Recipes, Ingredients, and the Hermit's Secret Recipe
Outdoor Retreat brings the Herbalism Skill to the Game. Visit Granite Falls to get Started
The Sims 4's Herbalism Skill comes with the Outdoor Retreat Game Pack. This Skill is fairly straightforward. Gain levels and unlock new Recipes to Brew, and learn to identify Herbs found in the massive Forest of Granite Falls. This Guide to Herbalism will list all of the Recipes your Sim can learn, guide you toward the Hermit's location (without spoilers, unless you want) and list the effects of each of the creams, ointments, and liniments your Sim can Brew with the Skill.
How to: Herbalism Cheats Press Control + Shift + C then type testingcheats on and press enter. You can now set your skill level with stats.set_skill_level major_herbalism x (fill in 1-10) - we also have a full listing of Skill Cheats and a master list of Cheats in The Sims 4
Collect Herbs to Enable your Sim to Brew Concoctions
Collecting Herbs and Insects Identifying Herbs is the first thing you should do to get started with the Skill. Later, Brewing Recipes will get you to level 10. Herbs are naturally the primary component of these Recipes, but some require regular Gardening produce, and many require Insects. A lot of the Produce needed for the recipes can be found via the Gardening Guide and around Granite Falls (even rares like Blackberries are found there). Finding Herbs is easy - just search around with the camera low, and watch for Plants that sparkle. If your Sim has Gardening level 5, you can not only Harvest the Plants, but also Take Cutting so that you can Graft them onto other existing plants and get more of them later on by incorporating them into your Garden at home.
Insects can be the hardest part. A good search pattern and keen eye are necessary
Dust Spirits come out at Night in Granite Falls
Insects are another matter all together. You must keep an eye out at all times while searching for Herbs and collect every one that you see. Bugs that fly are the easiest to catch. Those that crawl, however, are much harder. I suggest you keep your Camera at eye level as though you are looking through the Forest yourself, because otherwise treetops will obscure your view. Try to use a pattern and search the Forest without revisiting the same places. It can be tough at first, especially if you're new to Outdoor Retreat, but you'll eventually get the hang of it. Most insects are easiest to spot during daytime, but some like Fireflies and Dust Spirits only come out at night.
As your Skill rises, you'll be more likely to Identify Herbs
Herbalism comes with two main interactions with Herbs. Simply click them in your Sim's inventory to:
Identify Plant Attempting to Identify an Herb will give your Sim some Skill Experience. You can do this over and over on a high-level herb to help you gain Skill, but it's not really recommended since the most experience comes from Brewing Recipes. By level 5, your Sim should be able to identify all types of Herbs (even Rares) within a few tries.
Eating Plants Each of the 10 total Herbs has a normal and poisonous variety. If you know it's the normal, it's safe to eat. If you're unsure, don't bother risking it.Some Herbs can leave your Sim itchy for a long time and even need a remedy to get over the ailment quickly. Thankfully, all maladies herbs may produce will go away with time. When testing this, it didn't give me Skill Experience, but it could help your Sim to identify an Herb.
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Fireleaf can sometimes be found here (near the Hermit's cave in the National Park) and another possible spawner is near the Waterfall Fishing spot.
While False Morels are found all over, the Hermit Area sometimes has true Morels in the Rock Garden. It depends on your luck.
Brewing Herbalism Concoctions As your Sim gains levels in Herbalism, you'll unlock new Recipes. You should save the Herbs you collect for a mass-brewing back at Lodging in Granite falls or your own Home to level the Skill. Making these will give you the most Skill XP out of any of the interactions. It's kind of like Cooking in that way. I preferred to take the Herbs home and plant them on my lot, to ensure I had access to these while at home. Trips to Granite Falls may be necessary in order to collect Insects, as previously mentioned, because they are required in a lot of the best Recipes.
List of Herbs in Outdoor Retreat
The following are the herbs in the game pack. As noted before, there is a poisonous (bad moodlet) and normal (often good moodlet) version of each Herb. I'll also list what happens when you eat them in the notes section. Growth times etc. are for your reference when planting them in your home lot. Prices are for Perfect variants.
Sims 4 Outdoor Retreat Herbs List
Icon
Plant Name
Rarity
Base Value
Growth
Herb's Effects when Eaten
Chamomile
Common
$14
24h
Found in Granite Falls National Park (Big Forest). Eating gives +1-3 4 hour Happy Moodlet (Quality-determined)
Toxic Chamomile
Common
$15
24h
Found in Granite Falls National Park (Big Forest). Eating gives +2 Tense Moodlet for 2h
Elderberry
Common
$6
18h
Found in Granite Falls National Park (Big Forest). Eating gives +1-3 4 hour Happy Moodlet (Quality-determined)
Noxious Elderberry
Common
$7
18h
Found in Granite Falls National Park (Big Forest). Eating gives +2 Sad Moodlet for 2h
Huckleberry
Uncommon
$8
18h
Found in Granite Falls National Park (Big Forest). Eating gives +1-3 4 hour Happy Moodlet (Quality-determined)
Muckleberry
Uncommon
$9
18h
Found in Granite Falls National Park (Big Forest). Eating gives +2 Dazed Moodlet for 2h. Dazed Sims are better targets for Romance.
Fireleaf
Uncommon
$13
18h
Found in Granite Falls National Park (Big Forest). Eating gives +1-3 4 hour Happy Moodlet (Quality-determined)
Poison Fireleaf
Uncommon
$11
18h
Found in Granite Falls National Park (Big Forest). Eating gives +2 Angry Moodlet for 2h
Morel Mushroom
Rare
$17
24h
Morels are sometimes found in the Hidden Area of Granite Falls. Eating gives +1-3 4 hour Happy Moodlet (Quality-determined)
False Morel Mushroom
Rare
$19
24h
Found in Granite Falls National Park (Big Forest). Eating gives +2 Uncomfortable Moodlet for 2h
Herbalism Recipe List & Skill Unlocks
The only Skill unlocks of Herbalism are the new Recipes your Sim learns. Here's a list of all of them and how to get the Secret Recipe:
Outdoor Retreat Herbalism Recipe List
Lvl
Recipe Name
Brewing Requires Ingredients:
Potion Effects
1
Insect Repellent Liniment
2 Noxious Elderberry, 2 Basil
Prevents Insect Bites while in the Wilderness, which can happen when collecting them.
Learn from Friendship with Hermit. See below. Likely the best Fertilizer in-game - it should last a long time, but will require further testing. Use it to help Evolve Plants.
2
Deodorizing Cream
1 Elderberry, 1 Strawberry, 2 Parsley
Replenishes the Sim's Hygiene Need. Higher Quality seems to do more.
3
Soothing Skin Balm
2 Chamomile, 2 Basil, 1 Locust
Heals or reduces duration of any insect bites and possibly burns
4
De-Stressing Decoction
2 Chamomile, 2 Muckleberry, 1 Walking Stick
Eliminates Stress Moodlets
5
Tummy Therapy
2 Huckleberry, 2 Sage, 1 Termite
Alleviates Nausea-type Moodlets and other stomach-related ailments
6
Clear Mind Distillation
2 Toxic Chamomile, 2 Huckleberry, 2 Parsley
Gives Sim a +2 Focused Moodlet for 4 hours
6
Fireleaf Extract
2 Poison Fireleaf, 2 Morel Mushroom, 1 Fire Ant
Makes Sims extremely uncomfortable giving Unrelenting Itch for 8h and an upset stomach
7
Natural Herbicide Oil
2 Toxic Chamomile, 3 Fireleaf, 1 Stink Bug
Can only be used on a plant when the 'Weed' option is available. Pouring this oil will remove the weeds and stop them from growing for a time.
*Value was intentionally left out of the table. These are not worth selling most of the time given the cost and value of ingredients themselves. These are for using to benefit your Sims!
You can learn a Recipe from the Hermit of Granite Falls
Secret Recipe from The Hermit Talking to the Hermit of Granite Falls may give your Sim some Herbalism Skill experience when you talk about it with them, though it seems to stop at a point. The Hermit's role in Herbalism is, upon reaching Good Friends, that you can use the special Interaction, 'Learn Herbalism Recipe' to get the Fungal Infusion Fertilizer Recipe, no matter your level. Be careful cooking this, as it can cause a fire at low level. Becoming Friends with the Hermit is also crucial to Milestone III of Outdoor Retreat's Outdoor Enthusiast Aspiration. Visiting this area is highly recommended, as it's possible you will find Herbs you don't yet have, along with the will-o-the-wisp (rare insect) at night.
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Did they include anything for storing insects and the new plants? I don't like having a lot of things in my inventory since it doesn't stay where I put it. Do I have any other option besides Keeping them in my inventory?
Hi Donna, I'm still waiting too. Have you tried placing them on your lot and adding them to your household inventory? This way they are saved and accessible but not crowding your Sims inventory.
Does that allow you to use the items without having to put them back in your inventory? Sorry if that sounds like a dumb question, just looking for clarification. I would like to have them stored somewhere without having to pull them out individually every time, like the fridge kind of, but that may be asking for too much.
Admin: Items have to be in your inventory when making the herbal potions. With general cooking you can use items from the fridge when the 'use fresh items' check box is checked on the menu that appears when you click on the fridge.
We now have the The Ornate Beauty storage chest that can be found in your Buy catalog. It came in the game patch on November 3rd 2015 (PC Version 1.12.118.1020 / Mac Version 1.12.118.1220)
I created a basement room under my house and keep it all there on shelves. I downloaded some modded ones that can hold things that usually belong on an endtable or desk. It's nice. out of the way, but still there
Carl, this is a great guide but I thought I would add to this that you have to click on the little rangers cabin in Granite Falls to actually visit the big woods. I was so completely frustrated with outdoors until I figured this out. i couldn't find anything that talked about it, so I thought I would mention it.
Admin: Glad you enjoy the guide. You can also use your sims phone to travel to the forest area or use the 'M' to bring up the map or scroll right out with the mouse wheel until your cursor turns into a magnifying glass where you will be given the option to travel to...
It is but you'll soon get into a pattern of knowing where they all are. My sim can complete the plant collection pretty swiftly now that I know where they all spawn. First time round was so frustrating though and it took me ages! Also keep getting your sim to 'try to identify' even after he gets it wrong as trying will level up the skill to.
I cannot find dust spirit, walking stick and will-o-the-wisps. Any precise location and timing (day or night) for these?I don't think my sims enjoyed their vacation as their user was more interested in scouring the woods and redirecting them to odd and random locations to harvest strange plants and pick up disgusting insects, regardless of their needs...
I routinely find Will-O-The-Wisp at night in the Hermit's area near the large evergreen dead-fall (for a rare, it shows up fairly routinely for me). I can't remember where I found the Walking Sticks or Dust Spirits. My no-can-find is Termites and I've been looking since OR was released.
I've been thinking that the Dust Sprites have glitched out as I can't find them in their usual places either which is near the water falls near the Rangers Hut. Walking sticks are on the far side of the Hermits 'wild' garden which is a round feature in the Deep Woods. The spawner alternates between Walking Sticks or Jewel Beetles. And Penni has described where to find the Will-O-The-Wisp which only appears at night.
I've seen up to 3 dust sprites in one night at the Granite Forest. Willow-the-wisps appear in the hermit's area at night. I saw walking sticks near the fishing area at the hermit's place in winter.
I think there is a major glitch.Twice when my sims were on vacations they got hit with utility bills of about $15,000. My sims own the Landgrabb mansion and they never had a bill exceeding $8,000.
There is a glitch, it has been around for a very long time. If you are off the home lot on Mondays when the bills come the bill calculation seems to take into consideration the value of the lot your sim is currently on as well. The only work-around available at the moment is to cheat the money back to what it was before the bill minus what your household bills normally are.
There is a bug report if you want to add a 'me too' on the official EA Bug Report site The Sims 4 Bug Reports
No worries, happens all the time! lol But that was one mega bill!! I try to sell all the fruits etc in my sims inventory on Sunday before the bills are calculated around 4am Monday morning as everything in the households sims inventories are taken into consideration as well.
My Sim has a level 10 herbalism skill, and she has all 10 wild plants --- and has identified all of them. However, the asperation says she's only identified 8/10 wild plants. How do I fix that?
Hmm, maybe get her to eat one of each plant again? I've only had this happen when I already had some of the plants in my garden (planted by another sim who had completed the aspiration earlier.) The aspiration requirement completed once my sim had eaten the plants again. If this fails use aspirations.complete_current_milestone cheat. (Apply testingcheats on first)
Keep harvesting all the plants in the National Park area (the large forest lot with the waterfall fishing areas). If for some reason one isn't spawning you can remove all the plants and they will respawn in about 2-3 sims days as long as you are actively in the area.
You can spawn plants in using specific cheat codes and then plant them but make sure you save your game before doing this as it really can cause glitches. Ensure you are on a lot you can enter build mode on and that there is plenty of space around your sim. Usually the cheated plant will spawn at your sims feet. CTRL + SHIFT + C followed by the cheat testingcheats on then followed by the plant cheat code you want. objects.gsi_create_obj 0x1071C Toxic Chamomile objects.gsi_create_obj 0x10725 Poison Fireleaf objects.gsi_create_obj 0x102A0 Fireleaf objects.gsi_create_obj 0x10723 Noxious Elderberry objects.gsi_create_obj 0x1025C Elderberry objects.gsi_create_obj 0x107E5 Muckleberry objects.gsi_create_obj 0x107E4 Huckleberry objects.gsi_create_obj 0x10724 False Morel Mushroom objects.gsi_create_obj 0x10261 Morel Mushroom
I have found all the plants except for the morel mushrooms! I have checked the entire area by the Hermit's house but I can only find the false morel mushrooms. Any suggestions?
Sometimes this happens. Use the interaction that allows you to remove the wild plants by clicking on the plant. Then travel away from the lot and back. After that you will need to wait until the new wild mushroom plants spawn back and this time hopefully at least one will be the type you are missing. You can do this for any variety of herbalism plant you are missing in your game. You can also use cheats to spawn in the plant you need. See my reply to post above this one for cheat codes.
It depends on the quality of the potion as to how long the effect lasts. The better the quality, the longer the moodlet. ( Approx 4hrs to 8/12hrs (?) Sorry can't quite remember off the top of my head!) Your sim can use it constantly as long as they have the actual potion in their personal inventory. Sims can reapply it immediately or wait until the effect runs out. Obviously applying it immediately is a waste of potions but it is up to the player when the sim uses them.
Not at present as this is just the guide for the specific pack + base game. For more detail how the herbs interact with the Seasons pack you can visit the Gardening Guide and look at the plant list there which details which seasons all the plants in the game to date grow in.
The fungal infusion fertilizer seems to give a large boost to plants so they can be evolved much sooner. It's a separate interaction from the "fertilize" option and you can use this option over and over, but you cannot use normal fertilizer once you use this until an x amount of time has passed. Also you cannot use this special fertilizer on alien plants.
Can we get a seasons update? I think part of the issues a lot of us are having is the plants being nothing but lumps of dirt on the ground during our visit.
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The Sims 4 Tiny Living Stuff releases January 21 for PC/Mac, and February 4 for Xbox and Playstation 4. This new pack centers around the idea of making small homes and receiving bonuses to bills, comfort, and strangely skill gains for living in a small house. I'll make a guide page by release day but for now you can watch my Livestream Summary below to get a good grasp on what's coming in this new Stuff Pack.
I now have a guide page to Tiny Living Stuff where you can learn about Murphy Beds, the new death, as well as the lot bonuses you'll receive if you manage to keep the size of your lot down with this new pack's Tiny Home Lot Type.
I've started a series, "Let's Play a Super Sim" in which I start at toddler and gradually take on the major bonuses. Here's a link to each part for people who are interested. You can also see the Let's Play as a Playlist on Youtube.
The Sims 4 Discover University has been announced for November 15 for PC/Mac and December 17 for Xbox and Playstation 4 consoles. Click to learn more about the pack, see my summary of the livestream or read our FAQs below.
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Comments (13)
Have you tried placing them on your lot and adding them to your household inventory? This way they are saved and accessible but not crowding your Sims inventory.
I found termites right in front of the hermit’s cave in Granite Falls (big park).
There is a bug report if you want to add a 'me too' on the official EA Bug Report site
The Sims 4 Bug Reports
CTRL + SHIFT + C followed by the cheat testingcheats on then followed by the plant cheat code you want.
objects.gsi_create_obj 0x1071C Toxic Chamomile
objects.gsi_create_obj 0x10725 Poison Fireleaf
objects.gsi_create_obj 0x102A0 Fireleaf
objects.gsi_create_obj 0x10723 Noxious Elderberry
objects.gsi_create_obj 0x1025C Elderberry
objects.gsi_create_obj 0x107E5 Muckleberry
objects.gsi_create_obj 0x107E4 Huckleberry
objects.gsi_create_obj 0x10724 False Morel Mushroom
objects.gsi_create_obj 0x10261 Morel Mushroom
You can do this for any variety of herbalism plant you are missing in your game. You can also use cheats to spawn in the plant you need. See my reply to post above this one for cheat codes.
Can we get a seasons update? I think part of the issues a lot of us are having is the plants being nothing but lumps of dirt on the ground during our visit.
All the seasonal information about which Outdoor Retreat herb can be harvested and grown in any particular season is on the plants list here (click).