Looking for the best way to get Golden Walnuts in Stardew Valley? If your search has landed you on this page, you’re in luck! Because we have compiled all the information you’ll need pertaining to the currency of the parrots on Ginger Island! So, keep reading!
The parrots on Ginger Island use Golden Walnuts as their currency and you can collect and trade them with parrots for a number of different rewards.
There are a total of 130 Golden Walnuts in Stardew Valley, 116 of which are required to unlock all the rewards and the remaining 14 can be exchanged for 28 Qi Gems.
Hunting for these scattered Golden Nuts can be a lot of fun. It requires breaking Volcano Dungeon’s crates, breaking Golden Coconuts, mining, fishing, farming, killing monsters, foraging, digging, and, of course, exploration.
However, if you’re struggling to find this fine delicacy and currency, we’re here to your rescue! Keep reading to find out what is the best way to get Golden Walnuts in Stardew Valley.
What are Golden Walnuts and What Do They Do?
The new currency in Stardew Valley, Golden Walnuts, was introduced with the addition of Ginger Island in 2020 when the Stardew Valley Update 1.5 was released.
As we mentioned earlier, Golden Walnuts are used as currency and considered the finest delicacy by the parrots of Ginger Island. You can find this currency scattered across Ginger Island and at Clint’s Blacksmith shop.
As you start collecting Golden Walnuts, they will appear above your Wallet in the Skills Tab and you can also share them amongst other players in Multiplayer.
There are several tasks you can complete using Golden Walnuts. First and foremost, you will be required to spend them with different parrots across Ginger Island to unlock additions, such as the beach resort and the farmhouse. In order to unlock everything, you must find 116 of this delicacy.
When you have 100 Golden Walnuts, they will also let you into Qi’s Walnut Room, where the grave end-game content is hidden. You can find it behind a curtain and on the far West of the island, cut into a cliff.
Qi will reveal to you a vending machine containing fun new items such as a flute to summon your horse in Stardew Valley, a board of special requests, and what’s known as the Perfection Tracker.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves!
In this guide, we will outline some suggested priorities as to what you should focus on first when finding and using Golden Walnuts. You must bear in mind, however, that collecting Golden Walnuts will take some time and it’s going to be farther from a simple trip to the island on Willy’s boat.
Here’s where you can find Golden Walnuts in the game:
Best Way to Get Golden Walnuts in Stardew Valley
The first and most obvious thing you’ll notice as you progress in the game is that you can gain walnuts from completing general actions, such as harvesting or fishing.
The following is a list of actions through which you can gain walnuts and the number of walnuts to expect from each of them:
- Completing Pirate’s Wife Quest – 5 Golden Walnuts
- Processing Golden Coconuts* – 1 Golden Walnut
- Killing Grove Tiger Slimes in Island West – 1 Golden Walnut
- Mining Mussle Nodes** – 5 Golden Walnuts
- Harvesting Crops on the Farm – 5 Golden Walnuts
- Fishing – 5 Golden Walnuts
*You can find Golden Coconuts by shaking coconut trees or fishing.
** Mussle Nodes are found near the island farm at the beach.
Moreover, when you interact with the parrot in Leo’s hut, the parrot will start squawking hints for additional walnut locations. As you progress in the game, the hints will continue to update.
Some Golden Walnuts are more challenging to locate and retrieve than others. Luckily, we’ve done some hefty research to list down all the locations – from easiest to the most difficult – that you need to visit to collect Golden Walnuts.
So, without further ado, let’s dive right into it!
1. The Easiest Methods for Golden Walnut Retrieval
As mentioned, general actions can be completed to retrieve Golden Walnuts scattered across the island and this is one of the easiest ways to gain access to this currency.
In particular, Mussel Nodes, Golden Coconut, and Fishing are considered three of the easiest methods of getting your hands on some Golden Walnuts.
In addition to finding 5 Golden Walnuts by just fishing around the island, you can also get them through the following:
- Mussel Nodes: These can be found after unlocking the West side of the Island on the beach. You can retrieve up to 5 Golden Walnuts by whacking Mussel Nodes with your pickaxe.
- Golden Coconut: When you find your first Golden Coconut, take it to Clint, who will then crack it at his anvil, which will make it yield a Golden Walnut. After this, coconuts will contain vital Ginger Island drops, such as Taro Tubers and Banana Saplings for planting.
2. Golden Walnut Locations – East Ginger Island
The first location you’ll dock at will be Ginger Island South. However, the first location that you will explore is the East of Ginger Island.
When Leo scurries into the trees, you will find a tree growing a Golden Walnut, which will probably be your first find in the game. Next, you’ll have to feed this Golden Walnut to Leo’s parrot in the treehouse, which will encourage him to start giving you hints of more locations for Golden Walnuts. In total, Leo’s parrot will offer you hints for 123/130 Golden Walnut locations.
While you’re still there, use your axe to hit Leo’s tree and the second Golden Walnut will drop from it. Furthermore, you’ll find another clearing before the treehouse where there’s an altar.
Popping a banana on the altar will summon a gorilla, who will shuffle out to hand you 3 Golden Walnuts in exchange for the banana.
Since bananas come from trees that grow in 28 days from Banana Saplings, you should quickly plant the first one you get from the Golden Coconut.
You will also find a puzzle with numerous stone plinths through a hidden entrance in the trees, which is located to the right of the treehouse clearing.
Initially, grabbing the hidden Golden Walnut located to the south of the altars is the only thing you can do. You will have to wait for rainy days on the island to solve the puzzle.
There will be 4 different rainy days on which a bird will appear in one of the four zones, including West, East, South, and North. When you scare the bird away, it will drop a gem.
You will have to bring and pop the gem on the corresponding plinth and once you have all four gems, you’ll be rewarded with 5 Golden Walnuts.
We also suggest that you continue to use your scythe to weed in the East of Ginger Island. While you won’t find any Golden Walnut through this, it will offer you useful resources, such as Fiber.
Moreover, you will also find several seeds that you can use for planting Taro Tubers as well as Journal Pages, which will reveal corresponding puzzles for underground Golden Walnuts.
3. Golden Walnut Locations – North Ginger Island
As you follow a flamey enemy up the stairs, you’ll notice that Ginger Island North opens up for you immediately. Here, you will find a stack of Golden Walnuts underground as well as on trees.
You should wait until you have everything up and running on the island before you unlock the Island Trading Post here.
It’s in this location where you can unlock the Dig Site for 10 Golden Walnuts after finding the Field Office. Since Professor Snail is hidden in the Dig Site behind a rock, you’ll want to get this done early.
You can blow up the rock after crafting a bomb to get Professor Snail to come out. Of course, you’ll have to ensure that you’re clear of the blast.
Professor Snail will let you exchange fossils for Golden Walnuts after heading to the Field Office once he is free.
You will see a Golden Walnut on a cliff from the beach that will seem sneaky and inaccessible. However, you can get to this Golden Walnut by climbing up the stairs to the north area and taking a right turn immediately. After this, enter into the hidden entrance that’s located in the tree line and leads to the cliff.
Markings on the ground indicate where most of the buried Golden Walnuts can be found and once you find and read the scattered Journal Pages around the island, you’ll unlock several more locations.
To the left of the entrance will be the stone circle, which will yield a Golden Walnut. Moreover, you will find another one in the center of a circle of flowers to the right of the entrance and to the north of the entrance in another relatively smaller stone circle.
If you take a left after the entrance, you’ll discover another hidden path after a curved palm tree, which will lead you to a clearing containing a tree with a Golden Walnut on it.
Throughout the North area, you must keep an eye out for any strange markings on the ground. Slightly southeast of the Field Office, you’ll find shapes in the sand that hide a Golden Walnut and another Golden Walnut can be found in a semi-circle of rocks which is located to the right of the entrance to the Volcano Dungeon. Moreover, there’s a hidden Golden Walnut in the stone circle at the top left of the map.
There are also numerous hidden passageways where you will find Golden Walnuts. For example, the one located up the stairs and to the left of the Dig Site is an easy find. However, to the left of the Volcano Dungeon’s entrance, you will find a hidden tunnel through the trees, where there is a bonus walnut waiting for you.
To the right of the entrance to Volcano Dungeon is another Golden Walnut sitting on a high tree, which is an easy win. You simply have to use your slingshot to shoot it down.
4. Golden Walnut Locations – The Field Office
As mentioned, you can start exchanging fossils for Golden Walnuts in the Field Office Tent once you’ve saved Professor Snail from his cave’s mushroom diet.
Talking to Professor Snail will also lead you to a screen where you can donate sets of bones. The bones are made up of four animals, including a mummified bat, a mummified frog, a snake, and a large animal.
The mummified bat and mummified frog will get you 1 Golden Walnut each whereas the snake will get you 3 Golden Walnuts and the Large Animal will get you 6 Golden Walnuts.
Here’s where you can find these bones:
- Mummified Bat: Head to the Volcano Dungeon and start breaking rocks to find this.
- Mummified Frog: To find Mummified Frog, cut weeds across Ginger Island.
- Snake: This includes 2 snake vertebrae and a snake skull. You can find these by fishing on the West side of the island and by digging the wiggling artifact spots on Ginger Island.
- Large Animal: Made up of 2 fossilized legs, a tail, a spine, ribs, and a fossilized skull, which can be found in the sparkling water at the Dig Site river, where you can use your Copper Pan, and by digging artifact spots, breaking Bone Nodes at the Dig Site, and breaking Golden Coconuts.
You can also get 2 Golden Walnuts fairly quickly at the back of the Field Office tent. Simply answer two survey questions and you’ll retrieve two Stardew Valley Golden Walnuts.
Hint: The flowers survey answer is 22 and there are 18 starfish.
5. Golden Walnut Locations – Volcano Dungeon
Stardew Valley Dungeon challenges are not easy, however, the Volcano Dungeon hides a whopping 17 Golden Walnuts. So, if you want to get your hands on all of them, you better prepare for a challenging fight!
We do have to mention that there are some easy Golden Walnuts lying around inside the Dungeon. For example, you can pour yourself a path to the left instead of using your watering can to cross the lava river.
Doing so will lead you to a platform containing cinder shards that are breakable and a cave exit to 2 Golden Walnut trees. The rest of the Golden Walnuts can be found by opening chests, mining rocks, and killing enemies inside the Dungeon.
Once you find your path to the Forge on the 10th level, you will also find 2 more Golden Walnut trees.
You should wait till the farmhouse on the West side of the island is unlocked in order to succeed inside the Volcano Dungeon. This will allow you to start early morning, load up on the best foods in the kitchen, and have a base to work from.
And, of course, the more powerful your armor and weaponry, the better will be your chance of succeeding. If you don’t already have a galaxy sword, you can read our guide on how to obtain it.
6. Golden Walnut Locations – West Ginger Island
Unlocking Ginger Island West is vital if you want to unlock the farmhouse which will enable you to stay on the island overnight. The farmhouse will cost you 20 Golden Walnuts, which is quite a lot. However, you can get easy access to stacks of Golden Walnuts across the west side of the island to unlock the farmhouse quickly.
The best way to get Golden Walnuts in Ginger Island West is through a secret pathway on the beach that leads into a wrecked ship. Here, you will find 1 Golden Walnut.
There is also an X on the left-hand side of the beach on the sand where you will find another Golden Walnut. Moreover, there’s a Golden Walnut on the left-hand beach in the middle of a diamond of markings as well as one each in the center of two separate markings with blue starfish.
If you keep walking up the sand to the left of Qi’s Walnut Room’s entrance, you’ll find a hidden tree with a Golden Walnut there as well. Moreover, you will find a strange green mole and several holes on the beach. Use your extended spray from the upgraded watering can to water them and grab a Golden Walnut from them.
7. Golden Walnuts – War Memento Quest
You’ll meet a character on the beach named Birdie, who you can only meet on sunny days. When you start a conversation with Birdie, she’ll get you started on the Pirate’s Wife quest, which requires you to find a keepsake from her lost husband.
To get you started, she will hand you a War Memento and you will then proceed to Pelican Town to make some deliveries. These will entail the following:
- Exchanging the War Memento for Gourmet Tomato Salt with Kent
- Exchanging that salt with Gus for a Stardew Valley Rose
- Handing the rose at the Desert Oasis to Sandy for an Advanced TV Remote
- Swapping the remote with George for an Arctic Shard
- Exchanging the shard with the Wizard for a Wriggling Worm
- Handing over the worm to Willy for the Pirate’s Locket
- Returning to Birdie with the locket for 5 Golden Walnuts in return
After unlocking the Farmhouse, you will find a cave at the top right of the Farmhouse area. In this cave lives Gourmand Frog, who wants you to grow some wheat, garlic, and melon.
While he will only ask for one of them at once, you can go ahead and plant all of them in front of your farmhouse. Once they’re all grown, you can invite Gourmand to check them out.
Remember that you shouldn’t harvest the requested items as Gourmand wants to see them planted. Gourmand will then more likely hand you 5 Golden Walnuts per crop.
Another important thing to note is that you will be rewarded with about 5 Golden Walnuts just for tending to your crops on Ginger Island. On top of that, you don’t have to worry about putting scarecrows on the island. All you’ll need are some Iridium Sprinklers which will save you the trouble of watering your crops.
In this part of the island, you’ll also find a jungle section where you can find some Tiger Slimes. Killing these Tiger Slimes will get you a Golden Walnut as well as numerous slime and slime eggs.
There are also some Golden Walnuts hidden on trees in this area. One is located behind a tree where you will also find the slimes and another one will be dug out from the middle of a circle of flowers.
You can also find a Golden Walnut at the bottom of the path slightly hidden in the trees after heading past the slimes and going right. Moreover, you can head up to a cave entrance which is hidden by a curved palm tree before crossing the wooden bridge.
Here, you will play Simon Says. The crystals inside the cave will play a song and you will be required to hit them in the correct order 5 times to get 3 Golden Walnuts.
After crossing the wooden bridge you can unlock the parrot transportation system around the island which is revealed to you via 10 Golden Walnuts. However, you can leave this as a low-priority option if you haven’t unlocked the Beach Resort.
You’ll find a few stones on the ground with a space in the middle on the right side of the Parrot Express. To uncover the Golden Walnut hidden here, simply get to digging.
After this, you can head right again to enter through the trees into a dark tunnel. Head all the way and then take a right. From here, go up and you’ll find a hidden Golden Walnut tree.
After obtaining the Golden Walnut from here, head south from the parrot system to find a cliff edge path. This path will lead to another Golden Walnut tree in this location.
8. Golden Walnut Locations – South Ginger Island
You won’t find many Golden Walnuts at the beach after your arrival. However, you can unlock the beach resort for 20 Golden Walnuts after opening up the farmhouse.
Doing so will also open up the South East beach, which was blocked by driftwood previously. The South East beach has a star-shaped pool in the middle of it where you can fish for a Golden Walnut.
You will also find a triangle of yellow starfish here, containing a Golden Walnut buried in the middle. Moreover, you will also gain access to a secret pirate cove!
After 8 at night on a sunny day, you can head alone to the beach to hear pirate music playing. You’ll pass into an awesome pirate party after heading into the cliff. Here, you can play darts to win 3 Golden Walnuts.
Furthermore, at the bottom right of the cave, you’ll find three barrels and amongst those barrels will be a Golden Walnut waiting to be found by you.
If you catch a rainy night in this location, head to the beach to find a mermaid out on a rock in the water. When you see the mermaid, use the Flute Blocks placed on the beach to play her a tune and she will hand you 5 Golden Walnuts.
You will be required to tune the pitch of the blocks to the corresponding number of stones right above them. Once you reach 6 hearts with Robin, you will gain access to the Flute Block recipe, if you don’t already have it.
However, if you’re not at that stage with Robin, you can change that with lots of Spaghetti and Goats Cheese as gifts.
A List of Rewards You Can Avail with Golden Walnuts
| No. of Golden Walnuts Required | Location | Reward | Description |
| 1 | Qi’s Walnut Room | Qi Gem | Exchanging the remaining 14 walnuts for Qi Gems. This will only be available after you’ve bought all the other upgrades. |
| 10 | Ginger Island | Parrot Express | This will unlock a quick travel system to get around Ginger Island. |
| 20 | Ginger Island South | Island Resort | The beach resort will be unlocked, where NPCs will visit occasionally. The Pirate Cove and Island Southeast will also be unlocked. |
| 5 | Volcano Dungeon [Level 5] | Volcano Exit Shortcut | Allows quick access to Island North through an escape shortcut from level 5 of the Volcano Dungeon. |
| 5 | Volcano Dungeon Entrance | Volcano Bridge | You will no longer need a watering can to get into the volcano because a permanent bridge leading to it will be unlocked. |
| 10 | Ginger Island Noth | Island Trader | This will unlock the Island Trader shop. |
| 10 | Ginger Island North | Island Dig Site | Access to the Island Dig Site due to the repairing of the bridge. |
| 20 | Ginger Island Farmhouse | Farm Obelisk | Similar to a warp totem, this will allow you to teleport back to the farm. |
| 5 | Ginger Island Farmhouse | Farmhouse Mailbox | You can access your mail without leaving the island. |
| 20 | Ginger Island West | Ginger Island Farmhouse | Allows you to spend the night at the island by unlocking the Farmhouse located on the west side. |
| 10 | Ginger Island South | Ginger Island West | You will be able to access the west side of the island. |
| 1 | Leo’s House | Ginger Island North | You will gain access to the north side of the island. |
Concluding Remarks
Now that you know what the best way to get Golden Walnuts in Stardew Valley is, it’s time for you to get started and obtain this currency/delicacy to unlock numerous rewards and even trade them for some of the rarest items in Stardew Valley.
