To make Caviar in Stardew Valley, put one Sturgeon Roe into a Preserves Jar and wait about four in-game days. Sturgeon Roe only comes from Sturgeon, so the real work is catching a Sturgeon at the Mountain lake in summer or winter and raising it in a Fish Pond that produces the roe for you.
Below we walk through every step of that chain, how to grow the pond so it produces roe almost daily, what Caviar sells for compared with plain roe, and the 1.6 changes that speed the whole thing up.
Which Version This Covers
This guide covers Stardew Valley 1.6, the current version on PC, consoles and mobile. Numbers come from the community wiki’s 1.6 data. The recipe has not changed since Caviar arrived in 1.4, but 1.6 made roe easier to farm. The official 1.6 changelog says “Fish ponds now have a chance to produce extra roe whenever they produce roe.” The update also added Jewels of the Sea, a Book of Power that lets fishing treasure chests contain roe, and Golden Animal Crackers, which the wiki says double a pond’s output.
Step 1: Catch a Sturgeon
Sturgeon live in the Mountain lake, the lake beside Robin’s Carpenter’s Shop just below the entrance to the Mines. Per the community wiki they bite from 6am to 7pm in Summer and Winter, in any weather, and they are most common on rainy summer days. Casting at least three tiles out from the shore improves your odds. They can also be caught on the Wilderness Farm in the same seasons.
Sturgeon is one of the harder regular fish, rated 78 difficulty with a mixed movement pattern, so go in prepared:
- Use bait and tackle. Bait gets bites sooner, and a Trap Bobber or Cork Bobber makes the bar more forgiving. Our bait and tackle guide covers which tackle helps most.
- Raise your Fishing level first. Every level widens the green bar. Our guide to leveling up Fishing fast has the quickest routes, and our fishing guide explains why the minigame feels so hard.
- Know the backup sources. Krobus sometimes sells a Sturgeon on Wednesdays, the Traveling Cart occasionally stocks one, and since 1.6 a pet cat at max friendship can bring you one as a gift. Late in the game, Magic Bait from Qi’s Walnut Room lets you catch Sturgeon in any season.
Catch two if you can. The Lake Fish Bundle in the Community Center asks for a Sturgeon too.
Step 2: Build a Fish Pond and Stock It
Robin sells the Fish Pond at the Carpenter’s Shop for 5,000g plus 200 Stone, 5 Seaweed and 5 Green Algae. It takes two days to build and needs a clear 5×5 space. Once it stands, hold the Sturgeon with your inventory closed and press the action button while facing the pond to throw it in: right-click on PC, A on Xbox and Switch, Cross on PlayStation.
Per the wiki, a Sturgeon pond starts with room for just one fish, and Sturgeon reproduce every 4 days. A single fish can already produce roe, but rarely: the wiki puts the daily chance at around 5% with one or two fish. The pond only becomes a Caviar engine once it grows.
Step 3: Grow the Pond With Its Quests
When the pond reaches capacity, an exclamation mark appears over it and the fish ask for an item. Throw that item in the same way to raise the limit. Per the community wiki, a Sturgeon pond asks for:
| Pond size | Item requested | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | 1 Diamond | Diamond Nodes on Mines floor 50 and deeper |
| 3 to 5 | 1 Jelly, 2 Maple Syrup or 1 Pickles | Preserves Jar, or a Tapper on a Maple Tree |
| 5 to 7 | 3 Omni Geodes | Rocks on Mines floor 21 and deeper, or the Skull Cavern |
| 7 to 10 | 1 Nautilus Shell | Beach forage in winter |
Each finished quest also grants 40 Fishing XP. Our Mines floor guide shows where to dig for the Diamond and the Omni Geodes.
The payoff is big. The wiki lists the daily roe chance at roughly 51% to 64% with six to eight fish, 84% at nine, and about 95% at the full ten, when some days bring two roe at once. Collect roe by pressing the action button on the pond when an item appears over it.
Step 4: Turn Sturgeon Roe Into Caviar
The Preserves Jar recipe unlocks at Farming level 4 and costs 50 Wood, 40 Stone and 8 Coal. A jar is also the reward for the Quality Crops Bundle, per the wiki. Place it anywhere, hold the Sturgeon Roe and press the action button on the jar.
Caviar takes 6,000 in-game minutes. Per the wiki, roe loaded before 12:40pm is ready at the start of the fourth day. Any other fish’s roe turns into Aged Roe instead, so double-check the name reads “Sturgeon Roe” before you load it. Caviar has no quality stars, so the jar is the final step; it does not go into a Cask.
What Caviar Is Worth
| Item | Base price | With Artisan |
|---|---|---|
| Sturgeon (the fish) | 200g | No bonus |
| Sturgeon Roe | 130g | No bonus |
| Caviar | 500g | 700g |
The Artisan profession, picked at Farming level 10, adds 40% to artisan goods, and Caviar counts as one. Raw roe gets no profession bonus at all, so the jar nearly quadruples its value. A full pond produces roe almost every day and each jar needs about four days per batch, so plan on four or five Preserves Jars per Sturgeon pond.
Caviar is also a solid gift: the wiki lists it as liked by most villagers, though Jas, Sebastian and Vincent hate it. For the bigger picture on artisan profits, see our guide to making money fast, and browse the Stardew Valley hub for the rest of our coverage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do you get Sturgeon Roe in Stardew Valley? From a Fish Pond stocked with a Sturgeon. Once you have read Jewels of the Sea (a 1.6 book), fishing treasure chests found while catching a Sturgeon can also contain its roe.
How long does Caviar take to make? About four in-game days in a Preserves Jar. Roe loaded before 12:40pm is ready on the morning of the fourth day.
Can you make Caviar from other fish roe? No. Every other roe becomes Aged Roe, which sells for double the price of the raw roe.
How much does Caviar sell for? 500g at base, or 700g with the Artisan profession.
Can you buy Caviar instead? Sometimes. Per the community wiki, the Traveling Cart occasionally stocks it in the forest on Fridays and Sundays.