- Stardew Valley Character Tier List - October 8, 2023
- How to Get Iridium in Stardew Valley - August 30, 2023
- Stardew Valley Walnut Locations - April 28, 2023
In Stardew Valley, you’ll complete the Community Center and eventually take a boat ride to a lovely tropical island filled to the brim with collectibles. The main one you’ll come across is the Golden Walnut, a little legume that grants access to structures and locations all across the island.
While there is an in-game hints system for these, the hints can sometimes be vague and somewhat unhelpful. So, in this guide, I will show the location and method of getting to every Golden Walnut in Stardew Valley. Just be warned, this will take an incredibly long time, especially since many are entirely random.
Bottom Line Up-Front
There are 130 Golden Walnuts scattered across Ginger Island in Stardew Valley. While only 100 are required to experience the vast majority of content, every single one is needed to achieve Perfection.
The Parrot and Some Notes
The Parrot inside Leo’s house on the right side of the island will give a hint about the following Golden Walnut location for free once a day. If you don’t want to be spoiled on the thrill of the hunt, this should be your first stop, but if you get stuck, this guide can help you out wherever you’re lost.
It should be noted that practically every part of Ginger Island expects you to be in endgame gear, namely Iridium tools, and decently high Farming, Combat, and Mining levels.
Foraging and Fishing are negligible but can’t hurt. In addition, you’ll likely be coming back and forth from Stardew Valley and Ginger Island, so warp totems are also great.
Generally, expect the Ginger Island journey to take around 5-10 hours when going for everything. This number depends on both skill level and how much time you feel like spending in places like the Mines or on the farm, where it is permanently Summer. Expect this to be a long vacation away from home.
For a few of these walnuts, you’ll need what are known as Journal Scraps. These scraps are elusive and usually found in many ways, such as by breaking fiber, digging up artifact spots, breaking rocks, and generally doing things. They are ultimately random, though, so expect to have to come back to a few walnuts later.
The Forest (11)
The first area with accessible walnuts, most of these will be pretty straightforward, but some are meant to be revisited later as opposed to the very beginning of Ginger Island.
Walnut 1
The first of every Golden Walnut, this one is out in the open and is obtained by just interacting with it when close, setting a precedent for most other walnuts in the game.
Walnut 2, 3, and 4
These walnuts are all obtained simultaneously from placing a Banana on the altar to the left of the stairs. Bananas are obtained by opening the shop later, so this is one to return to.
Walnut 5
You can get another quick walnut by hitting the bulging tree in Leo‘s house with your axe, which will cough it up.
Walnut 6
This walnut is in a hidden area, hinted at by the stone path diverging to the right. Once in this secret area, it’s in mostly plain sight at the bottom of the room.
Walnut 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
While the allure of a whole five walnuts is undeniable, this puzzle is cryptic, and I literally can’t give you the answer since it’s personalized to each game. On rainy days, birds will come by the island. Each holds a specific gem only in the North, East, South, and West. This affects the puzzle in the hidden room from the previous walnut.
Specifically, birds spawn below the office tent, in the middle of the Forest, on the bottom left of the beach next to the dock, and to the left of the farm.
These correspond to the top, right, bottom, and left pedestals, so the gem you find in each area corresponds to the pedestal it should be on. So if the forest bird drops a ruby, the rightmost pedestal should have a ruby.
So, wait for a rainy day, then explore these parts of the island, noting which bird dropped what gem and where. Of course, you’ll only get one bird daily, so it’s a rather lengthy process.
For me, I had an Aquamarine in the south, an Amethyst in the East, an Emerald in the North, and a Topaz in the West, but you’ll likely have something entirely different.
The Dock (1)
There isn’t much here, not even after everything’s been built. The Island Resort doesn’t add any walnuts, and only one can be obtained after the entrance to the North has been unlocked.
Walnut 12
The first and only one is found after unlocking the entrance to the North. Of course, you’ll have to get a few walnuts from the Forest first to move the Turtle, but once the Turtle has moved, you can walk up and go past under the tree on your right to grab a walnut.
The North Side (28)
Quite a few walnuts reside on the fun spiraling path to the Volcano just above the dock. Given it’s the first area open after the Forest has been run through, you’ll probably be earning enough walnuts to progress to any other place. Luckily, this happens to be the location of the majority of Walnuts if you count the Volcano.
Walnut 13
This walnut is earned by tilling the circle of stones to the left of the entrance to the North, causing the monkey to freak out and drop it.
Walnut 14
This one is quickly found to the left, just above the tree the monkey was on. Go behind the bushes for a hidden path and another quick walnut.
Walnut 15
This can be earned by tiling the diamond of flowers just behind one of the trees to the right of the entrance.
Walnut 16
This walnut is rather apparent; you’ll come across a small circle of pebbles diagonally across from a tree, and just tilling it with your hoe will give you your nut.
Walnut 17
There is a slightly raised tile of sand below and to the right of the Field Research tent; tilling it will give you another walnut.
Walnut 18
Another rather obvious one, just above the dig site (which you would have the walnuts to unlock at this point if you’ve been strictly following the guide and haven’t opened the left side of the island, but if you have, skip to Walnut 35) there is a circle of stones, which you can till for a walnut.
Walnut 19
This walnut is to the left of the last one, just above the dig site and in plain sight.
Walnuts 20 and 21
These are found above the field office tent and can be reached by following the path above the dig site and walking straight into the wall, the entrance marked by the two pebbles in the dirt.
Walnuts 22-34
All of these are earned by completing quests in the field office. First and foremost, blow up the cave blocked off by rocks at the Dig Site, then let’s get to work. Head into the tent for a cutscene, and then I’ll guide you through the arduous process ahead of you.
Walnuts 22 and 23
Perhaps the worst quest in the game to do without a guide telling you the answer is an Island survey. There are 22 Purple Flowers and 18 Purple Starfish. Counting these manually is supremely lame and something I’ve literally never done. Free two walnuts for those of us with the internet, though.
Walnut 24
This one is found by breaking rocks in the Volcano, getting a Mummified Bat, and then donating it.
Walnut 25
This one is obtained by cutting weeds in the foresty area on the east side, getting a Mummified Frog, and donating it. I actually got this one on my first try and was not prepared to take a proper screenshot, so here is this instead.
Walnuts 26, 27, 28
This one is a bit less easy to find but rewards three walnuts. A Snake skull can be found by fishing on the west side, digging up artifact spots (the worm-looking things in the ground) in the dig site, or artifact spots on the west side.
The snake spines are known for ending Perfection speedruns because they can only be found in artifact spots on the west side. So look for these at least once a week; you’ll get them eventually.
Walnuts 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34
Here’s the big one, literally. The Large Animal collection can be completed primarily through interacting with things on the Dig Site. Namely, panning in the river will eventually give the tail; the spine can be found by fishing in the river or artifact spots near the dock.
The ribs can be found by breaking bone rocks in the dig site, digging up artifact spots at the dig site, or, alternatively, digging up artifact spots near the dock again. The legs are exclusively found by breaking bone nodes; you need two.
The head is the only different one, exclusively found by breaking open a Golden Coconut. These coconuts can be acquired by shaking trees, buying them from the trader, or digging up artifact spots, so I guess you could technically obtain one at the dig site.
Finally, after all these pieces have been found, you get a clean 6 Golden Walnuts.
Walnut 35
After that ordeal, we can return to normalcy with a walnut rather obviously dug up in this corner next to the volcano entrance.
Walnut 36
Once you’ve gotten access to Journal Scrap #10, the solution is digging a hole right here, on the upper-left of the map, inside the curved tree.
Walnut 37
This walnut is also rather obvious, found by tilling the circle of pebbles on this little plateau on the very upper left.
Walnut 38
This walnut is found as soon as you walk behind the tree diagonally down and to the right from the volcano entrance, requiring you to shake it to collect.
Walnut 39
This walnut requires a keen eye and a unique solution. Dust off that slingshot that’s probably been in your chest for a hundred hours or so, and use it to shoot this tree to the right of the Volcano for a walnut.
Walnut 40
This one is a bit tricky but is best found by rubbing up against the top left while moving down and to the left, and you should eventually slide out into this path, where you can walk to the right and grab this walnut.
The Volcano (21)
Most of the Volcano walnuts are random, so outside of the four completely static and set in stone, it would be best to keep count of every walnut you find while delving into this dangerous dungeon.
Walnuts 41 and 42
Hope you brought your Watering Can because you’ll have to use it to cross the lava to the left, which brings you to a hidden path where you can freely access two secret walnuts.
Walnuts 43-59
Unfortunately, this is where my help runs out. Every walnut in the Volcano Dungeon is entirely random and can be obtained by killing monsters, breaking rocks, opening chests, or destroying objects. This is until you hit 17 walnuts earned inside the dungeon, where you’re capped off and can’t make any more.
For that reason, I’d recommend grabbing a pen and paper (or just opening Notepad) and writing down how many Golden Walnuts you’ve gotten in the Volcano Dungeon so far, so you know how many you have left and when you can stop looking for them.
At least you’ll probably earn them if you’re grinding cinder shards for enchantments.
Walnuts 60 and 61
When you’ve hit the top of the Volcano dungeon, you’ll be met with two free walnuts you can walk up to. One of them is even conveniently right by the exit.
The Farmland (42)
A bunch of these are entirely dictated by randomness, unfortunately. So, while a lot of the west-side walnuts are collectible by just finding them, the first few (from 62 to 72) are entirely random, then the rest (from 73 to 113) are consistent across every game.
Walnuts 62, 63, 64, 65, 66
First and foremost, you’ll probably want to buy the farmhouse at this point because we’ll be spending quite a bit of time here. Five walnuts are randomly collected whenever you harvest a crop, and there is no consistent way to get all of them quickly.
My preferred method is just buying a bunch of single harvests, non-scythe crops (such as Summer Spangle) and planting them down, then harvesting them when they’re grown; if you don’t get walnuts from this, you can exit the game and then try again, and you’ll get them all eventually.
Of course, if you think that’s cheating, feel free to keep replanting until you get them all.
Walnuts 67, 68, 69, 70, 71
Also wholly random and with far less room for strategy, breaking the Mussel rocks on the shore will occasionally drop a walnut, up to 5 of them. This means you should break these whenever you see them and hope you get lucky; there isn’t anything else to it.
Walnut 72
This Golden Walnut is randomly dropped by one of the Tiger Slimes up by the hardwood trees. These only spawn a few daily, but at least you only have to get one out of them, not five.
Walnuts 73-87
In the cave at the top left of the farm, you’ll find a small cave with a friendly Frog inside.
He’ll ask you some strange questions, and you can fish in here for a funny hat, but if you plant a Melon, Wheat, and Garlic, then he’ll reward you with five walnuts each, for a total of 15. I’d recommend planting all at once, then not harvesting any of them.
Walnut 88
This one can only be found after grabbing Journal Scrap 6, and it’s located in the bottom right of the map, dug up in this little corner at the edge of the beach.
Walnut 89
This one is found by heading to the river’s end on the right side, where you’ll find a few small circles of sand forming a path to enter the sunken ship for a free walnut.
Walnut 90
Time to rig a game of Whack-A-Mole. On the other end of the river is four holes this little green guy will pop out of but disappear if you get close. You can place objects on the other three holes (such as leftover fencing) and hit him with an axe or pickaxe for a walnut.
Walnut 91
Right above the shipwreck, you’ll find debris forming a triangle in combination with blue starfish, and you can hit the center of this with your hoe for a walnut.
Walnut 92
Above the tide pools, to the left of the river on the beach, you’ll find a diamond of yellow and blue starfish (a big rock might cover it) that you can hit the center of with your hoe for another walnut.
Walnut 93
X marks the spot, and there is an X in between the two tide pools at the bottom left of the map. Hit it with your hoe for a walnut.
Walnut 94
At the bottom left edge of the coast, you’ll find four little marks in the sand, and hitting the middle with your hoe will give you a walnut.
Walnut 95
By the pond on the left half of the map, in between your house and the coast, there’s a walnut partially obscured by a tree.
Walnut 96, 97, 98, 99, 100
This one’s a doozy and will probably take a few days. First, talk to the woman named Birdie, fishing on the left edge of the sea to start the quest, where you’ll have to gift an item to a bunch of NPCs based on who would probably know the most about the thing you’re given, ending with a five walnut reward.
Give the War Memento to Kent, then the Tomato Salt to Gus, the Rose to Sandy, the Remote to George, the Arctic Shard to the Wizard, the Worm to Willy, and finally the Pirate’s Locket back to Birdie, where you’ll be rewarded with your walnuts. If you’ve done everything up till now, you can enter the room at the top left of the map.
Walnut 101
Just above Birdie’s cabin, you’ll find a little corner of the shore that is completely dry, and if you dig here after finding your fourth journal scrap, you’ll get a Quality Bobber and a golden walnut.
Walnuts 102 and 103
At the top right of the map, right outside the Walnut door, are two Golden Walnuts in plain sight. The upper one may be behind a Mahogany tree, but still accessible.
Walnut 104
Walking on the coast past the Walnut door, you can head all the way back to another golden walnut tucked away on the edge of the map.
Walnut 105
Where the Tiger Slimes and mahogany trees spawn, you can find a circle of grass that you can actually hoe the middle of for a walnut, which looks mildly cursed.
Walnut 106
Headed down and to the left of the Tiger Slime and Mahogany Tree area (not down the stairs, just to the corner of the raised platform), you can reach a golden walnut after breaking through a few rocks and bushes.
Walnut 107
Up and to the right from the Tiger Slime and Mahogany Tree area is another Golden Walnut slightly obscured by many trees.
Walnut 108, 109, 110
Above the previous one, just before the bridge, a small cave containing a Simon Says minigame can be found after interacting with the statue.
This one is difficult for those of us with a terrible memory. Still, if you have recording software on a PC or can use your device’s video capture function, you can use it to rewatch it and earn your three walnuts legitimately.
Walnut 111
By going to the right edge of the upper map, we can find a diamond of flowers, and tilling the grass in the middle with the hoe (which, again, looks very cursed) will give another walnut.
Walnut 112
By following the dark bushes in the Forest, you can follow a hidden path through the trees in the top right of the map, eventually hitting a golden walnut you can interact with to acquire.
Walnut 113
Right after the bridge, you can head down to find the Golden Walnut just sitting there; walk under the treetops to get there.
The Star Shore (7)
The shore to the right of the Docks area is only opened up after you’ve bought the Island Resort for 20 walnuts, but after that you can just enter it by going to the bottom right of the starting shores.
Walnut 114
By fishing in this little star-shaped pond, you get a completely free walnut, which is one of the easier ones in this game.
Walnut 115
There’s a barely visible diamond of four yellow starfish on the upper right of the shore, which you can get a walnut by hitting it with your hoe.
Walnut 116, 117, 118, 119, 120
Hope you have five flute blocks because it’s time to solve a weird puzzle with them when it rains.
Place your flute blocks (the recipe for which is obtained by reaching six hearts with Robin) below or above the rocks on the shore, and tune them to the number of stones on each tile, with a small rock equaling one interaction and big ones equaling five.
If you don’t feel like figuring that out, click on the first block twice, the second eleven times, the third nine times, the fourth five times, and the fifth seven times. Then, if you did it right, run by them to play the song, and the mermaid should reward you with five walnuts.
The Pirate Cove (4)
On an even-numbered, non-rainy day after 8 PM, the Pirates will come to their small cove to the right of the Star Shore (you can reach it by just walking into the wall on the darker wooden planks.) This is where the last few location-specific walnuts come from.
Walnut 121, 122, 123
In the Pirate’s Cove, you can play darts by talking to the blue-coated pirate sitting on a stool. This minigame isn’t too tricky; hover over the spot you want, wait for the middle of the circle to be in the middle of the spot, then click and release when the circle is as small as possible. Win this game three times for three walnuts.
Walnut 124
The last Golden Walnut obtained by normal means is hoeing this little piece of dirt in the bottom right of the Pirate’s Cove. After this, you’ve only got some odd ones left to do.
Misc.(6)
Technically, only 116 walnuts are needed to unlock everything on Ginger Island. Still, if you’re exceptionally dedicated, you can go out of your way to grab even more than that for the sake of Perfection and some extra Qi Gems.
Walnut 125
By breaking open a Golden Coconut at the Blacksmith, you’re guaranteed a Golden Walnut. Golden Coconuts can be found by shaking palm trees, digging up artifact spots, or purchasing from the Island Trader after you’ve already found one.
Walnut 126, 127, 128, 129, 130
If you thought you were safe from the RNG and luck-based walnuts, think again. These last five walnuts are obtained by fishing anywhere on the island.
I would recommend trying the Frog Cave and the top of the Volcano for a few unique drops, but ultimately fishing in the ocean or the river until you get five walnuts.
FAQs
Question: Do I Need to Find Every Golden Walnut on Ginger Island in Stardew Valley?
Answer: No, you only need 116 total to unlock everything in the game, and specific rewards, such as a bridge or mailbox, are entirely unnecessary.
Question: What are Golden Walnuts for in Stardew Valley?
Answer: Golden Walnuts can be used to unlock several different structures and areas in Ginger Island, such as a shop, second home, or fast travel.
Question: How many Golden Walnuts are in Stardew Valley Ginger Island?
Answer: There are 130 Golden Walnuts in total, with about 50 of them being entirely random.
Stardew Valley Walnut Locations:Conclusion
Stardew Valley’s updates have consistently been some of the best in any game, and Ginger Island being a free expansion with this much content available, is insane. Even for this guide, where I was rushing through things and trying to get them done the fastest I could, it still took many hours to grab screenshots of every walnut.
I wish some of them weren’t as random, but grabbing every Golden Walnut is an enjoyable challenge that could end up doubling your playtime in Stardew Valley. So just be sure to take some breaks and try not to hyperfocus on some of the more random walnuts, but instead, spread out your efforts across every nut in the game.