Pepper

Overview

Pepper is a spicy trellis crop in Starsand Island, grown during Summer. It matures in 2 days and 6 hours and can be harvested twice from a single seed, making it a reliable multi-harvest option for players who have recently unlocked the Junior Farmer tier. Each harvest yields 2 Peppers, so one seed bag ultimately produces 4 Peppers across both picks.

Pepper Seeds unlock at the Junior Farmer tier of the Farming profession and are purchased from the Happiness Seed Shop for 160 Coins. Because Pepper requires a Trellis to grow, you need to have completed the "Natural Delicacies" quest during the Apprentice Farmer stage to build Trellises before you can plant Pepper.

Pepper is a versatile cooking ingredient that appears in four savory recipes, including Redcrest Stew, Sauerkraut Fish, Spicy Boiled Beef, and Spicy Chicken. The in-game description reads: "Chili peppers developed spiciness to avoid being eaten, until one day they met a group of curious two-legged creatures..." Several island residents love Peppers as gifts, while a handful actively dislike or hate them.

Quick Stats

How to Obtain Seeds

Pepper Seeds are sold by Graminova at the Happiness Seed Shop for 160 Coins per seed bag. The shop is located in Starsand Town, across from Zerine's General Store, and operates from 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM each day. You can interact with the cash register directly to browse and buy seeds without talking to Graminova.

You must reach the Junior Farmer tier before Pepper Seeds appear in the shop inventory. To unlock Junior Farmer, complete the Apprentice Farmer trial quests given by Graminova and then finish the Junior Farmer certification trials. Once you earn the certification, Pepper Seeds (along with other Junior-tier seeds like Soybean, Sugarcane, Green Grape, and Tomato) become permanently available for purchase.

Seeds are not locked by season at the point of purchase. You can buy Pepper Seeds during any season and stockpile them for Summer planting. This is useful if you want to prepare seed inventory near the end of Spring so you can plant on the first day of Summer.

Pepper Seeds can also be obtained through the Grinder at Senior Farmer tier, which converts harvested Peppers back into seeds. Beyond that, you may occasionally find Pepper Seeds through general exploration by chopping trees and shrubs, foraging weeds, and opening Treasure Chests scattered across the island.

Growing Pepper

Pepper is a vine crop that requires a Trellis to grow. Trellises are unlocked by completing the "Natural Delicacies" quest during the Apprentice Farmer stage. When you place a Trellis on the ground, it automatically tills the soil underneath, so you do not need to hoe the plot first. Simply place the Trellis, plant the Pepper Seed, and water it.

After planting, Pepper takes 2 days and 6 hours to reach its first harvest. Water the crop every day for it to grow on schedule. If you skip a day of watering, growth will stall until the next time you water. Once the plant is fully grown, harvest it to collect 2 Peppers.

Pepper is a multi-harvest crop. After the first pick, the plant stays in the ground and begins regrowing. The regrowth period is another 2 days and 6 hours. Once regrowth completes, you can harvest a second batch of 2 Peppers. After the second harvest, the plant is exhausted and the Trellis plot becomes available for replanting.

This two-harvest cycle means each Pepper seed ultimately produces 4 Peppers total. The full cycle from planting to final harvest takes roughly 4 days and 12 hours (2d 6h initial growth plus 2d 6h regrowth). This makes Pepper one of the faster trellis crops, sitting alongside Cucumber as an efficient vine option for newer farmers.

Seasonal Availability

Pepper grows only during Summer, which lasts 28 in-game days. With a full cycle of about 4 days 12 hours for both harvests, you can fit several complete planting cycles into a single Summer. If you plant on day 1 and harvest both times, you can replant around day 5 and repeat. Efficient timing allows for up to six first-harvests within the 28-day window, though squeezing in the final regrowth harvest near the season's end may require careful planning.

Because Pepper is restricted to a single season, it competes with other Summer crops like Watermelon, Blueberry, and Tomato for field space. However, since Pepper uses a Trellis rather than standard Farmland, it does not directly compete with crops planted on tilled soil. You can dedicate a row of Trellises to Peppers alongside your regular Farmland crops.

Sell Price and Profit

Each Pepper sells for 101 Coins. Since one seed bag (160 Coins) produces 4 Peppers across two harvests, a single planting yields 404 Coins in revenue, for a net profit of 244 Coins per seed. Over the full 4-day 12-hour growth cycle, that works out to roughly 54 Coins of profit per day per Trellis slot.

For higher returns, consider selling your harvest to the Merchant Ship when it docks at Starsand Town. The Merchant Ship pays roughly double the standard vendor price, which could push Pepper revenue to around 202 Coins per unit. Timing your harvests to coincide with the ship's visits maximizes your earnings.

You can also increase profit by cooking Peppers into recipes. Spicy Boiled Beef and Spicy Chicken are high-rarity dishes that sell well and provide strong energy recovery. For a full comparison of crop earnings, see the Crop Profitability Rankings page.

Recipes Using Pepper

Pepper is used as a cooking ingredient in four recipes. All four are savory saucepan or fry dishes prepared on the Gas Stove or Campfire. The table below lists each recipe, its required ingredients, the cooking station, and the processing time.

Redcrest Stew is a Rarity I dish, making it the simplest of the four recipes. Sauerkraut Fish, Spicy Boiled Beef, and Spicy Chicken are all Rarity III dishes, which means they provide stronger energy recovery and sell for more Coins. Spicy Boiled Beef and Spicy Chicken in particular are excellent recovery foods because of their high energy restoration values.

Note: Pepper cannot be processed in the Jam Maker, Juicer, or Pickling Jar. Unlike fruits that can be turned into jams or juices, Pepper is used exclusively in cooked recipes on the Gas Stove or Campfire.

Gifting Preferences

Pepper can be given as a gift to island residents and animals. Giving a Pepper to a character who loves it provides a significant boost to your friendship level. Below are the known preferences.

Since Graminova loves Peppers and she is the Farming profession mentor, gifting her Peppers is a convenient way to raise friendship while you are already visiting the Happiness Seed Shop to buy seeds. Fang and Marston are also easy targets since they are commonly encountered around Starsand Town.

Be careful about gifting Peppers to Alex or Hattie. They hate Peppers, and giving a hated gift causes a significant friendship penalty. Ginger, Loren, and Momo dislike Peppers as well, so avoid gifting them this crop.

Everlasting Pepper Seeds

Like all crops in Starsand Island, Pepper has an Everlasting variant. Everlasting Pepper Seeds produce a plant that does not disappear after the second harvest. Instead, the crop continues regrowing indefinitely, eliminating the need to buy new seeds and replant each cycle. Everlasting crops also ignore season restrictions, meaning an Everlasting Pepper plant can produce year-round rather than only during Summer.

There are several ways to obtain Everlasting Pepper Seeds:

• Eternal Blessings Skill: The Senior Farmer tier unlocks the Eternal Blessings skill, which gives a chance of receiving an Everlasting Seed when harvesting any regular crop. The higher your farming proficiency, the better the odds.

• Creamy Seeds Buff: Eating Mirthshroom Soup (recipe found in a Moonlit Forest chest) grants a temporary buff that increases the chance of dropping Everlasting Seeds when harvesting. Combine this with the Eternal Blessings skill for the best results.

• Islandpedia Rewards: Completing certain entries in the Plants section of the Islandpedia may reward you with Everlasting Seeds for specific crops.

• Random Harvest Drops: Occasionally, harvesting a normal Pepper plant will yield an Everlasting Pepper Seed alongside the regular harvest.

Everlasting Seeds are safe to relocate. If you remove an Everlasting crop from a plot, the seed returns to your inventory so you can replant it elsewhere without losing your investment. Over time, building up a collection of Everlasting Pepper Seeds lets you maintain a permanent Pepper supply that produces Peppers every 2 days 6 hours without any ongoing seed costs or seasonal limitations.

Comparison with Similar Trellis Crops

Pepper is one of nine trellis crops in the game. The table below compares it with other trellis crops available at similar farmer tiers.

Pepper has the fastest regrowth time of any Junior-tier trellis crop at 2 days 6 hours, compared to Tomato's 5-day regrowth and Green Grape's 9-day regrowth. While Tomato sells for slightly more per unit (103g vs 101g), Pepper's quicker turnaround makes it easier to fit multiple complete cycles into a single Summer season.

Cucumber remains the cheapest trellis option at 95g per seed but sells for only 66g per unit. Pepper provides a meaningful step up in sell price at 101g while maintaining a similarly fast two-harvest cycle.

Tips

• Place Trellises before Summer starts: Trellises can be placed at any time. Set them up during Spring so that on Summer day 1 you can immediately plant Pepper Seeds and start the growth clock.

• Pair with sprinklers: Since Pepper requires daily watering and goes through two growth phases, sprinklers save significant time and stamina. Place sprinklers to cover your Trellis rows and focus your energy on other tasks.

• Use Ripening Fertilizer: Applying Ripening Fertilizer to Pepper can skip hours of growth time, letting you squeeze in an extra planting cycle before Summer ends. Ripening Fertilizer III skips 25 hours of growth, which nearly halves Pepper's initial growth period.

• Cook for higher value: Raw Pepper sells for 101 Coins, but cooking it into Spicy Boiled Beef or Spicy Chicken produces a high-rarity dish worth more and with better energy restoration. If you have the ingredients, cooking is almost always the better option.

• Gift Peppers to Graminova: She loves them, and you are already visiting her shop for seeds. Raising her friendship level unlocks additional rewards and dialogue.

• Avoid gifting to Alex and Hattie: They hate Peppers. A hated gift causes a significant friendship penalty that takes multiple liked gifts to recover from.

• Work toward Everlasting Seeds: Once you reach Senior Farmer and unlock the Eternal Blessings skill, every Pepper harvest has a chance of dropping an Everlasting Seed. Combine this with the Creamy Seeds buff from Mirthshroom Soup for even better odds.

• Place Bumblebee hives nearby: Bumblebees placed in hives near your Trellis crops boost growth speed significantly. Combined with sprinklers, this makes Pepper farming almost entirely passive.