Don’t Starve Together Mushroom Guide

You wouldn’t eat a random mushroom in the woods without consulting a foraging guide first, would you? Maybe in real life, but you definitely wouldn’t make that mistake in a video game like Don’t Starve Together. That’s why you’re here! Read on for a quick overview of when/where to find each mushroom and which of your stats they impact when eaten.

In Don’t Starve Together, there are only four types of mushrooms to worry about: red, green, blue, and… moon. Their stat effects change depending on the color and whether they are cooked or raw when consumed. There is also a slight variance in where each mushroom grows, and they all appear at different dayparts.

Red Mushrooms

All colors of mushrooms can be found in the Forest biome, but red mushrooms can also be found in the Grassland biome. Their red caps are visible during the day; at dusk they bury themselves underground and stay there through the night. It is best to harvest mushrooms during their visible daypart so that they can regrow. If you dig up any mushroom, it will yield an additional cap, but it will not regrow again.

If you’re playing DST with caves, you can also chop down red mushtrees within the caves, yielding one log and red cap. Mushtrees can also grow from mushrooms on the surface if it is the night of a full moon. (Full moons begin on the 11th night, and take place every 20 nights after, so 11th, 31st, 51st, etc.) Surface mushtrees can be cut down and the stump will return to being a picked mushroom spot after the full moon.

Eating a raw red cap has the following effects: -20 health, +12.5 hunger, no impact on sanity.

Eating a cooked red cap has the following effects: +1 health, no impact on hunger, -10 sanity.

Green Mushrooms

Other than the forest biome which grows all mushroom types, green mushrooms can be found in Savanna and Marsh biomes as well. Their green caps are visible during dusk; at night they bury themselves until the next day’s dusk. Green mushtrees also yield one log and one green cap.

Eating a raw green cap has the following effects: no impact on health, +12.5 hunger, -50 sanity.

Eating a cooked green cap has the following effects: -1 health, no impact on hunger, +15 sanity.

Blue Mushrooms

Similar to green mushrooms, blue mushrooms can be found growing in Forest and Marsh biomes. Their blue caps are only visible at night; when a new day starts they bury themselves back underground until the following night. Blue mushtrees yield two logs and one blue cap--one more log than the other mushtrees because blue ones are larger.

Eating a raw blue cap has the following effects: +20 health, +12.5 hunger, -15 sanity.

Eating a cooked blue cap has the following effects: -3 health, 0 hunger, +10 sanity.

Moon Shrooms

Moon shrooms are the odd shroom out. Rather than growing normally on the surface, you must be playing with caves to find moon mushrooms in the Lunar Grotto biome underground. The most direct way to get them is to cut down lunar mushtrees, which yield two logs and one moon shroom. Mush Gnomes drop two moon shrooms upon death, as well as dropping living logs and lunar spores. There is also a small drop chance when you dig up a naked mole bat burrow, but you’re much more likely to get twigs and grass.

Moon shrooms are the only mushroom with directly opposite effects depending on whether you eat it raw or cooked. They are also unique because they have an additional effect that the other mushrooms don’t: grogginess. Grogginess slows the player down, which isn’t exactly helpful on its own, but I’ll expand on its beneficial uses in the next section.

Eating a raw moon shroom has the following effects: no impact on health, +12.5 hunger, +10 sanity. Grogginess.

Eating a cooked moon shroom has the following effects: no impact on health, -12.5 hunger, -10 sanity. Removes grogginess.

Mushroom Usage

So now you can survive a mushroom feast with your newfound knowledge. Are there any other perks? Since you know the effects of each mushroom, here are some ways that you can use the effects to your advantage, or negate them entirely.

Trade out your mushrooms for some meat by using them to hunt Gobblers. Usually these pesky birds are too quick for our characters to smack, but they can be lured out for easy hunting using any kind of mushroom (as well as berries and most other vegetables). Setting the food down near them will cause them to ignore the player while approaching the bait. Smack them before they reach the food and they won’t run away as they usually do, or you can willingly let a Gobbler eat three raw red caps to kill it due to the -20 health effect of the mushroom and the 50 total health of the Gobbler.

Utilize the sanity drain that accompanies raw green and blue caps (or cooked red caps) to farm nightmare fuel from shadow creatures. Shadow creatures become aggressive when the player’s sanity falls to 15% or lower. It may also be a good idea to keep some cooked green caps on hand, so you can bring your sanity back up to a safe range if you’re done farming or get in a pinch.

Six of the same colored mushrooms can be crafted into a Funcap of that color once you have obtained the blueprint to craft them. A red Funcap and four raw moon shrooms can be crafted into a Lunar Funcap.

If you still have too many mushrooms to know what to do with, you might as well use them as crockpot filler! They count as a vegetable, and cooking them in the crockpot eliminates all of the individual stat changing effects of the mushrooms (though whatever meal you create will have its own impacts). A piece of meat with three colored mushrooms should yield you a tasty meatball, but even if you don’t have meat, you can fill the crockpot with colored mushrooms alone for a ratatouille.

If you have moon shrooms to throw into the mix, then using one of each of the four mushrooms (all raw) in a crockpot will create a mushy cake which raises your sleep resistance for a day. Two raw moon shrooms, one raw monster meat, and a filler item will create a stuffed night cap which puts whoever eats it to sleep. This can be helpful for putting meat-eating creatures to sleep.

Overall, the stat changing effects of mushrooms don’t have to be a hindrance to you. There are a variety of uses, from keeping your own stats under control to farming other items, and the excess can always be thrown in a crockpot at the end of the day!

If you have any other mushroom tips for Don’t Starve Together, feel free to comment them down below. Looking for more DST content? I’ve got plenty of other articles for you, like my companion guide for gathering an army of NPCs to follow you around. Thanks for reading!