Foraging is probably one of the easier activities in Tales of the Shire compared to fishing and cooking, but there are some secrets to the art of plucking mushrooms and gathering berries that you may not know about, such as seasonal preferences, unexpectedly helpful insects, and the difference between foraging and gardening ingredients.
From butterfly guides to the best foraging location in early game, here’s everything a foraging Hobbit should know.
How to forage in Tales of the Shire
To become an expert forager in Tales of the Shire, it’s important to discover foraging locations and follow the seasons. You can find various types of seasonings, fruits, and vegetables in the wild, but only if you know the right place and the right time.
Every forageable fruit, vegetable, and seasoning you’ve foraged at least once will appear in the encyclopedia. To check if an ingredient is forageable, hover over the ingredient; if it displays a preferred season only (whether you’ve discovered the ingredient or not), it is a forageable item. If, however, you see info about the ingredient’s sprouting time and favored garden bed companions, the ingredient must be grown in a garden instead.
In the example below, the raspberry is forageable, but the strawberry is not.
Knowing a forageable item’s preferred season is incredibly important — it’s no use searching for raspberries during winter. It’s best to stock up on seasonal ingredients before the season is over. Interact with your mailbox to see the number of days left before the current season ends.
As you explore the map, keep an eye out for butterflies. If you follow them, they will lead you to a nearby forageable ingredient. It’s a great way to discover new items! Once you’ve collected an item, it takes roughly one in-game day to respawn.
After you unlock the Foraging Club (by progressing the Bywater Village Campaign Tale), pick up foraging missions from the village square mission board to improve your level and unlock backpack upgrades as a reward. To unlock additional foraging locations, upgrade your Friendship level with Delphi, Nora, and Rosie.
Best early game foraging locations in Tales of the Shire
Unfortunately, the encyclopedia doesn’t track foraging locations, but once you’ve found an ingredient’s best foraging spot, it will be marked with a small foraging icon on your map. Just hover over the icon to see the ingredient’s name. Note that this isn’t necessarily the only spot where you may find this foraging item, but it should be among the best.
Tales of the Shire includes an early-game recipe that requires almost no ingredients besides forageable ones: Tuckborough Pikelets. Besides flour, which you can buy from Sandyman’s shop in the northwest corner of the map, you only need currants, any type of mushroom, and any type of nuts. Find the foraging locations south and west of the Three-Farthing Stone:
After foraging the ingredients, use the cooking station at your home to create Tuckborough Pikelets and serve them to the neighboring Hobbits — no gardening required!
