The folks at www.food52.com wondered if there was a way to use avocados without them looking gross after a while.

After all, unless you’re making a giant batch of guacamole (invite me, if you are), there’s a good chance that you’ll be left with half an avocado that you need to store after making toast or salsa. Uncut avocados quickly turn from a beautiful, creamy green color to brown in what seems like mere minutes.

There’s so many theories out there, from brushing the flesh with olive oil to submerging it in a shallow pool of water to using reusable silicone fruit huggers, that it’s a bit confusing. What’s urban legend, and what REALLY works?

And that’s what prompted the food52 team to hunt for the best way to store half an avocado. To separate myth from truth regarding delaying the browning of a cut avocado, that was their goal.

Like you probably already know, they found out just covering that leftover half with plastic wrap does squat when it comes to keeping it looking fresh. Something more is needed.

One conclusion to which they arrived was that storing half an avocado is similar to storing guacamole. This meant lemon or lime juice becomes a best friend. Simply put, the acidity from the juice helps prevent mashed or cut avocados from turning brown quickly.

Thus, the proverbial procedure of squeezing a little bit of lime or lemon juice over the cut side of the avocado, is the “something more” that’s needed before covering tightly with plastic wrap, and storing it in the refrigerator. This is still the very best way to protect it from looking gross later on.

There’s also the option of freezing avocados for long-term storage. Freezing delays the browning for several weeks. Just scoop out the flesh from the cut avocado, dice it, and store it in a single-layer in a freezer-safe bag. If you intend to use leftover avocado for smoothies, you can pre-blend the fruit with a little bit of lemon or lime juice to form a purée. Transfer the purée to an airtight container and scoop it out whenever you’re ready to use it.

I’ll close with some information regarding the above-mentioned re-usable silicone fruit huggers. Here’s what retailers say about them: “The secret to longer-lasting foods? Turns out it’s giving them a hug...with these handy and very-colorful silicone savers.

“Just press your tomato, lemon, whatever you’re preserving into the saver until it touches the silicone bottom, and voilà—you’ve got an airtight seal that’ll keep it fresh as can be. These dynamos come in a spread of shapes and sizes for tasks big and small, and since they’re totally reusable (they’re even dishwasher-friendly!), you can bid farewell to single-use foil and plastic wrap...food waste, too. Maybe this is finally the one way you’ll keep your avocado halves looking fresh!

“They aren’t just for fruits and veggies, either. We’re popping ‘em on our glasses, bottles, cans, sticks of butter...well, we’ll let you dream up the possibilities.” A set of 5 runs around $16 on amazon.com. I’m going to guess you’d still want to squeeze a little lemon or lime juice over the cut avocado before capping it with a hugger, however. Maybe this is really the way to go. If any of you have used these, please let us know what you think.