The plantain is the large, firm, starchy cooking banana — a group of Musa cultivars that are eaten cooked at every stage of ripeness rather than out of hand. Bigger, thicker-skinned and far less sweet than a dessert banana, it behaves more like a vegetable: starchy and potato-like when green (tostones, chips, fufu, mofongo) and sweetening to a rich, caramelised softness when fried black-ripe (maduros). It is a foundational carbohydrate staple across West and Central Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America.