One common kitchen mistake is making bananas rot quicker

The way you store your bananas is making them rot faster.

A fruit expert has revealed that storing your fruit in a fruit bowl is actually the worst possible way to keep it fresh – who knew?

Vegan expert Mandy Applegate revealed that storing bananas with other fruit can trigger a chain reaction of decoposition.

"A fruit bowl is one of the worst places to store bananas since many other fruits, like apples and peaches, also release ethylene gas," she told The Express.

"Keeping bananas away from other fruit prevents a chain reaction of over-ripening."

Fruits, including bananas, produce and excrete a natural compound called ethylene gas, which assists in their ripening.

It makes the fruit tender and tasty.

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But if too much ethylene gas builds up, it can speed up the fruit's ripening process, making it rot quicker.

Bananas are sensitive to the gas, despite producing a lot of it, the paper reported.

So how do you avoid over-ripening your bananas and ruining them? Cling wrap.

Applegate said firstly, you should separate them from other fruits – but if you want to keep them fresh for up to two weeks, all you need to do is place some cling wrap around the banana's stem.

"Wrapping the stems of bananas in plastic wrap effectively slows down the room-temperature ripening process," she said.

"The stems release the ethylene gas, so covering them traps the gas."

The hack will keep bananas fresh for up to two weeks.

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