Crops are the backbone of your farm in Stardew Valley; there's plenty of room to grow them, the seeds are inexpensive, and they'll feed you if you don't have much energy yet. Before you can afford to own animals, you'll be growing nutritious food from the soil and becoming a better farmer.

Once you're able to craft Kegs and process your crops into juices and alcohols, your profits will go way up, especially if you have both the Tiller and Artisan Professions. Fruits are particularly valuable since they'll become wines, which are almost always worth more. Here are the best fruits to use to get the best possible price for the fruits of your labor.

Updated January 7, 2024 by Jacqueline Zalace: Selling wine in Stardew Valley is one of the best ways to make money. As such, we've updated this guide with a bit more information about the profit margin for each wine type.

How Is Wine Price Calculated?

Wine prices are determined by the price of the base fruit used, multiplied by three.

For example, a normal apple is worth 100g. If this were to be turned into a normal quality (no star) wine, it would sell for 300g.

To increase the apple wine price, you can make it with higher quality apples, as well as age it in a cask. There is a price maximum though; apple wine caps out at 600g, as an Iridium quality apple is worth 200g. Of course, you can increase this with the Artisan profession, which increases the price of artisan goods by 40 percent.

Blueberries

• Blueberry Base Price: 50g
• Minimum Profit: 100g

One single blueberry isn't profitable, but fortunately, you will never harvest just one blueberry at a time. These little berry bushes will produce three blueberries every four days, with a two percent chance to yield more.

At minimum, you will get three blueberry wines from one bush's harvest. If the wine is Iridium quality and you have the Artisan profession, you are looking at 1,260g.

Pomegranate

• Pomegranate Base Price: 140g
• Minimum Profit: 280g

It's smart to invest early in this tree to get as many Pomegranates during your first Fall season as possible.

Because a normal Pomegranate is worth 140g on its own, a bottle of Pomegranate wine will be worth 420g. Not all fruits are capable of reaching a value of over 1,000g from its wine, but an Iridium-quality Pomegranate wine will yield up to 1,176g.

How To Obtain

You can purchase a Pomegranate Sapling (and other sapling trees) at Pierre's General Store right from the beginning of the game. The 7,500g price tag will pay itself off quickly when Autumn comes around, so it's worth buying early.

This fruit, as well as many of the other fruit trees available, is always worth snagging early on to make money quickly and restore the community center faster.

Crystal Fruit

• Crystal Fruit Base Price: 150g
• Minimum Profit: 300g

Struggling to find produce to put into your Kegs during the winter? There's a solution to that, and its name is Crystal Fruit. This is a Winter forgeable that can help you make up for those lost Winter profits.

Growing Winter Seeds is profitable because of the value Crystal Fruit can yield. It normally sells for 150g, though when turned into wine it will earn 450g.

It's best to keep any and all Crystal Fruit found and harvested for wine-making purposes.

How To Obtain

If you're able to get your hands on a decent supply of Winter Seeds, you can use your empty field space to grow Winter foraging items such as Crocus, Snow Yam, Winter Root, and Crystal Fruit. Winter Seeds are the only seeds that will grow in the cold snow, and crows will never bother attacking the crop.

Getting Winter Seeds is usually a matter of converting foraged Winter items found in the valley using a Crafting Recipe or a Seed Maker. You can combine Crocus, Snow Yam, Winter Root, and Crystal Fruit to make a pack of ten Winter Seeds.

Banana

• Pomegranate Base Price: 150g
• Minimum Profit: 300g

Bananas are a tropical fruit that grow on trees which, in turn, grow from Banana Saplings.

After getting a sapling, it will take 28 days to grow into a full-fledged Banana tree that provides said delicious fruit. They can be grown on Ginger Island all year, as well as during the Summer season in Stardew Valley, and anytime in the Greenhouse.

The average Banana is worth 150g, making Banana Wine worth 450g, and that's without the Artisan Profession. Once you have a steady supply of Bananas available, it's a great late-game money-maker.

How To Obtain

Professor Snail will give you a Banana Sapling after completing the Large Animal fossil collection, while more saplings can be obtained by trading five Dragon Teeth with the Island Trader. They also can be found by cracking open Golden Coconuts at the Blacksmith's.

Rhubarb

• Pomegranate Base Price: 220g
• Minimum Profit: 440g

Rhubarb is the most profitable Spring fruit, beating out Strawberry's profit per piece. Strawberry does have the advantage of producing multiple Strawberries, but the seeds aren't as widely available as Rhubarb is, only being sold at the Egg Festival.

Shipping a regular Rhubarb will net you 220g, but that goes up to 924g when it's turned into wine alongside the Artisan Profession. That's over four times the amount of money just by letting it become alcohol. The best part? Rhubarb on its own is inedible, so you won't accidentally eat it before putting it into a Keg.

How To Obtain

Rhubarb is available all year round in the Desert Oasis shop. This is the only way to get Rhubarb seeds, but once you unlock the Bus, you can travel here as much as you want.

Melon

• Melon Base Price: 250g
• Minimum Profit: 500g

Melon is a very common and accessible fruit that many farmers make serious bank off of; money that's very much welcomed during your first Summer in the Valley.

The great part about Melons is that planting nine in a square allows the possibility for Giant Melons to grow, one of three Giant Crops possible in the game. These not only look amazing but generate 15-21 crops when destroyed, at least six more than the 3x3 spot it occupied.

Melons are one of the most profitable crops out there, so it's good to take advantage all Summer long to maximize profit. The average Melon yields 250g each, but with both Tiller and Artisan professions, it can become a 2,100g bottle of wine.

How To Obtain

All you need to do is purchase the Melon Seeds at Pierre's, and then get to planting!

Pineapple

• Pineapple Base Price: 300g
• Minimum Profit: 600g

Pineapples are a great money-maker, though it requires access to Ginger Island. Growing a Pineapple from seed to harvest takes 14 days, and seven days to regrow another Pineapple. Since they'll grow indefinitely with water and the heat of Ginger Island, you'll be able to have as many Pineapples as your heart (or wallet) desires.

Pineapple wine has a base sell price of 900g, and Iridium-quality Pineapple wine fetches a price of 2,520g per bottle, which sounds as sweet as the drink itself.

How To Obtain

Pineapple Seeds are dropped by Tiger Slimes and Hot Heads in the Volcano Dungeon, but you can get more from the Island Trader in exchange for a Magma Cap mushroom.

Ancient Fruit

• Ancient Fruit Base Price: 550g
• Minimum Profit: 1,100g

Getting your hands on Ancient Fruit is tough but well worth it, especially if you can fill an entire Greenhouse with Ancient Fruit plants. They will constantly yield fruit, so all you'll have to do is harvest and never worry about planting new seeds.

Since it is inedible, there's no better way to use Ancient Fruit than turning it into wine. If you have a full Greenhouse of Ancient Fruit (minus four spots for Iridium Sprinklers) and turn them all into Iridium-quality wine, you'll earn over half a million just from one harvest and aging.

How To Obtain

There are several ways of obtaining this valuable relic of the past, which you can check out below.

Starfruit

• Starfruit Base Price: 750g
• Minimum Profit: 1,500g

On its own, the average Starfruit yields 750g, but what if it is turned into wine? An impressive 3,150g with the Artisan Profession, with a possible maximum of 6,300g if it's aged to be Iridium-quality.

Only one crop in the whole game sells for more, but the Sweet Gem Berry cannot be made into wine, so it falls short. Starfruit also grows faster, taking 13 days in comparison to the Sweet Gem Berry's 24 days. Starfruit is absolutely the way to go. After all, it has "star" in the name, so how could it ever be bad?

How To Obtain

Starfruit Seeds sell for 400g at the Oasis Shop and are available every day of the week.