How We Handle Mustard Spills

Mustard is, by far, one of the most difficult spills to remove. That’s because it is considered a combination stain, and each portion must be addressed individually. Traditional yellow mustard contains mustard seed, color from turmeric, and liquid, while Dijon contains all those plus wine, and worse yet Dijonnaise could contain both wine and mayonnaise. When we receive a garment with a mustard spill, here’s how we go about tackling it:

Determine how old the stain is and whether there were any prior stain removal attempts.
If the customer doesn’t disclose at drop off, try to identify the type of mustard on the garment.
Test the garment in an inconspicuous place to make sure there will be no dye bleeding.
Begin the stain removal process by focusing on each element individually, starting with the oil portion of the stain and moving on until each portion – vegetable, wine, dye – of the stain has been addressed.

As much as we’d like to give you advice on how to remove a mustard stain at home, we can’t. Working on it at home will likely remove the dried on portion but leave discoloration from the turmeric color. With this stain, we believe it is best to not mess with it at home and instead take it to a professional.