Bananas stay firm, yellow and fresh for 26 days with 1 unusual food storage method

By Chanelle Georgina, Senior Reporter

Bananas can stay fresh for nearly 1 month (Image: Getty)

Bananas skins can quickly turn brown and the inside can become mushy, but one lady has figured out a way to make them last for more than three weeks.

A food storage expert shared a fantastic tip to prevent your bananas from turning brown or black for up to 26 days. While most food storage tips endorse wrapping the banana stem in cling film or tin foil, this new method doesn't.

Amy Cross, who runs the TikTok account @amycrosslegacy, revealed her unique jar technique to keep bananas fresh; she cuts the bananas into pieces, with the skin on, and places them in a glass jar in the fridge.

After 26 days, she demonstrated that the banana pieces stayed fresh and the peel remained yellow without any signs of browning.

In the video, Amy stated: "These are the bananas I purchased on March 13 and I cut this into thirds and put it into a jar, so they're 26 days old."

Amy originally was to test if a cut banana could last up to 12 hours inside of the jar in the fridge – then the banana remained fresh, day after day.

Should a cut banana be exposed to the air, the fruit will quickly spoil and turn brown, but there is use for brown bananas. Bananas taste more sweet once they've browned, making them the ideal ingredient to make banana bread.

Mary Berry's banana bread recipe

Ready in: one hour

Ingredients

• One ripe banana
• One tbsp milk
• 50g soft butter or baking spread
• 75g plain flour
• 75g caster sugar
• Half tsp bicarbonate of soda
• Half tsp baking powder
• One egg
• 50g dark chocolate chips

To decorate

• 50g dark chocolate

Banana bread with chocolate chips (Image: Getty)

Method

Preheat the oven 160C (140C fan/gas three). Grease and line a loaf tin with baking paper. Use a fork to mash the peeled banana in a mixing bowl. Add the remaining cake ingredients (except the chocolate chips) and beat with an electric hand whisk until combined and smooth.

Stir in the chocolate chips and spoon the mixture into the prepared loaf tin. Level the top. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until well risen, shrinking away from the sides of the tin and golden-brown. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.

For the optional decoration

Break the chocolate into small pieces and add to a heatproof bowl. Melt the chocolate in the bowl over a pan of simmering water (ensuring that the bowl does not touch the water).

Stir regularly, until almost completely melted, then remove from the heat. The heat of the bowl will melt any remaining lumps.

Spoon the melted chocolate into a piping bag and pipe zig-zags across the top of the loaf. Set aside for the chocolate to set. Slice and serve.