Against Clothes Stained with Wine or Vinegar (Cow Milk) – 2014

In A Profitable Booke, there is a recipe for removing stains using cows milk.  I only found one instance of this recipe in the collections I reviewed.

Against clothes stained with wine or vinegar.

Take of warm cow milk and wash your cloth therein, or wash it in whey and salt, other else as soon as your clothes are so stained by mischance of wine or other things, do cast of salt thereon incontinent, so then it will preserve it from staining, where it be woolen or linen.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 cups cows milk

Warm the milk and wash the items in the warm milk.  Rinse with clean water.

pH ~7 (neutral)

RESULTS:

This recipe was specifically for wine stains and it was the best recipe I tested at removing the wine stain.  The other stains were OK but still left very noticeable traces on the fabric.  For this experiment, I just used the warm cow’s milk but for future experimentation I wish to try the whey & salt method as well and see how that compares.  I also want to try the method of applying salt as soon as wine is applied to the fabric to see if the salt helps the wine not to stain the fabric as much.

A. Olive Oil – Gone

B. Red Wine – Gone

C. Mustard Sauce – OK

D. Green Sauce – OK

E. Blood – OK

F. Mud – OK

G. Beeswax – Not Good

H. Iron Gall Ink – Not Good

Gone	No noticeable trace of stain remaining
Mostly gone	The stain has mostly been removed but there is a slight discoloration
OK	The stain has been lightened but there is still a noticeable discoloration.
Not Good	No change or the stain is still very noticeable.