Stardew Valley is one of the most popular farming sims on the market, and one of the game’s main appeals is the way it cleverly blends reality and fantasy. The result is a game that feels at once grounded and dreamlike, allowing players to explore their creative side while still maintaining the feeling of a small farming town. However, this blending technique can lead to players being surprised to discover what elements of the game aren’t fictional, as one group of Stardew Valley fans learned when they discovered that star fruit are real.
In the game, Starfruit are a summer seed that can be planted in a variety of places. They are one of the game’s most lucrative crops, but take a total of 13 days to grow unless Speed-Gro is used. This longer growing time may encourage players to plant them in the greenhouse.
The Starfruit found in Stardew Valley are yellow, star-shaped fruit that appear to grow from trees. Their odd shape may explain why some fans assumed they had been made up for the game. Redditor grichardson526 kicked off the discussion by sharing pictures of two bins full of real-life star fruit they found at the grocery store and announcing they had just learned the fruit was, in fact, real.
Real-life star fruit are also known as Carambola or five fingers, and like their fictional counterpart, they resemble a five-pointed star and grow from trees. Although the tree is native to Southeast Asia, the fruit is commonly consumed in a variety of places, including Brazil, South Asia, the South Pacific, Micronesia, parts of East Asia, the United States, and the Caribbean. This popularity may explain why ConcernedApe allowed farmers to grow starfruit in Stardew Valley. Apparently, the star fruit has a citrus-y flavor that combines sweet, sour, and even bitterness together. However, an unripe star fruit will reportedly taste overly sour, and the fruit is quite juicy either way.
As of writing, it appears that several other fans are intrigued by real-life star fruit. A group of users compared this discovery to the similar revelation that silverfish exist outside of Minecraft. One user asked if grichardson526 had purchased any star fruit, to which they implied that they had–and stated they were considering trying to make wine out of it.
Stardew Valley is available for Android, iOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and legacy platforms.
