How to Remove a Chocolate Stain

By Matt Oden | Comments | Food and Drink Stains → Chocolate

Chocolate is a scrumptious treat - until you find it splattered on your favorite blouse, ground in to your light-colored carpet, or soiling your sofa cushions. Although removing chocolate stains can make chocolate seem more like a trick than a treat, knowing how to get chocolate out of fabrics, upholstery and carpet can help you save clothing, shoes, furniture and carpet that may otherwise have been destroyed.

Removing Chocolate Stains From Clothing

Chocolate syrup on your best blouse or a piece of a melted chocolate bar stuck to your jeans can seem like the end of the world if you've tried and failed at removing chocolate stains in the past. Act fast, and your chances of saving your clothing are high.

Treat the stain according to whether it's liquid or semi-solid. In the case of a liquid chocolate stain, such as chocolate syrup or hot chocolate, begin rinsing the item of clothing with cool water immediately. It's important to use cool water, as applying heat of any type to stains will only set them into the fabric. In the case of a semi-solid stain, scrape away as much of chocolate as possible, then rinse in cool water. After rinsing as much of the chocolate out as possible, pre-treat the fabric with a laundry stain remover or plain old laundry detergent. Wash in cool water; add color-safe bleach to the wash water if the fabric is colored, and if the item can be safely bleached using liquid chlorine bleach, add bleach to the water. Check the fabric after washing to determine that the stain has been removed. Do not dry in the dryer until the stain has been removed completely; pre-treat and wash again as needed until the stain has been removed.

Removing Chocolate Stains From Shoes

If melted chocolate has dripped on your shoes, don't fret yet - here's how to get chocolate out of almost any type of shoe!

For smooth leather, rubber and vinyl shoes, simply wipe away the chocolate with a damp cloth. If any discoloration remains on leather, blot the shoe with talcum powder, which should soak up any oils the chocolate has left on the shoe.

For canvas or other cloth shoes, wipe as much of the chocolate off the shoes as possible with a damp cloth. If any stain remains, treat with an upholstery cleaner.

To remove chocolate stains from suede shoes, blot away as much of a liquid chocolate stain as possible, or scrape away a semi-solid stain. Treat any remaining stain with a suede cleaner.

Removing Chocolate Stains From Upholstery

Finding a chocolate stain on your upholstered furniture is no treat, but removing these stains is often not so tricky.

How to get a chocolate stain out of upholstery depends on whether it is wet or semi-solid. Wet chocolate stains should be blotted up as soon as you discover them. Treat any stain left behind with an upholstery cleaner. For a semi-solid stain, scrape off as much of the chocolate as possible, and treat any remaining stain with an upholstery cleaner.

Removing Chocolate Stains From Carpet

Chocolate stains on carpet can equal an icky mess. Work quickly to remove the stain, and your carpet will look good as new.

Blot up a liquid chocolate stain as soon as it's discovered. Blot with a cloth dampened with cool water until the cloth comes away clean. Treat any remaining stain with a foam or liquid carpet cleaner, or with a steam cleaner or other carpet cleaning device.

Brush away semi-solid chocolate ground into your carpet, vacuuming up the pieces. If any stain remains behind, treat with a foam or liquid carpet cleaner, or use a steam cleaner or other carpet cleaning device.

Knowing how to remove a chocolate stain can help you salvage washable fabrics, shoes, upholstery and carpet that could be stained beyond repair without quick action. Keep this list of chocolate stain removal methods at hand so that you're never stumped by a stubborn stain!