Stardew Valley: The Best Summer Crops (2024)

Stardew Valley has an extensive array of activities and past-times for players to engage in. Whether it be romancing NPC-villagers, exploring Ginger Island or feeding the Trash Bear, there is always something to do. Farming is possibly the most beneficial hobby, providing benefits with cooking, crafting artisanal goods, and for selling excess crops.

As the Stardew Valley seasons change, so do the various different crops available to be purchased and grown. In all of its sunny glory, Summer is the peak time for farming and growing crops. Pierre's General Store has an overwhelming selection of Summer-specific crops to choose from, so it is crucial for players to identify which are the most profitable plants and maximize those gains.

Updated on June 3rd, 2024, by Matthew Weideman: It is an exciting time for Stardew Valley players, since the last major update — Version 1.6 — is out on PC and nearing its console release. This new update added events, dialog, tools, and crops to a game that was already chock-full of interesting things for its players to do. With this in mind, this list was updated to include the new summer crop from 1.6, as well as several more of the best summer crops in Stardew Valley.

15 Coffee Bean

Seed Price: 100–1,000g

While Coffee Bean is expensive and relatively difficult to obtain early in the game, there are many benefits to growing coffee. It is a multi-season crop that can be harvested many times between the Spring and Summer, and the plants produce four beans every other day after the initial ten-day growth period. While the individual raw beans do not sell for much, the sheer number of them can make for a decent source of income in the game's early years.

The greatest benefit to growing coffee, however, is that five beans can be placed in a keg to make consumable coffee. This gives the player a speed boost, allowing them to move faster even before they have enough money to buy a horse. Most of the villagers like coffee, which also makes it a good gift to build relationships. Overall, coffee is a great crop to grow for half of the Stardew year.

14 Sunflower

Seed Price: 200g

Like all flower crops, Sunflower turn over very little money, as they sell for a minimum of 80 gold, resulting in a loss of profits. Purchasable for 200 gold from Pierre’s, Sunflower seeds are one of the more expensive crop-starters in-game. Once harvested, they have a chance to produce sunflower seeds that can be used to plant more.

They are the main ingredient used to craft cooking oil, a staple in many cooking recipes, which is one of their main purposes. These cheerful flowers can also be gifted to villagers, as most villagers like them, while Haley loves them! For aesthetic reasons, too, Sunflowers can brighten up any farm.

Sunflowers can also be grown near beehives, which will make special Sunflower Honey, which is sold for a better price than normal honey, at around 260g as a base price, or 364g if players have the Artisan Skill.

13 Summer Squash

Must Be Found, Not Bought

Summer Squash was introduced in Update 1.6, along with a host of other mechanics, devices, events, and even some new NPCs. The Squash is a fast-growing crop that is ready to harvest for the first time in only six days, which helps to offset its relatively low sell price. It also regrows after three days, which further helps to compensate for its relatively low sell price.

The best part about this vegetable, however, is that it is unique in the game when it comes to obtaining its seeds. They cannot be bought at any store, but instead have to be found through digging, completing quests for the raccoon introduced in 1.6, or a few other special means. This crop is all about the latest additions to the game, and encourages the player to interact with all of them to grow and sell it.

12 Wheat

Seed Price: 10g

Wheat is an essential crop for players who want to raise animals. It can be harvested to provide wheat for silos, which in turn can be placed in coops and barns for animals to eat when they can't get to grass outside. It can also be placed in kegs to create beer, which is good for profit and for gifts.

Wheat is cheap and grows in both Summer and Fall, which makes it a useful crop for half of the year. With its range of uses and long growing season, players should make sure to grow wheat every season that they can.

11 Radish

Seed Price: 40g

Radish are a great summer starter vegetable, with a minimum selling price of 90 gold at average quality. Their seeds are cheap at 40 gold from Pierre’s. They are also used in two cooking recipes; the Radish Salad and the Red Plate, which can turn a neat profit if sold.

But since they're not used in a bundle, nor do they have much use for quests, except for a chance at being a board quest for Pierre, they don't have much use. They're a bit better than Sunflowers, especially for those who are working on Artisan goods.

10 Hot Pepper

Seed Price: 40g

Hot Pepper has an initial growth rate of 5 days and can be harvested every three days after this. They sell for as much as their seeds can be bought for, at 40 gold when average quality. Not a fantastic profit, but they are a multi-harvest crop; they are worth a space on a farm! Hot Pepper is also used in the Summer Crops Bundle at the Community Center.

For fans of Shane, this is a decent crop to stock up on to win him over. The regrowth time is pretty quick, so this is a great crop to start with during the early stages to get a decent cash flow, however, compared to others, this isn't the best crop for later gameplay.

9 Poppy

Seed Price: 100g

Poppy are great summer flowers that only take a week to fully mature. They are a polarizing gift among the villagers, since Penny loves them but everyone else hates them. When grown next to a Bee House, their potential is fully reached, since Poppy Honey is the second-most-expensive honey in the game.

Poppies can also be used to make Poppyseed Muffins, which restore 150 Energy and 67 Health when eaten. These are also much better gifts than the flowers, since only a handful of residents don't like or love them.

8 Hops

Seed Price: 60g

Hops Starters cost 60 gold from Pierre’s General Store. They take 11 days to grow fully but can be cultivated every day after this initial period. Hops can only be sold for 25 gold each but can be fermented in Kegs to create Pale Ale. Pale Ale has one of the highest returns on investment in-game, worthy of spending some time on.

For players that want to really maximize profit with this crop, try to craft several Kegs before the summer to work on making Pale Ale, as this is where players will get the most profit from this crop. Not only does it sell well, but Pam will eventually ask for one as a quest.

7 Tomato

Seed Price: 25g

Some profit can be made from planting Tomato . Seeing as they are a multi-harvest crop and do not need to be re-planted, players can eventually turn around a profit on them.

Their initial growth time is 11 days. Following this, Tomatoes can be picked from them every four days, with a 5% chance of extra Tomatoes.

They are a key ingredient in several delicious cooking recipes, including Eggplant Parmesan and Squid Ink Ravioli, both of which give valuable bonuses for Mining.

6 Corn

Seed Price: 150g

Corn is a seasonal staple and is very versatile; like sunflowers, it is useful for crafting cooking oil. However, as a crop, it turns over very little profit for its hefty price tag of 150 gold for the seeds.

Being one of the few crops with longevity that lasts through the Summer season until Fall, it is a necessary crop to dedicate some space to.

5 Blueberries

Seed Price: 80g

As a multi-harvest crop, Blueberries are a Summer staple for farmers. Blueberry seeds only cost 80 gold from Pierre’s, and cannot be bought from Jojamart. Because they regrow, they are a one-time purchase.

They can produce at least three Blueberries from one plant, with a 2% chance of more blueberries. Each Blueberry sells for 50 gold at the lowest quality. At iridium quality, one Blueberry can sell for 110 gold!

4 Red Cabbage

Seed Price: 100g

Red Cabbage seeds can only be purchased from Pierre’s General Store in Year 2 for 100 gold each. They take nine days to grow and, therefore, can be harvested three times throughout Summer. At their lowest selling point, they are worth 260 gold each. Red Cabbages are a requirement for the dye bundle in the Community Center.

Selling them outright turns a good profit, but using them in Kegs could provide an even better profit. The base Juice selling price is 585, while the Iridium sell price as a Tiller sits at 572, so turning all harvested Cabbages to Juice could set players up for the slow winter.

3 Melon

Seed Price: 80g

Melon have the second-longest growth time, at 12 days. They can only be harvested twice in the whole season. However, they are worth investing time on, as they can sell for a minimum of 250 gold and a maximum profit of 550 gold each.

Melon crops also have the slightest chance of blossoming into a giant crop, which can yield many melons when chopped with an axe.

2 Pineapple

Seed Price: 240g

While not accessible until later game, Pineapple are a great source of income and regrows throughout the season, making it more profitable than several other crops in the season. Unfortunately, to start growing pineapple, players will need to gain access to Ginger Island, which takes quite a bit of time due to needing to repair Willy's boat. This task can take players a long time, but once they get to Ginger Island, they can bring back Pineapple seeds to start a decent profit.

Players can also start a large plot of land on Ginger Island and bring back the crops to start turning it into Wine, which could dish out enough gold to satisfy any farmer.

1 Starfruit

Seed Price: 400g

By far the best Summer crop is the legendary Starfruit . They have a standard growth time of 13 days (without fertilizer or growing aids), meaning they can only be harvested twice during Summer.

Priced at 400 gold for the seeds at Sandy’s Oasis store in the Calico Desert; they are pricey but a worthy investment. Starfruit sells for a minimum of 750 gold each, and that’s just at their standard quality! They can sell for 1,500 gold or more with the Tiller profession at iridium quality. Starfruit can be used to make artisanal goods, like wine or jam, doubling profits. Definitely the star of summer!

Stardew Valley

Platform(s)

PC , Xbox One , Android , iOS , PS4 , Switch

Released

February 26, 2016

Developer(s)

ConcernedApe

Publisher(s)

ConcernedApe

Genre(s)

RPG , Simulation

See at Official Site