Korean Job Discussion Forums

[agoodmouse]

Kimchi is a good stain maker, unfortunately. Last night I wore my white cotton jacket out to my favorite galbi restaurant. Apparently, there was a smear of kimchi on the back of my chair and it stained the bottom of my jacket pretty badly. Not a large stain, only 3 cm big. But it's orange and looks bad, especially against the white color of the jacket.

I've applied liquid dish washing detergent and laundry detergent, but it's still there in a faint way. I'm going to keep applying soap and washing it away until it goes away. Any solution to get rid of kimchi stains?

[drunkenfud]

Don't know if it's true or not, but I've heard soaking it in soju for a few hours before washing will do the trick. Probably an old wives tale however and may even make things worse.

[Scouse Mouse]

Soju will probably do it... it's an awesome cleaner! I

Also try soaking it (or just the stained part) in diluted bleach. Don't leave it too long, and if the jacket is not a brilliant white, do all of the jacket or none at all!

[JustJohn]

I've bleached white clothes before, but I would like to know a better solution as well. There have got to be some old timers on here who know the answer to this one.

Or maybe someone can just ask an ajumma? They've got to know...

[nobbyken]

I didn't get a kimchi stain, but some red-brown spicey sauce at VIPS buffet last week.
It dried before I saw it, but only 20mm long at the edge near the front.

Water, soap, toothbrush, even tried some vinegar. Dried it with a hair-dryer to check progress and I can still see a faint stain, but only cause I know it's there.
Otherwise it is gone, but I was nearly going to call the 세탁소 for a proper clean, but wanted it for Monday. Maybe I'll drop it by this long weekend.

EDIT: I would use bleach as your last resort. Also, butter is amazing at shifting glue type things. Lets start a thread about stain removing?

[Fresh Prince]

I don't know about kimchi but hairspray works on pen stains and marker stains. Just spray the area with a lot of the hairspray so it gets absorbed into the fabric, then after a few minutes of letting it set, throw it in the wash.

Rubbing alcohol works for shoe polish stains; not sure about kimchi.

[Lekker]

I think I saw Oxy Clean at Costco.

[OiGirl]

Korean Oxyclean is different from American Oxyclean. Which one did you see at Costco?

I've taken all kinds of interesting stains to my dry-cleaners. I'm sure they know what to do about kimchee stains!

[Fishead soup]

Wearing Kimchi stained clothes is considered disrespectful in Korean culture. and could be grounds for a dismissal.

[Whistleblower]

I was expecting a rude joke about missing the toilet or something.

[smurfetta]

You can buy a stain remover from any grocery store. It is in a red bottle and it is called 비트. Just dab it on and let sit for a while. Then, throw it in with your regular laundry. I've used it before to get out kimchi stains and it worked

[Mr. BlackCat]

I had the exact opposite experience.

I dropped a huge piece of kimchi on my nicely dry-cleaned white shirt a couple of weeks back. It was there all day and I pointed it out to my students as I got the standard 100 "Do you eat kimchi?" question. Whatever, I thought, this one's gone. I have a couple more whities in my closet.

Later that day I was playing some sports with the teachers. I just bundled up my shirt in my bag. A couple of days later I took it out ready for either the cleaners or the garbage.

No stain. At all. Gone.

*Cue twilight zone music*

I refuse to tell the Korean teachers at work. Lord knows they don't need more fuel for their kimchi fire.

Still, though. That's pretty amazing. Maybe it really does cure cancer.

[yingwenlaoshi]

I would think kimchi would come out easy. I don't remember having any permanent kimchi stains. Maybe because I was washing in cold water?

One thing that stays permanently is lajiaojang(sp?). It's the red chilli sauce you get in China and Taiwan.