to help you further.
Note: Bleach can damage and discolour clothes, so make sure you do a patch test before you use it. Check the care label on your item to ensure it can be bleached.
How to Remove Carrot Stains from Carpets and Upholstery
Tools you need:
- Neutral-coloured cloths
- Teaspoon
- Cold water
- Washing up liquid
- Bowl
- Cup
- Optional: Vacuum cleaner
Steps to follow:
- Remove excess carrot from the surface. Wipe away the juice with a cloth or pick up the clumps with a teaspoon.
- Blot the surface with a damp, neutral-coloured cloth.
- Mix two cups of cold water with a blob of washing up liquid in a bowl.
- Dip a neutral-coloured cloth into the soapy water.
- Wring the cloth out – you don’t want to saturate the fabric surface. If you do, the area will take ages to dry, and if it doesn’t dry properly, you could end up with mould.
- Start blotting the carrot-covered surface. Use a new patch of cloth each time you blot so you don’t reapply the orange gunk.
- Repeatedly blot the surface until it is clean.
- Grab another neutral-coloured cloth, soak it in fresh tap water, wring it out and dab the area clean. You’re essentially ‘rinsing’ the area at this point.
- Blot the surface dry.
- Allow the area to dry naturally.
- For carpets: When the surface is dry, fluff it by hoovering it.
Alternative method
If you’re having trouble taking out the orange mark, you could use an official cleaner to treat the surface. For example, you could use Dr. Beckmann’s Carpet Stain Remover on carpets and Dr. Beckmann’s Upholstery Stain Remover on fabric furniture.
Both products come with brush heads that you use to work the activated oxygen formula into the blemished surface. They’re generally quick-acting products and are simple to use.
In addition to using an off-the-shelf product, you could call a professional carpet or upholstery cleaner for further advice.
Keep in mind that these services don’t come cheap. So, do your research beforehand!
How to Remove Carrot Stains from Tupperware
To remove carrot-related blemishes from Tupperware, try the following methods:
- Fill the tub with a cup of boiling water and a tablespoon of white vinegar. Then, leave the mixture to sit like this overnight. The next day, you can inspect the tub and repeat this treatment or try a different method. (Adjust measurements for larger pieces).
- Create a bicarb paste by mixing bicarbonate of soda and water (make sure it’s not too sloppy). Coat the entire tub with the paste and allow it to rest on the surface for one hour. After an hour, use an old toothbrush to move some of the paste off the surface. If the orange stains are still present, leave the bicarbonate of soda paste on the tub for longer.
- Place some vegetable oil on a piece of kitchen paper and rub the whole tub down. Repeatedly rub the carrot-stained areas and watch the colour transfer from the tub to the paper towel. Wash the tub out with warm, soapy water when you’re done cleaning it.
Bethan has a passion for exploring, reading, cooking and gardening! When she’s not creating culinary delights for her family, she’s concocting potions to keep her house clean!
