Best Food For Mining In Stardew Valley, Ranked

Summary

• Miner’s Treat recipe unlocks at level 3 mining, easily achievable by breaking basic rocks.
• Magic Rock Candy offers the best all-around buffs for mining but is challenging to obtain.
• Eggplant Parmesan and Cranberry Sauce are easy to make and provide good mining buffs.

Mining in Stardew Valley is one of the most important skills for aiding progression. However, it continues to divide fans over how difficult it is to master. Some Stardew Valley players thoroughly enjoy the challenge of completing the mines, while others still have nightmares about their visits to the Skull Cavern.

The following food items are ideal to consume before a trip to the mines as they enhance the mining skill, which reduces the energy required for each rock hit. Some of the food items on this list offer additional buffs beyond mining, and they are ranked based on their overall usefulness for a trip to the mines.

1

Miner’s Treat

Quick To Acquire And Easy To Make

The recipe for Miner’s Treat
comes at mining level 3, which is usually achieved fairly quickly in Stardew Valley due to the great emphasis on mining for materials early in the game. Getting to level 3 of any in-game skill requires 776 XP in that particular field. As a general benchmark, breaking between 194-259 basic rocks will allow players to reach level 3 mining, since breaking basic rocks grants players 3-4 XP per rock.

Once the recipe is unlocked, making a Miner’s Treat is relatively simple. Cave Carrot can be found in dirt patches and barrels throughout the mines, Milk is available daily from cows, and Sugar can be purchased from Pierre
‘s shop.

2

Magic Rock Candy

Amazing All-Round Buffs For Mining

• Buff(s): +2 Mining, +5 Luck, +1 Speed, +5 Defense, +5 Attack
• Duration: 8m 24s

Magic Rock Candy
is undoubtedly the best all-around food item in the game, but it is challenging to obtain. Since it cannot be cooked, there are limited ways for players to acquire it, and when bought it is usually quite expensive.

The easiest way to obtain Magic Rock Candy without buying it directly is by donating 90 items to the museum. However, its highest random drop rate is just 0.4% from a Golden Mystery Box
. One Magic Rock Candy can be dropped by Haunted Skulls, purchased from the Desert Trader for 3 Prismatic Shard
, or obtained as the 22nd reward from the Prize Machine.

3

Eggplant Parmesan

Made With Simple Ingredients

With a longer duration than Cranberry Sauce
, Eggplant Parmesan
takes the third spot on this list. The recipe for Eggplant Parmesan is delivered to the player by mail once they have reached 7 hearts with Lewis
and is made with fairly simple ingredients.

Tomato can be grown on the player’s farm during Summer, while Eggplant is available in Fall. Both are harvested from reproducing plants, making them quite a valuable investment. The dish can also be obtained from the Saloon’s rotating stock, found randomly in the trash outside the Saloon, or purchased from Krobus
‘ shop on Saturdays if available.

4

Cranberry Sauce

A Good Boost To Players’ Mining Level

Providing the same buff as Eggplant Parmesan Cranberry Sauce
is another good food option to take into the mines. The recipe is sent to the player once they have reached 7 hearts with Gus
, which can be a little challenging as Gus’ loved items aren’t easily accessible early in the game.

However, the ingredients are relatively simple, with Cranberries being a renewable and profitable crop in Fall, and Sugar being consistently available at Pierre
‘s shop. An easier way to acquire Cranberry Sauce would be to purchase it from the Traveling Merchant at the Festival of Ice for 200g on Winter 8.

5

Banana Pudding

Provides A Range Of Useful Buffs

• Buff(s): +1 Mining, +1 Luck, +1 Defense
• Duration: 5m 1s

• Recipe: 1
  Banana

  , 1
  Milk

  , 1
  Sugar

Banana Pudding
becomes available fairly late in the game, as it comes from Ginger Island and requires several Golden Walnuts to unlock. The recipe can be purchased from the Island Trader for 30 Bone Fragment
, once the player has obtained the Island Farmhouse and traded 10 Golden Walnuts in Island North to summon the trader.

However, once players reach that point, the ingredients are fairly easy to acquire, and the range of buffs Banana Pudding provides is incredibly helpful for a trip to the mines, especially in the Skull Cavern. Moreover, the 5-minute duration means that only 3 are required in order to fill a whole day with +1 mining, +1 luck, and +1 defense.

6

Squid Ink Ravioli

A Unique Buff With A Mining Boost

Save by random chance at Gus
‘ shop at the Desert Festival for 30 Calico Egg
each, the only way to acquire Squid Ink Ravioli
is by cooking. At combat level 9, the recipe is learned overnight and includes an individual buff exclusive to Squid Ink Ravioli.

The Squid Ink Ravioli Buff means that players are immune to debuffs for 3 minutes, making it a good option to take into the mines while Mr. Qi
‘s “Danger In The Deep” quest is active, as a few monsters have powerful debuff attacks.

7

Maple Bar

Great Duration And Multi-Purpose

Maple Bar
has a fantastic duration that spans a whole day in Stardew Valley, meaning it can be used for multiple skill-based activities throughout the in-game day. However, as this list is purely focused on mining, Maple Bar does land at the bottom since only one of its buffs aids any mining activities.

The recipe can be found on the TV channel Queen of Sauce, shown for the first time on Summer 14 of Year 2. The dish itself can be purchased from the Traveling Merchant as part of her random stock rotation for anywhere between 900-1,500g.