Valheim Food and Mead Reference: Buffs, Durations, and Biome Sources

Whether you are gearing up for a boss showdown or just a long sail into the unknown, food is the quiet hero of every Valheim run. Cooked meals, berries, and brews boost your health and stamina caps, with each option lasting a fixed window before it wears off. Meads sit in a different slot and cover what food cannot: resistances and emergency healing.

This reference walks through every dish in the game, where to gather the ingredients by biome, the exact buffs each one provides, and the smartest pairings for combat or exploration.

Foods grouped by biome

Valheim ties its food chain to its progression. As bosses fall and new biomes open up, better ingredients come within reach. A handful of staples, like boar jerky and honey, follow you across multiple zones.

Meadows

• Boar Jerky
• Cooked Boar Meat
• Cooked Deer Meat
• Grilled Neck Tail
• Honey
• Mushrooms
• Raspberries

Black Forest

• Blueberries
• Boar Jerky
• Carrot Soup
• Cooked Deer Meat
• Cooked Fish
• Deer Stew
• Honey
• Minced Meat Sauce
• Queen's Jam

Swamp

• Black Soup
• Carrot
• Carrot Soup
• Cooked Fish
• Cooked Serpent Meat
• Deer Stew
• Muckshake
• Mushroom
• Queen's Jam
• Sausages
• Serpent Stew
• Turnip
• Turnip Stew

Mountain

• Black Soup
• Cooked Serpent Meat
• Eyescream
• Onion
• Onion Soup
• Sausages
• Serpent Stew
• Turnip Stew
• Wolf Skewer

Plains

• Blood Pudding
• Bread
• Cloudberries
• Eyescream
• Fish Wraps
• Lox Meat Pie
• Onion
• Onion Soup
• Serpent Stew
• Wolf Skewer

Full food buff table

Every dish bumps your health and stamina caps for a fixed timer. The numbers below are sorted alphabetically so you can scan them while planning a loadout.

• Black Soup: +50 Health, +17 Stamina, 1200 seconds
• Blood Pudding: +25 Health, +75 Stamina, 1800 seconds
• Blueberries: +8 Health, +25 Stamina, 600 seconds
• Boar Jerky: +23 Health, +23 Stamina, 1800 seconds
• Bread: +23 Health, +70 Stamina, 1500 seconds
• Carrot: +10 Health, +32 Stamina, 900 seconds
• Carrot Soup: +15 Health, +45 Stamina, 1500 seconds
• Cloudberries: +13 Health, +40 Stamina, 900 seconds
• Cooked Boar Meat: +30 Health, +10 Stamina, 1200 seconds
• Cooked Deer Meat: +35 Health, +12 Stamina, 1200 seconds
• Cooked Fish: +45 Health, +15 Stamina, 1200 seconds
• Cooked Lox Meat: +50 Health, +16 Stamina, 1200 seconds
• Cooked Serpent Meat: +70 Health, +23 Stamina, 1500 seconds
• Cooked Wolf Meat: +45 Health, +15 Stamina, 1200 seconds
• Deer Stew: +45 Health, +15 Stamina, 1500 seconds
• Eyescream: +21 Health, +65 Stamina, 1500 seconds
• Fish Wraps: +70 Health, +23 Stamina, 1500 seconds
• Grilled Neck Tail: +25 Health, +8 Stamina, 1200 seconds
• Honey: +8 Health, +35 Stamina, 900 seconds
• Lox Meat Pie: +75 Health, +24 Stamina, 1800 seconds
• Minced Meat Sauce: +40 Health, +13 Stamina, 1500 seconds
• Muckshake: +16 Health, +50 Stamina, 1200 seconds
• Mushroom: +15 Health, +15 Stamina, 900 seconds
• Onion: +13 Health, +40 Stamina, 900 seconds
• Onion Soup: +20 Health, +60 Stamina, 1200 seconds
• Queen's Jam: +14 Health, +40 Stamina, 1200 seconds
• Raspberries: +7 Health, +20 Stamina, 600 seconds
• Sausages: +55 Health, +18 Stamina, 1500 seconds
• Serpent Stew: +80 Health, +26 Stamina, 1800 seconds
• Turnip Stew: +18 Health, +55 Stamina, 1500 seconds
• Wolf Jerky: +33 Health, +33 Stamina, 1800 seconds
• Wolf Skewer: +65 Health, +21 Stamina, 1500 seconds
• Yellow Mushroom: +10 Health, +30 Stamina, 600 seconds

Meads and what they cover

Meads occupy a separate slot from food and patch the gaps that cooking cannot. Think fire damage in the Mountains, poison in the Swamp, or a quick top-up after a bad trade.

• Fire Resistance Barley Wine: blocks fire damage for 600 seconds.
• Frost Resistance Mead: shrugs off freezing effects and frost damage for 600 seconds.
• Medium Healing Mead: restores 75 Health over 10 seconds, with a 120 second cooldown.
• Poison Resistance Mead: cuts poison damage and shortens its effect window for 600 seconds.
• Tasty Mead: returns 300 Stamina over 10 seconds, but bills you 50 Health for the favor.

Pairing food for combat or exploration

Three food slots, three choices. The trick is matching what you eat to what you actually plan to do in the next 20 to 30 minutes.

For a tank loadout that absorbs boss hits, Serpent Stew is the top pick at +80 Health, the highest in the game. Pair it with Lox Meat Pie at +75 Health for a second wall of hit points, then round out the slot with Sausages (+55 Health, +18 Stamina) to keep some mobility.

For a stamina build built around dodge rolls, sprints, and bow draw, slot in Bread at +70 Stamina and Eyescream at +65 Stamina, then top off with Blood Pudding at +75 Stamina to push your pool past anything the Plains will throw at you.

Most of the strongest dishes run between 1500 and 1800 seconds, so set a mental timer based on whichever food you ate first. The moment the shortest one nears its end, eat a fresh portion to keep all three slots active. A buff that quietly drops in the middle of a Yagluth fight tends to end the fight too.