Stardew Valley red cabbage is a very profitable crop, but it also is much more important than just its sales value. While it might not compete with Stardew Valley’s Starfruit on a pure market value, this crop is important for a variety of reasons not the least of which is it’s the most common tripping point that stops players from completing the Community Center in Year One.
This is because red cabbage seeds aren’t available in a store until Year 2 of gameplay. That doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways to acquire these seeds in time to get them out whether via field or (more likely for most players) greenhouse before the end of year one, but it can be very luck-based.
Red Cabbage is a pretty and valuable summer crop in Stardew Valley that is most important as one of the necessary pieces to complete the Dye Bundle on the Bulletin Board to fix the community center.
The good news is that there are built-in workarounds to this to make sure at least one red cabbage seed is available before season one is finished. There’s a lot to like about this crop so let’s dive in and explore the coleslaw favorite of Stardew Valley.
Stardew Valley Red Cabbage Overview
There are some good starting stats all about the Red Cabbage seed that you’ll want to know if you’re going to plant this crop:
- Days to grow: 9 days total
- Season: Red Cabbage is a summer crop in Stardew Valley
- Experience: 28 farming XP per harvested Red Cabbage
- Artisan: Red Cabbage can be turned to red cabbage juice in a Keg or pickled cabbage in a Preserves Jar
| Quality | Energy | Health | Sales Price | Sales Price (Tiller) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | 75 | 33 | 260g | 286g |
| Silver | 105 | 47 | 325g | 357g |
| Gold | 135 | 60 | 390g | 429g |
| Iridium | 195 | 87 | 520g | 572g |
Stardew Valley red cabbage is a very colorful crop that brings a nice bit of color and pretty design to your farm. The selling prices are pretty rock solid, too, making it a good rotation in with the rest of the crops you’re preparing every summer.
In addition to the obvious buying and selling, red cabbage comes up several more times in the game and is a major part of some of the better recipes in the game.
What Can You Use Red Cabbage for in Stardew Valley?
There are several uses for Stardew Valley’s red cabbage.
Red Cabbage Recipes in Stardew
Red Cabbage is a cooking ingredient for three dishes:
- Coleslaw: +213 Energy, +95 Health
- Fish Taco: +165 Energy, +74 Health, +2 Fishing Skill for 7 Minutes
- Red Plate: +240 Energy, +108 Health, Max Energy +50 for 3 minutes 30 Seconds
These are an excellent array of dishes that give good buffs and plenty of energy and health.
Tailoring & Dyeing
Red cabbage can be used to create the Tank Top, which is a dyeable piece of clothing. When it comes to actual dyeing, red cabbage creates a purple dye in the dye pots.
Red Cabbage as a Gift
Overall Red Cabbage is a good (but not great) gift for most PCs. Abigail, Haley, Jas, Sam, and Vincent dislike Red Cabbage and you shouldn’t use red cabbage as a gift for them, but everyone else likes this as a gift.
Nobody loves or hates red cabbage as a gift.
Sometimes a Red Cabbage might be a requested item from year 2 on from the billboard outside of Pierre’s.
How Do You Get Red Cabbage Seeds in Stardew Valley?
There are four main ways to get red cabbage seeds in the game of Stardew Valley.
To get Red Cabbage Seeds you can:
- Buy them from Pierre’s Store starting in Year 2
- Buy them from the Traveling Cart (RNG to whether they’re offered on any given appearance unless you change the game settings)
- Buy them on Winter 16 from the Magic Shop Boat at the Night Market Event
- Killing a serpent in Skull Cavern can sometimes result in a red cabbage seed being dropped as loot
If you like speed running that Community Center to get Pelican Town at its best fast and Joja Mart kicked out as soon as possible, then you will want to make sure to change the settings to guarantee a shot at red cabbage in year one (Note: this may still require a greenhouse versus outdoor field depending on your luck and RNG – so be prepared!).
Fortunately, this is a very easy change to make!
How To Guarantee Red Cabbage Year One in Stardew Valley
Due to high demand from speed runners and just regular Stardew Valley players, ConcernedApe did add an option to change game options that includes one for guaranteeing a chance at red cabbage in year one.
How?
Click on the wrench in the bottom left-hand corner. This takes you to the Advanced Game Options, which have a huge variety of settings which includes one setting that helps to guarantee you can get a red cabbage seed early enough in year one to finish the Community Center bundles in that first year.
You should now see a screen that looks like this:
There’s a box that says “Guarantee year 1 Completable” under Community Center Bundles, and click it. That’s the setting that fills in the most common previous trip up: not being able to get a Red Cabbage seed. If you hover the mouse over the box it even tells you that checking the box “Ensures that the Traveling Merchant sells a Red Cabbage seed some time during the first year.”
By having access to the Red Cabbage in year one you can complete the Dye Bundle that is on the Bulletin Board of the Community Center which previously had been the one bundle that conceivably was impossible to complete with some play thru seeds.
Stardew Valley Red Cabbage, Concluded
Red Cabbage is a solid crop in and of itself, and it’s a good looking crop compared to many of the other pixelated fruits and veggies, and most look real good so that’s saying something. The red cabbage often had a love/hate relationship, in large part because it was often that elusive missing piece that prevented players from finishing up the Community Center and one thing that no one wants in a great cozy game is a frustrating bottleneck.
However, with this new setting and the expanded Winter Market there are options for players now. Red Cabbage is more available than ever, and the Community Center can be completed Year One by any ambitious player setting their sights on doing just that.
With all these positive changes, the excellent selling prices, and outstanding recipes, it’s easy to see why Stardew Valley’s red cabbage is a crop that might actually be making a comeback with avid players of this wonderful farm-sim cozy game.
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Proud to embrace the locally created moniker of “Corrupt Overlord” from one of the all time great Lords of Waterdeep runs, Shane is one member of the Assorted Meeples crew and will be hard at work creating awesome content for the website. He is a long-time player of board games, one time semi-professional poker player, and tends to run to the quirky or RPG side of things when it comes to playing video games. He loves tabletop roleplaying systems like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Werewolf, Fate, and others, and not only has been a player but has run games as DM for years. You can find his other work in publications like Level Skip or Hobby Lark.