Avocados are essentially a gift from the heavens. Slice one onto toast with a squeeze of lime and a shower of red pepper flakes for a sublime breakfast, mash it into totally irresistible guacamole — the options are endless. And delicious.

Everything is all nice and heavenly until you only need half to top off your tacos and don't know how to store the rest of that avocado without letting it turn into a brown, mushy mess. (This is definitely why everyone lost their minds over the tiny avocados Trader Joe's started selling; because they are perfectly portioned for one.)

So while we've seen every trick under the sun to help quick-ripen an avocado (baking it, storing it in a brown paper bag), there aren't many options out there for keeping it green once it's been cut open. At least, that is, until one Epicurious editor had a stroke of genius. While greasing a pan for a cake she was making, she randomly ended up holding a half-used avocado in one hand and a can of Pam in the other. For some inexplicable reason, she impulsively sprayed the unused portion with cooking spray.

"It stayed fresh and yellow for three days just sitting on a shelf in the fridge. When I came to use it I took a tissue, wiped off the Pam, and carried on," she wrote. "The avocado tasted perfect! And still looks almost perfect."

That's right — she didn't even wrap it in plastic or stuff it into a zip-top bag. She simply doused it in cooking spray and reaped the amazing results. We can't believe we didn't think of this sooner! Of course, if you don't have any Pam in your pantry, you can always try another hack we've tried and loved: storing it inside Tupperware with a clove of garlic.