Ah, TikTok; an app almost single-handedly responsible for my somewhat alarming weekly screen time report and many wasted hours of mindless scrolling.
Occasionally however, TikTok can prove a goldmine of handy hacks, tricks and tips - how else would I know how to make custard toast or have discovered the sneaky button on the dashboard that can save fuel?
And now, an Australian baker has shared that apparently, we've all been peeling our mid-morning banana incorrectly - a development that has shocked many of her viewers.
Last week, Melbourne-based cake decorator Tigga MacCormack took to TikTok to explain why she no longer peels her bananas from the top, or the "stem" - which according to the number of bananas I have seen consumed in my lifetime, is the typically accepted way of doing it.
"Most people peel a banana from this end,'' Maccormack said in the clip, gesturing to the pointed end of the fruit.
"But it's actually better to peel it from this end," she added, pointing to the black nub on the opposite end.
"You know how it doesn't break properly at the pointy end? Well if you peel from the other end, you literally just start it from the black root and it breaks away so much easier.
"So everyone, peel your bananas from the bottom."
The clip, which has since racked up almost 100,000 views and hundreds of comments, has amazed MacCormack's fanbase, with many admitting they had heard of the hack before but often default to the tried-and-tested method.
"I've known this forever, but my brain does not compute. Continue to do it from the top," one commented.
"Monkeys actually open their bananas from 'the bottom' too! I've been doing this since I was little when I read/heard about it in school," said a second, with a third adding: "You're sooo right, I've been telling people that hack for years."
Several pointed out that by peeling the banana from the base, the pointed tip can serve as a handy little handle to make the eating experience even better.
Meanwhile, others suggested methods such as squeezing it open, snapping the fruit in half, and biting it in the middle - no judgement, but I'd be slightly concerned if I saw a colleague tearing open an un-peeled banana with their teeth in the office.
Earlier this year, scientists explained how to slow down the household staple's natural ripening process and prevent those pesky brown spots from forming on the fruit.
Preventing banana peels from going brown could be the key to reducing a significant amount of food waste, according to the authors of the study, which was published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Physical Biology.
Bananas, like most fruits, produce and react with the airborne hormone ethylene, which helps to signal the ripening process. An unripened fruit is hard, more acidic than it is sugary, and likely has a greenish hue due to the presence of chlorophyll.
When a fruit comes into contact with ethylene gas, the acids in the fruit begin to break down, causing the fruit to become softer, The green chlorophyll pigments are also broken up and replaced; in the case of bananas, causing a yellow hue.
However, unlike most fruits - which generate only a tiny amount of ethylene as they ripen - bananas produce a large amount. While a banana in the beginning of the ripening process might become sweeter and turn yellow, it will eventually over-ripen by producing too much ethylene. High amounts of ethylene cause the yellow pigments in bananas to decay into brown spots or bruises; a damaged or bruised banana will also produce an even higher amount of ethylene, causing it to ripen and brown much quicker.
Each year, 50 million tonnes of bananas end up as food waste, according to the study's lead author, Oliver Steinbock.
Preventing the browning process could be achieved with genetic modifications or better storage conditions, such as special containers with low oxygen levels. Contrary to popular belief, a fridge is generally not a great place to store unripe or greenish bananas; the conditions can prevent the flesh from ripening, but the skin will go black.
However, storing ripe bananas in the fridge will help to maintain them at their optimum for a few additional days.
