Stardew Valley's beautiful world is covered in trees. From Cindersap Forest to the lovely Ginger Island, they dot the landscape — and players can use the resources that they offer to craft handy tools and items. Of course, chopping trees with an axe allows farmers to stockpile wood, but that's not all that trees can provide.
By utilizing a tapper, players can harvest useful resins from the trees throughout Stardew Valley. Here's a quick guide to crafting one, as well as tips on how to use it to its best potential.
How To Craft A Tapper
The tapper recipe becomes available at Foraging Level 3. To craft one, players will need 40 Wood and 2 Copper Bars. Once crafted, simply select the tapper and click on a tree to place it.
The heavy tapper, which works twice as fast as a regular tapper, can be crafted from a recipe purchased from Mr. Qi for 20 Qi Gems. This recipe requires 30 Hardwood and 1 Radioactive Bar. Aside from the increased speed, it functions just the same as a regular tapper does.
Using The Tapper
Resources & Uses
Either type of tapper may be placed on any type of tree (though not on stumps). They will produce the specified item throughout all four seasons, making them a steady source of profit in the player's first winter. The type of resource that a tapper produces depends on what type of tree the player chooses to tap.
- Maple Tree: Produces Maple Syrup every 9 days. This can be sold for 200g, used in several different cooking recipes, or gifted to villagers.
- Oak Tree: Produces Oak Resin every 7-8 days. Oak Resin is used to craft Kegs and Deluxe Speed-Gro.
- Pine Tree: Produces Pine Tar every 5-6 days, which is an ingredient in the recipes for the Loom, Rain Totem, and Speed-Gro.
- Mushroom Tree: May produce a common mushroom, red mushroom, or purple mushroom. Common mushrooms are used in cooking, while red and purple mushrooms have various crafting uses (most notably, Life Elixir).
- Mahogany Tree: Produces sap every day, which can be used to craft fertilizer. This is generally not a very efficient use of the tapper, as large quantities of sap can usually be collected while chopping wood.
Of the above items, Oak Resin is perhaps the most useful from a crafting perspective, due to the profit increase that both Kegs and Deluxe Speed-Gro can provide. Alternatively, for players looking to build friendships, Maple Syrup is Liked by many villagers and makes a great gift.
In addition to their crafting purposes, most of the goods collected from tappers may also be used to complete certain bundles in the Community Center.
The Tapper Profession
For players who want to get the most profit possible from their tappers, consider choosing the Tapper profession under the Foraging skill. This will increase the value of Syrups: Maple Syrup, Oak Resin, and Pine Tar.
To access this profession, choose Forester at level 5, which will give players 25% more wood when chopping with the axe. At level 10, they will be able to select Tapper, which increases the value of the above goods by 25%.