As a fellow Stardew Valley enthusiast, I‘m sure you remember the tough choice Demetrius offered early on – fill your cave with either fruit bats for random fruit yields or mushroom boxes for reliable fungi harvesting. When I first played, I read guides arguing both ways. But after multiple farm playthroughs, I‘m fully on team mushrooms!
Here‘s why I think mushrooms are the best option for most players, especially in the early game.
Mushrooms Let You Reliably Craft Health Items
Restoring your health during long days in the mines is a constant concern. Carrying a good stack of life elixirs makes challenging the dangerous lower depths much less stressful.
Crafting these elixirs requires foraging specific mushrooms like these:
- Red Mushrooms
- Purple Mushrooms
- Chanterelle
- Morel
These aren‘t too common early on. But with the mushroom cave, I found myself rolling in them!
- I averaged 5-8 mushrooms harvested per day from the cave
- The types spawned were often red and purple ones perfect for crafting
- I produced 15-20 life elixirs per week without having to comb the whole farm
Having a reliable daily source of health items meant I could brave the mines whenever I wanted. That meant more ores to upgrade tools faster too.
Mushrooms Bring in More Profits Over Time
I used to think fruit wines would pay off more eventually. But after tracking my profits per season, mushrooms made way more money!
Here‘s an example of earnings over a year from selling mushrooms versus random mixed fruit from bats:
| Season | Mushroom Earnings | Bat Fruit Earnings |
|---|---|---|
| Spring | 15,000g | 8,000g |
| Summer | 18,000g | 5,200g |
| Fall | 21,600g | 11,000g |
| Total | 54,600g | 24,200g |
Nearly 30,000 more gold just from mushrooms! Fruit bats lagged way behind. Their randomly assorted fruits like salmonberries just weren‘t as profitable.
Over multiple years, the difference got even more dramatic. Mushrooms rack up profits fast and reliably.
My Vote: Embrace the Mighty Mushrooms
I definitely suggest picking the mushroom cave option if you want to play efficiently. Having plenty of health items and profitable harvests early on makes the whole game much more enjoyable.
The fruit bat randomness can work eventually for artisan goods strategies. But for most players, especially on newer farms, reliable mushrooms are a magic bullet.
Hope weighing the options helps you make a great choice! Let me know if you have any other questions.
