How To Get And Use The Starfruit in Stardew Valley

Starfruit are some of my favorite crops in Stardew Valley and find frequent use in both my outdoor summer fields and inside the Greenhouse. Aside from just straight up looking cool, these are extremely valuable crops that can bring the gold just pouring in and make for excellent high priced wine coming out of the kegs, as well.

However, if you’re a new player you might know that Starfruit are a summer crop and yet you don’t see any at Pierre’s or JoJo Mart…so what gives? The confusion is understandable, but there is a perfectly logical reason why you haven’t run into those seeds yet – because you need to unlock them!

Starfruit are a profitable summer crop whose seeds can only be bought from Sandy’s Oasis in Stardew Valley after you unlock the Sandy Desert. Access to the Sandy Desert comes from completing the Vault Room in the Community Center, which opens up the bus route to the desert.

Once the bus is up and running you can buy these pricy little seeds from Sandy’s shop out in the desert, but the fruit are so valuable that they’re worth every penny of the expense.

How can you speed run getting starfruit? Read on to learn how I get the most out of these amazing fruits in every run of Stardew Valley!

Starfruit Greenhouse Stardew Valley
Starfruit makes up most of this file’s greenhouse – with a little coffee, ancient fruit, and sweet gem berry plants thrown in, too!

Where Can I Find Starfruit Seeds in Stardew Valley?

Without using mods, there is only one place in the entire game where you can find Starfruit seeds in Stardew Valley, and that’s at the Desert Store. This isn’t open to the player in the beginning of the game, and it’s also one of the reasons that many experienced players race to have the most efficient and bin-busting Spring season possible to get the money to repair the vault room and still be able to keep growing the massive fields of crops that they needed to plant to get there.

You can buy one Starfruit at the Summer Luau for 3,000 g and toss it in a seed maker…but why?

Sandy’s Oasis, the main store in the desert. This is your main source for all Starfruit seeds in Stardew Valley.

Stardew Valley What Are Starfruit Good For?

The Starfruit are one of the most valuable crops in the game, and their high value also means they make for high value wine in your kegs. You can get in two full harvests without help from Speed Gro or Crop Fairies, and the only comparable crop is Ancient Fruit, which you have to find as an artifact, get a seed maker (or many) and cultivate over a year or two to get enough to fill a greenhouse.

Starfruit: The Basic Stats

  • 13 day growing time
  • 43 Farming XP per plant harvested
  • One-time grow – no recurring crops
  • Summer-only crop (or year round on Ginger Island)
  • No recipes as of 1.5
  • Needed to Build a Junimo Hut from the Wizard
  • One of the Options in the Remixed Dye Bundle pack
  • Liked by 11 NPCs, Disliked by 4 – not hated or loved by anyone

Starfruit Value Table

Starfruit or Starfruit ProductBaseSilverGoldIridium
Starfruit75093711251500
Starfruits w/ Tiller Perk825103012371650
Starfruit Wine2250281233754500
Starfruit Wine w/ Artisan Perk3150393647256300
Starfruit Preserves1550N/AN/AN/A
Harvesting 100 or a couple hundred of these will shoot the money totals up through the roof – especially if it’s in wine form from the kegs.

When looking at the numbers, it’s not too hard to see why Starfruit are such a popular summer crop. From a pure aesthetic standpoint, it’s also one of the prettiest food items from a digital pixel art standpoint.

Stardrop Fruit Versus Starfruit in Stardew Valley

Keep in mind that Starfruit and Stardrop fruit are two very different things in Stardew Valley, and you don’t want to get the two mixed up or things can get confusing pretty quickly!

Keep in mind that starfruit and stardrop fruit are two very different things. Stardrop fruit give permanent energy boosts while the starfruit is a summer and greenhouse fruit that can offer huge profits, especially in comparison to anything else available.

Remember:

  • Starfruit = Super valuable repeatable summer crop
  • Stardrop Fruit = Rare star-shaped fruits that give a permanent energy boost

Is It Possible To Get Starfruit In Time For Year 1 Summer?

Yes, it is possible to get Starfruit in time for the beginning of Summer in year one, but it’s no easy task! You need to have a focused Spring, but most players can push to get there early enough in summer to get at least one crop out. Getting there before Summer 1 – that takes a special run from someone who really understands the game, the mechanics, and has a hell of a run to be able to pull that off and have enough money to invest heavily in Starfruit seeds.

First-time players should focus more on enjoying the game, learning the ins and outs of the towns, the NPCs, the various mechanics, and just plant Starfruit in the Greenhouse over winter or the next summer, but if you want a challenge to see just how good you can get and loading up your coffers then this is a good challenge for future runs.

Special Note: As one wonderful reader reminded me, there is one situation where you can get a Starfruit Seed. With enough artifact donations to the Museum Gunther will reward you with a single Starfruit seed.

Even if you are heading into year two before you’re able to grow fields of starfruit outside, it’s definitely worth the investment!

Can Starfruit Produce Mega Crops?

In the current base game, no, starfruit can’t produce mega crops the way that crops like melons and cauliflowers often do. However, there are a few fairly popular mods that make this an option.

This is what the mega starfruits look like from a popular Stardew Valley mod – screenshot from this Redditt thread.

Stardew Farmers Love the Starfruit

Starfruit is probably the most popular crop among most farmers in Stardew Valley with the exception of Ancient Fruit, which you have to find, cultivate, and then do some serious seed maker work to get enough to fill an entire greenhouse.

While long-term that probably is the play, in the meantime having non-stop rotations of starfruit growing in the greenhouse is going to keep your coffers happy and make sure you have plenty of money for whatever you need next.

So get that Community Center fixed up and that bus moving. Not only are the starfruit seeds worth it, but this opens up an entirely new section of the map and the game for you.

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