Bill:  Actually meat stains are more of a food (protein) stain and should come out with your prespray, Matrix Grand Slam and All Fiber Rinse extraction. If there is a residue left, then I would try Red Relief. Being olefin you aren’t going to hurt it.  This was a way too easy question so let me wax nostalgic for a minute …

The only time I have been fooled with BBQ sauce was during a spotting class. I made up some stained carpets and used BBQ sauce from my refrigerator. No one in the class could get out the suspicious yellow stain that was left after spotting. It looked a lot like the mustard yellowing that is frequently left behind. We tried Stain Magic, heat, Red Relief and anything else we could find.

When I went home I looked at the ingredients on the BBQ sauce bottle.  Sure enough it contained “turmeric”! Here is probably more information than you ever wanted to know about “turmeric” from Wikipedia.  Note the frequent mentions of turmeric being used as a “food coloring agent”.

Steve:  Uh-oh.  When Big Billy says it is “probably more information than you ever wanted to know” ya better batten down the hatches!

Turmeric grows wild in the forests of Southeast Asia. It has become the key ingredient for many Indian, Persian, Thai and Malay dishes, not only in curry, but also in masak lemak, rendang and many more.

In Indonesia, the turmeric leaves are used for Minangese or Padangese curry base of Sumatra such as rendang, sate padang and many other varieties.

Although most usage of turmeric is in the form of root powder, in some regions (especially in Maharashtra), leaves of turmeric are used to wrap and cook food. This usually takes place in areas where turmeric is grown locally, since the leaves used are freshly picked. This imparts a distinct flavor.

In non-South Asian recipes, turmeric is sometimes used as an agent to impart a rich, custard-like yellow color. It is used in canned beverages and baked products, dairy products, ice cream, yogurt, yellow cakes, orange juice, biscuits, popcorn color, sweets, cake icings, cereals, sauces, gelatins, etc. It is a significant ingredient in most commercial curry powders. Turmeric is mostly used in savory dishes, as well as some sweet dishes such as the cake Sfouf.

Although usually used in its dried, powdered form, turmeric is also used fresh, much like ginger. It has numerous uses in Far Eastern recipes, such as fresh turmeric pickle which contains large chunks of soft turmeric.

Turmeric (coded as E100 when used as a food additive) is used to protect food products from sunlight. The oleoresin is used for oil-containing products. The curcumin/polysorbate solution or curcumin powder dissolved in alcohol is used for water-containing products. Over-coloring, such as in pickles, relishes, and mustard, is sometimes used to compensate for fading.

In combination with annatto (E160b), turmeric has been used to color cheeses, yogurt, dry mixes, salad dressings, winter butter and margarine. Turmeric is also used to give a yellow color to some prepared mustards, canned chicken broths and other foods (often as a much cheaper replacement for saffron).

Turmeric is widely used as a spice in South Asian and Middle Eastern cooking. Many Persian dishes use Turmeric, for the coloring of rice bottoms as well as a starter ingredient for almost all Iranian fry ups (which typically consist of oil, onions and turmeric followed by any other ingredients that are to be included). In Nepal, turmeric is widely grown and is extensively used in almost every vegetable and meat dish in the country for its color as well as for its medicinal value. In South Africa turmeric is traditionally used to give boiled white rice a golden color.

Quoted from Wikipedia

Steve:  You are right Bill.  That is waaaaay more information than anyone really wanted to know.  What … is Papa Nick paying you by the word now?  This cut-and-paste stuff can easily get out of hand!  (Plus it is cheating!)

Bill:  Here is one other helpful bit of information. You may have seen turmeric stains turn red when treating them.  Why you ask?  Or maybe you don’t really care but I am on a roll so I’m going to tell you any way …

Turmeric contains up to 5% essential oils and up to 5% curcumin, a polyphenol. It is the active substance of turmeric and it is also known as C.I. 75300, or Natural Yellow 3. The systematic chemical name is (1E,6E)-1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1,6-heptadiene-3,5-dione.

It can exist at least in two tautomeric forms, keto and enol. The keto form is preferred in solid phase and the enol form in solution.

Curcumin is a pH indicator. In acidic solutions (as in below 7.4 pH) it turns yellow whereas in basic pH (over 8.6 pH) solutions it turns bright red.

Quoted from Wikipedia

So who needs pH paper any more!  Just visit any Indian restaurant instead!

Steve:  Now you are talking!  I’m up for a bit of “field testing” any time when it involves ethnic foods!

I attended last January’s SFS Class in Florida and found it very helpful in many ways.  However, now I could really use some advice/assistance.  I hope you can help me!

I am new to the carpet cleaning business and even newer to upholstery cleaning.  In January I signed up for Jon-Don’s Free Lifetime “Spot Out” program (which I love!) and have distributed about 150 bottles to my customers.  Today I received a call from someone (not my original customer) who said they used my Spot Out product on a dining room chair and it left a “water ring”.  When I asked about the fabric code/type she said she didn’t know as she bought the high end set second hand.  However, she “thinks” the fabric is rayon.

Since she isn’t my customer and I personally did not give her the Spot-Out my first instinct was to run away but she does have the Spot-Out with my logo and information on it.  So she convinced me to come out and “clean” all of the chairs for a charge.

Here are my 3 questions, Bill:

A. If the chair seats are rayon- can I wet clean them? How can I tell if they are rayon?

B. If I can’t wet clean them, is there a method of dry cleaning, (which I have never done) that I should use?

C. If I can’t “low risk” clean them at all, can I at least spot clean the ring from the Spot Out?

I would greatly appreciate any help you can give me.  Thank you!

Grasping in Gainesville

Dear Grasping,

Steve Toburen likes to say that “no good deed goes unpunished.”  This case is tricky as she has created a water ring which probably means that it is a natural fiber such as cotton or rayon. (Rayon is really just cotton that has been mixed with a high alkaline chemistry and extruded.)

If you can get a yarn off the bottom of the fabric (or try inside a chair skirt) then do a “burn test”. (Cotton/rayon will burn quickly and leave an orange burning ember that does not extinguish easily.)

If it is cotton or rayon a water ring will be difficult to remove. Your best bet, after you have explained that you cannot guarantee removal, is to clean it with Matrix All Fiber Rinse paying special attention to the ring. Add 1-2 ounces of isopropyl alcohol to the solution. Immediately dry it using a hair dryer on the cool setting until it dries. It may take a couple of attempts.

If this process does not get it all out bring some cheesecloth with you and after you have cleaned it wrap the chair cushion in a few layers of the cheesecloth (try weighting it with something to speed up the absorption) and the residue may wick into the cloth.

When you are doing the burn test if the fiber turns to ash quickly without the orange ember and smells like burning hair you may have silk which will be even more difficult. If that is the case use distilled water instead of tap water.

If your client starts being “difficult” (I think Steve calls them “discriminating” in SFS) remind her that the bottle states to test fabric before using the product.

Steve:  Bill, I would add that much of this conversation should happen over the phone even before Grasping takes on the job.  It is called “pre-qualifying”, otherwise known as “Not letting the customer’s problem become your problem”!

As for dry solvent cleaning it will not be effective as  a water-based stain can only come out with water. A petroleum solvent does not work on water rings or spots.

Good luck. Don’t try to be a hero. If you make it worse she may try to get you to replace all the chairs on your nickel.  (Read Steve’s comment above once again!)  One other option is she could take the cushion to a dry cleaner and they may be able to work on it in their plant.  Let us know what happens.

Bill Yeadon