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. While the 1.5 update is out, not much has changed in the way of making money, as most of the most profitable crops Stardew has to offer are exclusive to the endgame of Ginger Island.
Updated July 20, 2021 by Erik Petrovich: Making money through farming is without a doubt the fastest and most efficient way to build up a nice cash stockpile in Stardew Valley. However, there is a lot more to the game than just harvesting crops – mining, fishing, and taking on quests can be pretty lucrative too. While it's generally best to do a little bit of everything, dedicating oneself to a playthrough without growing a single crop can be more fun than worrying about harvest cycles each season.
10 Strawberries (Spring)
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 $100-apiece seeds, and remember to sell them the night before the festival for maximum yield.
If planted 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.
9 Rhubarb (Spring)
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 $220, more than twice its purchasing price at $100. 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.
8 Coffee (Spring/Summer)
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 $100 to $2500 (!). 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 $450 boost. Plus, it can be harvested through Spring and Summer, which helps reduce energy spent replanting crops constantly.
7 Starfruit (Summer)
Starfruit is, in many ways, the iconic crop of Stardew Valley. It sells for a massive $750, twice its buying price of $400 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 $1550, and Starfruit Wine can sell anywhere from $2250 to $6,300.
6 Blueberries (Summer)
Blueberries are a crop that only grows in the summer, costs $80 per seed, and will drop three blueberries worth $80 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 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.
5 Red Cabbage (Summer)
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 $100 a pop, but they sell for $260 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.
4 Cranberries (Fall)
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 $240 each, it takes seven days to mature, and produces two seeds every five days that sell for $130 each. Like Blueberries, Cranberries don't need to be replanted and 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.
3 Pumpkin (Fall)
Pumpkins are a crop that, similar to Red Cabbage, sells for a huge amount more than its initial price. While seeds only cost $100 each, a pumpkin sells for $320, 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.
2 Sweet Gem Berry (Fall)
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 $3000. The seeds cost anywhere from $600 to $1000 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, these can't be stored for Jelly or Wine, and are best sold or turned into more seeds.
1 Ancient Fruit (Year-Round)
Ancient Fruit, grown from Ancient Seeds, is perhaps the rarest and the most valuable crop in the game. 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 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 $550, this becomes a massively profitable operation, especially because the player spends nothing on the seeds to start with.
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.