Most Southerners have a go-to pre-dinner snack. It could be anything from deviled eggs to cheese dreams to gold old pepper jelly and cream cheese on crackers. At my parents’ house, and at my house, it’s guacamole and chips. Though we rarely have leftovers, I've always wondered how to keep guacamole from turning brown so I can enjoy it a little longer, and my mom introduced me to a storage trick that works shockingly well.

There is no official family guacamole recipe—it’s just ripe avocado smashed with a fork in a bowl with plenty of fresh lime juice and a little salt stirred in. That’s it. Sometimes I might add chopped cilantro or diced onion and jalapeño pepper, but the base recipe is as simple as it gets. Opening the bag of tortilla chips requires more effort, which is probably why this is our go-to appetizer.

The other night, Mom and I were cleaning up the remnants of dinner, which included guacamole and chips, of course. As she efficiently packed away leftovers (aren’t moms the best?), she scooped the last few spoonfuls of guac into a plastic container, closed the lid, then placed the container upside down in my refrigerator. She noticed I was watching her and said, “I read somewhere that this will keep it fresh longer, and it does!”