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It’s an age-old story: You order a hot dog at the ball game, stuff it full of mustard, and after the first bite, you realize the condiment is smeared on your shirt. A stain on your favorite T-shirt can be a huge hassle, but removing mustard from clothing is entirely doable.

The reason mustard is so hard to remove is because of the color of the mustard seeds and the turmeric that is often found in mustard. “Turmeric gives mustard its beautiful color and is a very difficult stain to remove,” explains Zachary Pozniak, a professional dry cleaner and owner of Jeeves NY.

The most important thing when removing mustard from clothing is timing—with this type of stain, you really want to act as quickly as possible. “Like any stain, it will oxidize over time and turn darker/yellow/brown,” Pozniak explains. “Similar to how an apple or avocado turns brown when cut open and exposed to air (oxygen).” Below, we asked Pozniak for his best tips on how to remove mustard from clothing so you don’t have to throw that t-shirt in the trash.

Pretreatment methods

According to Pozniak, mustard stains are extremely difficult to remove and will not come out without pre-treatment. Household products such as white vinegar or baking soda have no effect on mustard stains.

“You need to start with an oxygen bleach, ideally a soak in powdered oxygen bleach and hot water (140 F/60 C+),” Pozniak explains. “When curcumin comes into contact with a high pH solution (a basic or alkaline solution), it changes color due to the change in its chemical structure. This property makes curcumin a natural pH indicator. Vinegar has a low pH and will have no effect on a mustard stain.”

Step-by-step stain removal

1. Gently wipe, rinse or brush any excess mustard from the garment.
2. Soak the clothing overnight in hot water and an oxygen bleach powder. “Alternatively, you can spray the garment with a three percent hydrogen peroxide solution and let it air dry,” explains Pozniak.

   Note: Once you add oxygen bleach to the mustard stain, it will turn from yellow to red. The curcumin in turmeric turns red when exposed to alkaline solutions like oxygen bleach.

3. Next, apply an all-purpose stain remover to the garment. Make sure the formula contains lipase (an enzyme necessary to dissolve a stain).
4. Allow the solution to work for at least 15 minutes.
5. Wash the garment according to the instructions on the care label.
6. Next, you should inspect the garment before putting it in the dryer. “If the stain has been removed, you can dry the garment as recommended on the care label,” suggests Pozniak. “If not, you will need to repeat steps 2 and 5.”

More tips and tricks

According to Pozniak, using surfactants like dish soap or laundry detergent will help remove any kind of foreign soil from fabrics. Additionally, some people recommend using only cold water to remove stains, but Pozniak takes the opposite view. “To remove a mustard stain, you absolutely must use hot water – both while soaking in the oxygen bleach and when washing the garment,” he explains.

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