After you resolve the Community Center situation (one way or the other), you get the opportunity to help Willy fix up his old boat. Doing so unlocks Ginger Island, a completely new area of Stardew Valley that stays tropical throughout the year.
All sorts of new resources and items appear on the island, and this includes a secondary farm that wealthy Stardew Valley farmers can warp to and from without needing Willy's help. However, not every new form of produce can grow on this farm, and that includes the island's namesake, ginger root. Harvesting ginger root will take a lot more time and effort, but doing so can be very rewarding.
Where to Find Ginger
Every day, 
Ginger randomly spawns in several areas across Ginger Island. You'll need to check each location if you want to gather as much ginger as possible.
- The brown dirt patches west of the farm
- Along the river banks in the dig site
- On the raised area north of the dig site
- South of the Field Office tent
Another way to gather ginger is by fighting tiger slimes, the special slime type that lives exclusively on Ginger Island. Each tiger slime has a nine percent chance of dropping ginger.
How to Gather Ginger
In the wild, ginger looks a lot like the spring onions that appear in the forest during spring. However, you can't grab them straight out of the dirt the way you gather spring onions. On top of that, tools like the axe and pickaxe will destroy ginger if you try to use them.
The only way to successfully gather ginger roots is with the hoe. You can gather the roots one at a time, or you can use more advanced hoes to harvest a group of them all at once.
While ginger is a plant you have to forage to find, gathering ginger doesn't count towards foraging experience. You also can't find ginger of any higher quality. All ginger is base-grade ginger. However, there are a few uses for ginger that any player will find useful.
How to Use Ginger
Ginger has a few good uses throughout Stardew Valley.
- The Ginger Ale recipe is available at the dwarf shop on floor 5 of the Volcano Dungeon. Ginger Ale uses three ginger roots and one sugar, and it grants +1 Luck for 5 minutes.
- The Warp Totem: Island craft recipe also comes from the dwarf shop, and it uses 5 Hardwood, 1 Dragon Tooth, and 1 Ginger.
- A preserves jar will create pickled ginger, which sells for 170g (or 238g with Artisan).
- Add ginger to a sewing machine to create the Forager's Hat.
- The Island Ingredients special order may ask for 100 ginger roots. This quest requires that you both find and ship 100 ginger after accepting it.
Stardew Valley is available now on Android, iOS, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
