Bananas are my go-to breakfast fruit, whether I’m mashing them onto toast or stirring them into oatmeal. However, I used to avoid buying them because they’d turn brown and mushy so quickly, even when I’d just brought them home from the grocery store.

I hate wasting food, so I almost stopped buying them altogether, until one day, I accidentally left my bananas on the kitchen counter instead of putting them in the fruit bowl. The next morning, they looked fresher and more yellow than any other fruit I’d bought recently. That’s when I realized the fruit bowl is actually one of the worst places to store them.

Upon further research, I learned that bananas are highly sensitive to ethylene, an invisible gas produced by most fruits. While ethylene helps fruits ripen and develop flavor, too much of it in one area causes nearby produce to spoil instead.

Bananas release a significant amount of ethylene, and when stored near other ethylene-sensitive fruits like apples and avocados, this accelerates spoilage, according to the Express.

While it might seem logical to store bananas in a fruit bowl, this often leads to them softening and ripening too quickly. I’ve started keeping mine on a corner of the kitchen countertop, where they stay fresh for up to a week longer.

I’ve also found an even more effective method for extending their shelf life: I recently discovered that bananas release ethylene gas from their stems. So, wrapping their stems in aluminum foil or plastic wrap helps keep them fresh for weeks.

Aluminum foil or plastic wrap creates an airtight seal around the stems, trapping the ethylene gas and preventing it from circulating into the air.

Don’t make the mistake I did by using parchment paper—I’ve learned that it doesn’t work, as it can’t form a proper seal to contain the ethylene gas.

About two weeks ago, I tested this method on a newly bought bunch, and after 10 days, the bananas were still fresh. With just a bit of aluminum foil, they lasted nearly two weeks longer than they would’ve in a fruit basket.

I’ve also realized that it’s better to keep bananas in a bunch rather than separating them. Just the other day, I noticed that a banana I accidentally broke off from the bunch is developing spots, while the others, still attached, are perfectly fine.

Another tip I discovered online is that you can store bananas in the fridge to slow down the ripening process. The cold temperature significantly delays the spoiling, so I tried putting the spotty bananas in the fridge for my lunch. Five days later, they were still yellow and perfectly good to eat.

Proper banana storage is surprisingly simple, and I’m amazed at how much money I’ve wasted by not researching it sooner!