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If you are ever stuck with curry stains on your shirt, there’s apparently an easy way to get curry stains out: sunlight.
Twitter user Saitama no Tanuki recently shared the tactic. “Curry stains are weak against ultraviolet rays, so they’ll disappear with sunlight,” he explained, adding that long ago an Indian friend clued him in on the simple solution. “First, wipe the curry off with a tissue, and hang your shirt in the sun without making it wet…My friend’s advice has bailed me out a bunch of times when I wear white while eating curry.”
S&B Foods, one of Japan’s biggest curry producers, backs this up, explaining that it’s due to the turmeric used in curry. The spice contains a compound called curcumin, which gives curry its distinct yellowish color.
Although it’s resistant to dissolving in water, curcumin breaks down relatively easily in exposure to sunlight. Unlike Saitama no Tanuki, S&B recommends lightly washing the affected area first, with detergent or hand soap, before drying in the sun. In the case of the latter, the alkaline nature of the soap will cause the stain to turn red once it comes into contact with the acidic curcumin, but the stain should disappear completely with the next washing.
On the other hand, S&B cautions against trying to get curry out with bleaches. While that probably will cover up the stain, it’ll also discolor the surrounding area, and while you could argue that a white patch in the middle of your blue t-shirt looks better than a yellowish-brown one, it’s really not much of an improvement.
Sources: Jin, S&B Curry
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3 Comments
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backtobed
Breastfeeding mothers have long known about the bleaching effects of the sun when dealing with yellow poop stained clothes. I'm therefore not sure that the turmeric has much to do with it at all.
Jack Stern
Will it work on yellow mustard, too?
GalapagosnoGairaishu
I consider my curry stains a yellow badge of courage. Best way to avoid them is eat the curry with rice, using a spoon, instead of naan, and tucking the napkin into the front of my shirt.