How to Remove Soy Sauce Stains

All liquid stains, including soy sauce stains, are easier to remove if you get them immediately - while they are still wet. Soak up the initial spill with white paper towels or a clean white rag (try for cotton, but whatever is available - time is of the essence). If sopping up the mess and rinsing with water is not enough, read on...

An ammonia solution can neutralize the acids and odor in soy sauce stains. Mix a tablespoon of clear ammonia in about four or five ounces of water. Apply it to the stained area using a spray bottle or by sprinkling it over the spot, but be careful not to let it soak through the underside of the carpet. Sop it up after a minute with plain white paper towels or clean white cotton rags.

Repeat this process a few times. Then use a solution of dish soap (a few drops) and warm water (one cup) to rinse out the ammonia and to help clean the soy sauce that might remain. Apply and blot up the solution a few times.

Get the detergent out of the carpet using water. Apply, blot, apply... continue until the spot is clean. You can put your nose to the spot to see if any odor remains from the soy sauce, the ammonia or the detergent. If so, rinse again.

Dry the area quickly to prevent any remaining stain that is deep in the fibers from migrating up to the surface with the moisture. Pat down the area with clean rags or white paper towels, and put a fan where it will blow across the spot for a few hours to finish the drying.

That should be enough to remove soy sauce stains, but even if there is no visible stain you might want to once again give the sot a "sniff test" a few days later, to see if anything remains.