Every dish has a grade: Poor, Plain, Fine, Prime or Heirloom. The grade comes from the crops cooked into it, and it multiplies almost everything the dish gives: XP, health, stamina, and how strong its effects are and how long they last.
How the grade is set
- Only crops count. Crops you grow (Turnip, Grain, Potato, Pumpkin and the rest) come in five Crop Grades. Meat, fish, eggs, milk, mushrooms, flowers and other foraged things have no grade and don't change the dish's.
- A dish with no crops in it is Plain (Roast Meat, Grilled Fish, Wildflower Tea...).
- With crops, it's their average, counting each crop as many times as the recipe uses it, rounded to the nearest grade (a half rounds up). Grain Porridge (2 Grain, 1 Egg) made with 2 Prime Grain is Prime. Hearty Stew made with a Prime Turnip and Plain Grain is Fine (Prime and Plain average to Fine).
- You choose the crops' grade. In the cooking window a crop's well shows its grade. The pot starts with the best grade you have enough of; use the arrows beside the well (or click it) to switch.
- The campfire can lift it. A Stone Hearth gives a 15% chance, and a Cook Stove 30%, that a batch comes out one grade finer, up to Heirloom; the Ghost Cook's Ladle adds 20% more. This works on Plain dishes with no crops too. See Cooking.
A finer dish looks the same but carries a small diamond in its grade's colour, and its name starts with the grade ("Prime Turnip Stew"). Poor dishes are drawn dull and brown. Each grade of a dish is its own item and stacks apart from the others.
What each grade gives
| Grade | XP, health, effect strength | Stamina | Effect length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poor | 75% | 87% | 60% |
| Plain | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Fine | 120% | 110% | 130% |
| Prime | 140% | 118% | 160% |
| Heirloom | 175% | 132% | 200% |
Stamina grows more slowly than the rest: it is multiplied by the square root of the strength figure.
Example: Turnip Stew
Plain Turnip Stew gives 240 Health XP, 50% of your maximum stamina, heals 15% of your health, and heals 0.5% of your health a second for 5 minutes.
| Grade | Health XP | Heals | Healing over time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poor | 180 | 11.3% | 0.38% a second for 3:00 |
| Plain | 240 | 15% | 0.5% a second for 5:00 |
| Fine | 288 | 18% | 0.6% a second for 6:30 |
| Prime | 336 | 21% | 0.7% a second for 8:00 |
| Heirloom | 420 | 26.3% | 0.88% a second for 10:00 |
Bad effects
Queasy and Haunted (from Red Cap Broth, Grave Broth and Rootling Broth) also last longer on a finer dish: an Heirloom Rootling Broth haunts you twice as long as a Plain one.
Other things that change a meal
The grade is not the only multiplier. Eating in a cozy home adds 25% to 50%, sleepiness takes away a third or two thirds (not from stamina), and spices and the Hearth Kettle add their own. See Cooking. The cooking window always shows what the dish would give you at the chosen grade, right now.
