How to get strawberry stains out of clothes

Whether you’re enjoying some freshly picked berries in the middle of summer or curling up with a comforting jam and toast supper in the cold winter, strawberries are simply delicious. Fresh, fruity, juicy… and capable of making some really nasty stains on your clothes. If you find your white shirt’s showing the tell-tale signs that you’ve devoured some strawberries and ice cream over lunch, or if your kids wipe their jammy hands all over their trousers, don’t panic. The good news is that a strawberry stain – either from fresh berries or from jam – can be treated with a little knowhow.

How to Remove Strawberry Stains

Removing fresh strawberry stains on clothes, along with other types of fresh fruit, is very easy. Some water and a bit of Persil Bio laundry detergent should do the trick without any hassle. Here’s what to do:

• Remove any large pieces of strawberry from the clothing before tackling the stain. You can do this with your hands, or by using a spoon to gently scrape away any mushy fruit. Take care – you want to scrape the top of the fabric, not dig in.

• Use a pre-treatment on the stain, which should hit the discolouration head on. Using something like Persil Bio, which can claim full stain removal for strawberry stains, is an excellent way to save time as you can be sure it’s going to work well.

• Wash the clothing in the washing machine in cool or warm water, at a temperature of 30 degrees or less. This will flush out any remaining discolouration. Alternatively, soak delicate fabrics in cold (or slightly warm) water for a similar effect. While you can wash delicates in the machine, some people simply prefer the hand washing method for peace of mind.

How to Remove Strawberry Jam Stains

The method for removing jam is a little different to the technique used for getting fresh strawberry stains out of clothes. While the jam is very fruity, its main ingredient is sugar, so we need to take some extra precautions to ensure that sugar is removed efficiently. Here’s how:

• Scrape off as much jam as you can from the clothing using a spoon. Be very gentle here, as the scraping motion could encourage some fabrics to stretch. Be particularly careful with wool and other woven fabrics to make sure the fibres don’t split.

• After reading the care label and the directions on the label, apply a pre-treatment like Persil Bio. 

• Wash the clothing as usual – always follow the directions on the care label.