What is the difference between a banana and a plantain?

The answer

Dessert bananas are sweet and eaten raw once the peel is yellow, while plantains are starchier and are usually cooked. Plantains can be used at green, yellow or nearly black stages depending on the dish, whereas a dessert banana is firm and starchy when green, soft and sweet when yellow, and very soft and good for baking when spotted. Both are botanical berries from large herbaceous plants that are often mistaken for trees.