If you're knee-deep in the charming world of Stardew Valley, you might be looking for ways to maximize your farm's profitability. One hidden gem that seasoned players swear by is the cultivation of Strawberries. These delightful red berries are easy to miss for newcomers, often leading to a revelation only a few years into gameplay. Here’s the lowdown on Stardew Valley’s secret cash crop.
How to be a Strawberry Savant
There’s only one place where you can get Strawberry Seeds in Stardew Valley, and it’s open once a year. The General Store, JojoMart, and even the Traveling Cart don’t sell Strawberry Seeds. You can only buy them from the seasonal counter at the annual Egg Festival.
If you're planning to visit the counter in Pelican Town, remember it's only open from 9 AM to 2 PM on Spring 13. It's a special occasion tied to the Egg Festival, so if you happen to miss it, you'll have to wait an entire year. Make sure to mark your calendar! Strawberry Seeds also cost 100g each, which is a high price this early in the game.
If you’re already past Spring 13 in your current game, don’t beat yourself up over it. Strawberries are primarily in Stardew Valley as an early-game cash crop. They don’t have many uses besides being sold for a profit, and none of those uses are unique to Strawberries. All you’re missing out on by not having Strawberries in Year 1 is credit towards the Full Shipment achievement, which is going to take years to finish anyway.
Strawberry Seeds, when planted, sprout into a bush after 8 days. Once harvested, they give you another Strawberry every 4 days until the end of Spring, with a slim chance (~2%) that you'll get more than one. If you plant your Strawberries ASAP after the Egg Festival, you can go into Summer with a healthy amount of cash in reserve.
As Stardew speedrunners – they’re a thing – can tell you, the strategy here is to till, water, and fertilize a plot on your farm before you go to the Egg Festival. Once the Festival’s over, you’ll automatically return to your doorstep at 10 PM, which gives you a narrow window in which to plant as many Strawberry Seeds as possible before you automatically go to sleep. If you use Speed-Gro on your Strawberry plot, you should be able to get 2 or 3 harvests out of your Strawberry bushes before they all die on Summer 1.
Personally, I like to hold onto a couple of Strawberries until I’ve got a Seed Maker and I’ve repaired the Greenhouse (below: my messy seasonal crop arrangement). You can make a lot of money over the course of a year by growing Strawberries out of season. Unlike a couple of more recent farming games, produce in Stardew Valley doesn’t actually go bad, so you can keep a Strawberry in a wooden chest indefinitely.
Strawberries, By the Numbers
- Season: Spring
- Seeds: 100g (Egg Festival)
- Base Sale Price Per Unit: 120g
- Growth Time: 8 days (bush), 4 days (fruit)
- Energy/Health When Eaten: 50 Energy, 22 Health
Like any other crop, you may get higher-quality Strawberries from a harvest, which is indicated by a star on their icon. Silver, Gold, and Iridium-quality Strawberries sell for more money (up to 100% more for an Iridium Strawberry) and restore more energy and health when eaten.
What Else to Do with Strawberries in Stardew Valley
There aren’t many uses for Strawberries outside of eating or selling them. There aren’t any cooking recipes that require a Strawberry as of version 1.5, which does feel like an oversight. You can make Rhubarb Pie, but not Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. Curious.
They also aren’t required for any quests. That being said, eating a Strawberry raw is worth 50 Energy (or more for higher-quality Strawberries, as below). This can be useful early in the game before you've got access to or recipes for any of the really good restorative food, i.e. Farmer's Lunch. Granted, you're literally eating into your profits, but having a pocketful of Strawberries can keep you going on your first trips into the Mines.
Recipes & Crafting
- You can make Strawberry Jelly by putting a single Strawberry in a Preserves Jar. It takes 2-3 days for the Jelly to be ready, at which point it sells for a base price of 290g. The initial quality of the Strawberry doesn’t matter for the Jelly, so you’re better off selling Gold/Iridium Strawberries raw.
- In the same vein, you can turn a Strawberry into Strawberry Wine by putting it into a Keg. This takes a little over 6 days, and the resulting Wine sells for a base price of 360g. Once you can make Kegs on demand (the recipe unlocks at Farming level 8), the real money with Strawberries is to chuck them all into Kegs and never look back.
- Putting a Strawberry into one of Emily’s dye pots creates red dye.
Gifts
- Strawberries are a decent gift option for well over half the people in the village:
- Both Demetrius and Maru love Strawberries.
- Elliott, Harvey, Jodi, Kent, Leah, Linus, Pam, Robin, Sandy, and Shane like them.
- Abigail, Haley, Jas, and Vincent all dislike them.
All in all, Strawberries are a little weird. They’re essentially a hidden way to grind money in the early game. They’re valuable for returning players who just want quick cash, but for newcomers, you don’t miss much by not having a Strawberry bush. There will always be another Egg Festival.
