How to find Ancient Seeds & grow Ancient Fruit in Stardew Valley

You'll need to find the Ancient Seed to complete the Museum in Stardew Valley, but this can also lead you to growing the Ancient Fruit, which is one of the most profitable crops in the game.

It can be a bit of a nightmare to actually locate, as it's largely down to luck - as is the case with most rare items you'll find. It's definitely worth getting though, as the Ancient Fruit can help you afford even the most expensive items from the Bookseller that's arrived in Patch 1.6.

Where can you find an Ancient Seed?

Here are some of the best locations to get an Ancient Seed in Stardew Valley:

• Artefact Spots (Cindersnap Forest/Mountains)
• Artefact Troves
• Fishing Treasure Chests
• Grub & Fly type monsters (Mines)

One of the most reliable places to find an Ancient Seed is from Artefact Spots in either Cindersnap Forest or the Mountains, signified by wiggling worms or twigs reaching through the earth. These can be dug up using your Hoe, but they still have quite a low chance of spawning the Seed.

You can also get the Ancient Seed from an Artefact Trove, which is purchased from the Desert Trader for 5 Omni Geodes. This does only have a 3.7% chance of giving you the Seed and is obviously only accessible later on in the game once you have reached Calico Desert.

Like most rare items in the game, Ancient Seeds are a potential reward from Fishing Treasure Chests, but I wouldn't personally rely on these as something to farm and just think instead of getting one as a bit of a lucky coincidence.

I managed to get my Ancient Seed as a drop from a Grub/Fly monster in the Mines, so I feel rather lucky in that regard! You're best off grinding some of the earlier levels, especially as you'll likely have a weapon that'll kill them in a single hit.

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Make sure that the first Ancient Seed you find is always given to the Museum, as you never know how long it'll be until you get your next one! Gunther will give you both a single Ancient Fruit Seed and the crafting recipe for more as a reward, so it's definitely worth handing over.

Tips for growing an Ancient Fruit

In order to most efficiently make an Ancient Fruit farm, the first step is to craft some Seed Makers. These turn harvested produce back into seeds but can produce more than one seed at a time, and therefore double your input.

The recipe for the seed maker is given to the player after achieving Farming Level 9, requiring only 25 Wood, 1 Gold Bar and 10 Coal so it is possible to make a few at once.

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Image via Concerned Ape

While it might seem a little long-winded before you start, growing the Ancient Fruit Seed that Gunther gives you, and then using Seed Makers to duplicate that over and over again can easily let you create an entire Ancient Fruit farm. This is helped by the fact that the Seed grows in Spring, Summer, and Autumn (or all Seasons in the Greenhouse), so you've got plenty of time to duplicate.

They also resprout new Fruit from the same plant every 7 days after the initial 28-day growth period, so this will definitely speed up the process and give you a potentially endless supply of Fruit (and money!)

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Image via Concerned Ape

You can also speed up this wait with the Agriculturist perk, which is given to the player at Farming Level 10, making crops grow 10% faster. Combining this with Deluxe Speed Gro (recipe given at Farming Level 8) will also speed the process by a further 25%.

Although the Rare Seed is the most profitable crop in the game, the Ancient Seed is a better option to farm as it continues to reproduce after the first harvest, unlike the Rare Seed which only produces one harvest.

Ancient Fruit prices

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Image via Concerned Ape

As with any crop the higher the quality, the higher the value of the crop which is why using Quality Fertilizer is a worthwhile pursuit.

You can also use the Tiller Profession perk to increase the sale price:

Placing the Ancient Fruit in a Keg (making Ancient Fruit Wine) or a Preserves Jar (making Ancient Fruit Jelly) is also a fantastic idea, but this does elongate the process so it might not be worth it for you.

Using Ancient Seeds & Fruit as a gift

As the Ancient Seed is technically classed as an artefact before turning into a growable seed, most villagers dislike it as a gift except for the Dwarf and Penny. However, the Ancient Fruit is a much better gift option, and something you'd maybe want to consider to increase the Heart Points of your favourite Villagers:

Ancient Fruit Reactions:

There are no Love or Hate reactions to the Ancient Fruit.

Like

• Demetrius
• Elliott
• Harvey
• Kent
• Jodi
• Pam
• Linus
• Shane
• Sandy
• Robin
• Leah

Dislike

• Abigail
• Haley
• Jas
• Vincent

The rest of the villagers fall into the neutral category.

Head over to our Stardew Valley homepage for some more tips and tricks, including all of the best mods you'll definitely want to install, everything you need to know about the Mystery Box, and what to do when there's green rain in Pelican Village.