While Stardew Valley is a game that encourages patience and going at one's own pace, it can be frustrating to figure out which crops are worth the time of investment without a guide. In Stardew Valley, no two crops are equal, and some of Stardew Valley's best crops make a significantly better profit than others.

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Each season has a variety of offerings for the player, but Fall takes the cake for the overall most profitable season, followed by Summer and Spring. Thanks to the 1.5 update, the choice of crops has widened and slightly changed the way of making money. However, most of the most profitable crops Stardew Valley has to offerare not necessarily restricted to the endgame of Ginger Island, so players are spoilt for choice when deciding which fruits and vegetables they decide to grow.

Updated March 7, 2023, by Sophie McEvoy: In 2020, Stardew Valley received a bunch of significant late-game content in the 1.5 update. This included the introduction of Ginger Island, a new area accessible once the player repairs Willy’s boat in the backroom of his shop on the pier. Ginger Island itself is divided into different areas, which can be unlocked through foraging Golden Walnuts. Eventually, the Ginger Island farm will be available to use, which has the added benefit of a seasonless environment meaning any crop can be grown there. And with the introduction of some lucrative new crops like Pineapples, there’s so much more to profit from. The same can be said for original crops that players may have overlooked.

17 Before Buying Seeds In Bulk

There are a few things every player should keep in mind when looking to maximize profits with Stardew Valley's best crops. It's not enough just to have enough money to purchase the seeds – veteran players know to prepare ahead of time with useful buildings, an efficiently planned plot of land, and the right tools and food for long days of farming.

• Day of the Month : The value of some crops comes from getting multiple harvests in a season. Plant seeds that continually produce crops early in a season to maximize profits.
• Sprinklers : These are crafted with the Farming skill or earned for certain quests, and they water crops automatically every day in the nearest 4, 8, or 24 tiles, depending on tier.
• Buildings : Build a Shed at an easily accessible location for farm supplies, storage, artisan goods, furnaces, etc.
• Farm Layout : Plan plots with Fences to mark corners, and mark Sprinkler locations too. Count each unused square to be in the plot – this is the max number of seeds for this plot.
• Cost Calculation : For each planned plot, multiply the number of tilled squares by the cost of each seed –, this is how the player will have to invest in each plot.

After taking these planning steps, add or remove squares in each plot to reach a total that comes as close to your current Gold total as possible. This maximizes your investment, and as long as you are diligent and tend to your crops every day you will see your Gold total grow exponentially, as the number of seeds you can buy the next season increases.

16 Strawberries

Strawberries are easily the most profitable crop in Spring, but with a hitch: the player can't buy Strawberry seeds until Spring 13 at the Egg Festival. Save up some money with parsnips in Year 1 to buy a few of these 100g-apiece seeds, and remember to sell them the night before the festival. This plan makes the Strawberry the most profitable Spring crop Stardew has.

If planted on the day of the egg festival, strawberries will have 2 yields before Summer. If the player keeps ahold of their Strawberry seeds and waits to plant them until Year 2, they will have five yields, making for one of the best crops Stardew Valley has.

15 Rhubarb

Rhubarb is only available via the Desert Bus, which is unlocked upon completing the Vault bundle in the Community Center. In the southwest section of the desert, players will find a shop that sells a variety of specialty goods and seeds.

Rhubarb sells for 220g, more than twice its purchasing price of 100g. It takes 13 days to mature, though, so make sure to hop on the Desert Bus on Spring 1 and plant these crops before the next day for maximum yield.

14 Coffee

Coffee might not seem like a profitable crop at first glance. The beans are a 1% drop from Dust Sprites in the Mines and can be bought from the Travelling Cart for anywhere from 100g to 2500g (!). A Seed Maker makes finding coffee beans much easier, and when harvested every two days they have a chance to drop multiple coffee beans.

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While they don't sell for much on their own, a stack of five can be turned into coffee in a keg, which can then be turned into Triple Shot Espresso for a tidy 450g boost. Plus, it can be harvested through Spring and Summer, which helps reduce energy spent replanting crops constantly.

13 Starfruit

Starfruit is, in many ways, both the most iconic and most profitable crop in Stardew Valley. It sells for a massive 750g, twice its buying price of 400g from the Oasis Shop, which must be unlocked by completing the Vault Community Center bundle.

Starfruit is a lucrative crop on its own, with incredible bonuses for a high-quality harvest, but it really becomes ridiculously profitable when turned into Artisan products. Starfruit Jelly, for example, sells for 1550g, and Starfruit Wine can sell anywhere from 2250g to 6300g.

12 Blueberries

Blueberries are a crop that only grows in the summer, costs 80g per seed, and will drop three blueberries worth 80g every four days once the plant matures. Blueberries are a crop that the farmer won't have to plant over and over again, making it a sustainable option for players who want to explore more of the game.

If planted on the first day of the season, the profit skyrockets because of the extra harvesting time. These are some of the most profitable crops Stardew Valley has for artisan products or on their own as they don't have to be replanted, and they're a must-have for a Summer farmer looking for easy money.

11 Red Cabbage

Red Cabbage is a Year 2 exclusive plant (the player cannot find them anywhere in Year 1 except for the Travelling Cart) that sells for way more than twice the buying price. Pierre's General Store sells these for 100g a pop, but they sell for 260g at harvest, making for one of Stardew Valley's best crops.

If planted at the beginning of Summer the player can get a neat three harvests from one field dedicated to Red Cabbage. It does not re-grow automatically, though, so be sure to prepare ahead of time with backup seeds.

10 Melon

Melons are one of the most profitable crops to grow during the Summer, as they are one of the three varieties of seeds that can grow into giant crops. Giant Melons will grow within a 3x3 pattern, dropping between 15 and 21 normal-quality items when harvested with an axe. While giant crops can’t be grown in the Greenhouse, they don’t die like other crops at the end of a season. So players can keep them on the farm for decoration or harvest the results.

To make the most out of a Melon harvest, turning them into Artisan products will sell for a base price of between 550g to 1,500g. With the bonus of the Artisan skill, this increases up to a lucrative 2,100g.

9 Cranberries

Aside from Sweet Gem Berries and Ancient Fruit – both rare crops not available at Pierre's – Cranberries are the most profitable crop in the game bar none. Seeds are 240g each, it takes seven days to mature, and produces two seeds every five days that sell for at least 75g each. Like Blueberries, Cranberries don't need to be replanted and they produce all season long.

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These are an excellent crop to keep in storage for the long winter – keep the star-quality crops in a chest for a reliable Winter source of income through Wine and Jelly.

8 Pumpkin

Pumpkins are a crop that, similar to Red Cabbage, sells for a huge amount more than its initial price. While seeds only cost 100g each, a pumpkin sells for 320g, and they have a chance to become a giant crop. When it comes to Stardew Valley's best crops per season, it's hard to beat a giant pumpkin.

Some crops in Stardew Valley have the chance to become giant if the same crop is planted in a 3x3 grid. So, if the player has a 9x9 field, there will be nine opportunities for the pumpkins to become gigantic in each 3x3 square. This chance becomes even greater as the size of the field increases.

7 Sweet Gem Berry

Sweet Gem Berries are not a conventional, pop-round-to-Pierre's kind of crop. Grown from Rare Seeds, which are only obtainable from the Travelling Cart or a Seed Maker, this crop sells for a steep 3000g. The seeds cost anywhere from 600g to 1000g each, and the Travelling Cart only sells them up to five at a time, depending on the day.

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In Spring and Summer, the Travelling Cart will always have a few for sale on Fridays and Sundays, so be sure to keep track of the day of the week and stock up throughout the seasons. Keep in mind, though, that these can't be stored for Jelly or Wine, and are best sold or turned into more seeds.

6 Amaranth

The base crop value for Amaranth sells more than Wheat in the Fall but takes longer to grow. However, compared to some of the more valuable crops players can develop during the season, Amaranth takes a shorter amount of time to flourish. Therefore, growing Amaranth is a quick way of making money during the Fall between crops like Sweet Gem Berries, Pumpkins, or Cranberries.

Players can also up the value of Amaranth by turning it into Artisan produce, with base items selling between 337g to 350g, with the added Artisan perk increasing this upwards of 490g. Amaranth is also required by Marnie during a quest on the 3rd of Fall. Completing her task rewards 500g and one Friendship Heart.

5 Fairy Rose

Players wouldn’t typically think of using flowers to make money through crops. But the Fairy Rose is particularly valuable and is the most profitable flower of the bunch. This can be exploited even more so through making honey, as the base value of Fairy Rose Honey is a whopping 680g compared to Honey’s base value of 100g.

And with the Artisan skill applied, selling Fairy Rose Honey can add a 40% increase in revenue, leading to a selling point of 925g a jar.

4 Ancient Fruit

Ancient Fruit, grown from Ancient Seeds, is one of the most profitable crops Stardew Valley players can plant. It can only be obtained as a rare drop from enemies, a rare drop from digging, and with the Seed Maker. The Ancient Fruit nudges out the Sweet Gem Berry as the most valuable crop in Stardew Valley because it doesn't need to be replanted, and grows through all seasons - including Winter if planted in a Greenhouse.

While it takes a full season to mature, if the player plants an Ancient Seed on the 1st of Spring, the rest of the year will yield one harvest every week. When a regular quality Ancient Fruit sells for 550g, this quickly becomes a massively profitable operation that brings in a heap of cash every week - just don't forget to water it!

3 Pineapple

Pineapple seeds are only available on Ginger Island and cost one Magma Cap from the Island Trader. The seeds can also be found while foraging in the Volcano Dungeon and via the Seed Maker. There’s also a chance that Pineapple seeds will be dropped by Hot Heads and Tiger Slimes. They can also be foraged through Golden Coconuts and mixed seeds if grown on the island.

The base value for Pineapple Artisan goods is between 900g to 1,800g, while the Artisan skill boosts this up to 2,520g. So by growing these all year round on Ginger Island, players can receive a hefty profit.

2 Taro Root

Taro Tubers are another seed exclusively found on Ginger Island, and cost two Bone Fragments from the Island Trader. Bone Fragments are regularly dropped by Skeletons and Lava Lurks. They can also be found by destroying Bone Nodes on Ginger Island.

While Taro Root isn’t the most profitable crop from the new area, they’re easy to look after if planted next to water as they’ll be irrigated, meaning you don’t have to rely on watering them or building sprinklers. And as they replenish themselves after each harvest, there’s no need for constant tilling. Taro Root can be made into Artisan products, which sell for a base price of up to 250g. With the Artisan skill, it's increased only slightly up to 350g.

1 Other Money-Making Methods In Stardew Valley

If farming doesn't seem like a good calling for you, there are plenty of other ways to make money in Stardew Valley. Although none are more lucrative than harvesting crops regularly, these methods provide some variety to the routine and can be useful during certain periods. In the winter, though, these money-making methods can help keep a farm alive through the cropless season.

• Mining : Ores, materials, and treasures can be sold for very decent prices, especially as one goes deeper. Killing monsters often yields lucrative rewards, too.
• Foraging : While foraging is not the best way to make money in the game, it's enough to get a player going faster at the beginning (and survive the Winter later on).
• Fishing : One of the most enjoyable mini-games in Stardew Valley , fish sell surprisingly well, especially as higher-level and rarer ones become the norm.
• Completing Requests : Take requests from the notice board next to Pierre's shop to earn some money for delivering specialty goods to the town's residents.
• Special Orders : Added with the 1.5 update, the Special Orders board is home to long-term quests that can take ages to complete but grant immense rewards.

Although farming is the main aspect of Stardew Valley's gameplay, it's far from the only thing to do in the game. That's why the game has become so popular, after all, as Stardew Valley is much more than just a farming and ranching simulator.

Stardew Valley is available for Android, iOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X/S.

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