Ingredients

Ingredients

When you first start playing ChefVille, ingredients won't seem that important. You have Tomato plants outside your restaurant and can gather Mushrooms and Onions from the surrounding area too. It all seems fairly simple. However, as you attempt more complex dishes and try to serve more and more customers, you will find Energy a limiting factor in how many ingredients you can pick. Not only this, but ingredients have to ripen before you can pick them. This means that there is a cooldown time required after every time you harvest a particular ingredient - not everything is always going to be available, and you have to plan accordingly around this.

Wild Ingredients:

The easiest set of ingredients to collect are those that grow wild throughout the game. You can get these as soon as you begin. They include Wild Onions and Wild Mushrooms. Like other ingredients, they are replenished through patience if you wait around long enough.

Shelf Ingredients and Plants:

The Shelf Ingredients and Plants are those which are found in shelf spaces or are grown outside. These include Tomato Plants, Bread Baskets and the Cheese Display. Again, they are collected like Wild Ingredients and are refreshed over time, which varies depending on the importance of that particular ingredient.

TIP: A good tip to getting more Wild Onions and Mushrooms is to edit the floor around your restaurant to remove sidewalks and move other objects closer together. This will allow more grass to be in place and so facilitate more wild ingredients growing. To do this, select the Edit Floor option and you will then be able to move things round to your heart's content.

Trees:

Trees in ChefVille are yet another way to get ingredients for use in recipes and dishes that you can serve your customers. You can buy Trees from the store section. Unlike other ingredient resources, there is a limit on the number of times that you can harvest a Tree. Many Trees require you to have a certain number of Mastery Stars before they will unlock. Below you can see a guide to all the Trees in ChefVille:

Apple Tree:
This requires 134 Master Stars

Lemon Tree:
This needs 130 Master Stars. It can be harvested 4 times and takes 8 minutes to refill.

Orange Tree:
This requires 30 Mastery Stars. It gives a total of 3 harvests, and takes 5 minutes to refill.

Lime Tree:
The Lime Tree refills every 30 minutes, and requires you to complete the 'Brunch Savior' goal.

Avocado Tree:
This tree needs 156 Mastery Stars before it will unlock.

Staffed Houses:

Certain ingredients you can only reliably get from staffed houses or businesses. These either require you to recruit friends to help you manage them, or to spend Cash to put AI characters in the role. Once the building is fully staffed, you are able to collect from it as normal, again waiting a set amount of time for the items to replenish.

Gifts:

You are able to give gifts of ingredients to your friends, and also request them. They are completely free to give, so there really is no reason not to. Plus, the more you gift to your friends, the more likely they are to return the favor!

TIP: You are often able to ask for ingredients when you are in the cooking menu.

Friends:

When visiting friends, you are able to collect ingredients from the dishes in their restaurants. Click on them or on the ingredients in their garden and you have a moderate change of receiving some ingredients as rewards.

TIP: Try to focus on items that you actually or those that take a long time to refresh rather than just picking at random.
TIP: Leave and return to the same restaurant and you can collect the same ingredient multiple times.

You will also occasionally receive ingredients like Salt, Pepper and varieties of meat as rewards for visiting friends in ChefVille. Certainly, the game tries to massively encourage the social side of things.

Cash Purchased Ingredients:

As with most things in ChefVille, you are able to buy ingredients directly using Cash. If you are desperate to get a certain ingredient for a particular dish, then this is an option. But in reality, you can get everything you need for free by playing the game and requesting from Friends.

TIP: If you do choose to purchase ingredients using Cash, you should focus on those that are rarest and that take the longest amount of time to refresh.

Raw Ingredient List:

Below is a basic list of the ingredients you will have to use to make other dishes:

Tomato:
To get a Tomato, use a Tomato Plant. It takes 2 Minutes before it will be refreshed.

Wheat Bread:
To produce Wheat Bread, you need to use the Bread Rack. It takes 6 minutes to refresh.

Wild Onion:
You can find Wild Onion where you might expect...in the wild. It grows outside your restaurants. You can also buy Wild Onions using 30 Hearts.

Wild Button Mushrooms:
These are wild, like the onions. They can also be bought with 30 Hearts.

TIP: Although it may seem like you have too many Mushrooms, once you unlock the Veggimatic you will come across recipes that use heaps of them.

Flour:
Flour is a basic ingredient that refreshes in 4 minutes.

Mozzarella:
You can pick this up from the Mozzarella Stand. It takes 10 minutes to completely refresh.

Sirloin Beef:
You can get this lovely cut of beef from the Mom 'n Pop Shop. It is reproduced every 5 minutes and requires 2 Staff to unlock.

Milk:
This is collected from the Milk Truck. It will replenish in 7 minutes as long as you have 3 Staff on hand.

Romaine Lettuce:
You can get this from the Lettuce Stall. It refreshes 5 minutes.

Mixed Greens:
Mixed Greens are collected from Flowers - they can be picked up every 10 minutes.

Broccoli:
Find Broccoli at the Broccoli Stall. It reproduces every 8 minutes, requiring 2 Staff.

Garlic:
Garlic is collected from the Garlic Stall. It can be picked up again after 5 minutes, as long as you have 3 Staff members.

Free Range Chicken:
You can find Free Range Chicken in the Chicken Store. It takes 5 minutes to get more. You need 4 Staff to be able to collect it.

Free Range Turkey:
Free Range Turkey is picked up from the Turkey Freezer. You can do this every 5 minutes, but bear in mind it takes 4 Staff before it becomes available.

Salt:
The only way to get Salt is to visit a Neighbor - this will reward you with the condiment.

Pepper:
The same as Salt, visit a Neighbor more and you will be rewarded with this once-previous spice.

Roses:
You can collect Roses from the Rose Stand every 8 hours. You are also able to request it from Friends.

Carrots:
Carrots are unlocked once you reach 250 Mastery Stars.

Eggs:
To get Eggs, you first have to unlock the Homestead area. To get that, unlock Greens Market along with either Unexplored Land with Orange Trees or Romance Pond. You can also unlock Romand Pond and Hot Spot to get to tthe Homestead. You can then collect Eggs from the Chicken Coop. You can also sometimes get Eggs from clicking on Friends' prepared dishes at their restaurants. 

Crafted Ingredients:

There are some ingredients in ChefVille which you actually have to craft before you can use them. You can see a list of these and the component ingredients required to produce the final ingredient, below:

Ranch Dressing:
To make this you need Milk, Wild Onion and Garlic. Craft them in the Mixer.

Dough:
This requires Flour and Milk - use the Mixer to produce it.

Mayonnaise:
Mayonaise needs Egg Whites and Wine Vinegar to be crafted together in the Mixer.

Tomato Sauce:
For Tomato Sauce, you want Heirloom Tomatoes and Wild Onion mixed in the Mixer.

Garlic Toast:
Wheat Bread and Garlic is needed here.

Croutons:
You need Wheat Bread and Black Pepper for this.

Pita Chips:
Pita and Black Pepper are required for Pita Chips.

Egg Noodles:
You require Flour and Eggs to make Egg Noodles.

Fettucini:
This needs Flour, Eggs and Black Pepper to be produced.

Rice Noodles:
Rice Noodles need Long Grain Rice and Water.

Spaghetti:
Flour and Eggs make Spaghetti.

Macaroni:
You need Flour, Eggs and Salt for this.

Lasagne Noodles:
Flour and Eggs are required.

Beef Broth:
You must use Sirloin Beef and Water to produce Beef Broth.

Chicken Broth:
To make Chicken Broth, you need Free Range Chicken, Water and Salt.

Vegetable Broth:
Wild Onion and Water is needed for Vegetable Broth.

Mild Salsa:
For Mild Salsa, acquire Heirloom Tomato and Yellow Bell Peppers.

Guacamole:
Avocado and Heirloom Tomatoes are needed.

Pesto:
Use Basil and Garlic to make Pesto.

Artisan Bread:
To produce Artisan Bread, you need Dough and Olive Oil.

Pita:
Pita needs Dough and Water.

Corn Tortilla:
Sweet Corn and Salt is required to produce Corn Tortillas.

Hollandaise Sauce:
Lemon, and Unsalted Butter is needed.

Gravy Beef:
Broth and Flour can be used to craft Gravy Beef.

BBQ Sauce:
For BBQ Sauce, use Tomato Sauce and Sugar.

Alfredo Sauce:
This sauce is made using Parmesan Cheese and Heavy Cream.

Cheese Sauce:
Cheddar Cheese and Milk creates Cheese Sauce.

Hoison Sauce:
To make this, use Long Grain Rice, Water and Black Pepper.

Soy Sauce:
Soy Beans, Water and Salt can be used to produce Soy Sauce.

Teriyaki Sauce:
For Teriyako Sauce, combine Soy Sauce and Sugar.

Marinated Beef:
Sirloin Beef, Lime and Salt is needed to make Marinated Beef.

Marinated Chicken:
Similar to Marinated Beef, Free Range Chicken and Salt is used to Marinate Chicken.

Marinated Tuna:
Tuna and Lime produces Marinated Tuna.

Steamed Vegetables:
For Steamed Vegetables, use Carrots and Russet Potatoes.

Sticky Rice:
Long Grain Rice and Water produces Sticky Rice.

Smoked Turkey:
To make Smoked Turkey, combine Free Range Turkey and Salt.

Smoked Salmon:
To smoke a Salmon, mix King Salmon with Salt.

Corn Meal:
Corn Meal is made with Sweet Corn and Water.

Herbes de Provence:
Basil and Rosemary produce Herbes de Provence.

Jerk Seasoning:
Wild Onion, Garlic and Black Pepper are mixed together to make Jerk Seasoning.

Spices:

Although it may sound as though Spices should be bundled up with all the other ingredients, certain 'Spices' are actually not used in the direct preparation of ChefVille dishes at all. These are Thyme. Using Thyme (in a humorous play on words) will speed up the time it takes for a dish complete. In fact, they can even rescue a dish that has been spoiled. They do, however, require a Cash outlay, unless you are fortunate enough to have unlocked one during a quest.

The two types of Spices are 'Instant Thyme' and 'One Hour Thyme'. They should not be confused with Salt and Pepper, also Spices, which actually have another use.

Salt and Pepper:

Salt and Pepper are almost another form of currency, although they are obviously essential in cooking. The difficulty is that you can only get them from visiting your Friends. Visit each day to get a good supply of Salt and Pepper, and try to increase the number of Friends that you have to boost it further.