When it comes to storing bananas, it turns out our fruit bowls might not be the best place after all. and founder of Magical Life Fruit, Katherine Kyle, let us in on a secret that few know – bananas need their own personal space.

Katherine advises: "Keep your bananas separate from all other fruits including other ripe bananas." This clever advice comes as a preventative measure against premature ripening. Explaining further, she says: "Fruits let off ethylene gas when they are ripening, so keeping ripe fruit with unripe fruit will cause the unripe fruit to ripen more quickly."

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Ethylene is essentially a maturing hormone for fruit, but when ethylene producers huddle together, they speed things up, reports . But how does one extend the life of this beloved yellow fruit?

Bananas emit their own youth-preserving gas, ethylene, from their sterns, and by simply covering these up, you could ward off the brown spots.

According to Katherine: "The main way in which bananas ripen is by releasing gasses from the stems. So if you cover up the stems, you're able to slow down the ripening process."

Break apart your bananas and cocoon the stems with cling film. Keep them under wraps until you're ready to indulge, and voilà, the shelf-life of your bananas could extend up to two weeks longer than usual.

Bananas can stay fresh longer if they're kept in cool conditions with good airflow, so it's best to remove them from the supermarket packaging and avoid placing them near heat sources like ovens or toasters.

Katherine explained: "Heat from a bag or a heated room causes bananas to ripen much more quickly."

For those who've started eating a banana but want to save the rest, Katherine recommends a simple trick: "If you've already cut up your banana and want to keep it from going bad, rub some lemon, lime or orange juice over the flesh to keep it fresher for longer."

The citrus juice acts as a barrier to slow down the enzymatic browning and softening that happens when bananas are peeled.

By following these savvy storage tips, you could extend the life of your bananas by up to 15 days, which not only saves money on groceries but also helps reduce food waste.