Question About Produce

Ingredients are badly coded in this game. There is no way to program them to check whether a player has the pack installed that they came with. That is why you won't find recipes calling specifically for peas, avocado or bell pepper. It would make the recipe unusable for players who do not have the respective pack.
It's also the main reason I had to get rid of my moreingredientsrequired mod after CoL released.
I really wish they would add more code to check whether a certain EP is installed. They were one of the strenght's of TS2 programming.

I do miss that too, Bienchen. Of course, you know the code better than I do! So many recipes require nothing that should - and I swear sage was required for a lot more that are now just any herb. Seems like they changed a lot with CoL.

"bshag4lv;c-17993678" wrote:
Love the answers!

I use the "spare" fruit to make fizzy sodas, in my childhood we had sodas with fruity names, Nehi Grape, Orange, Strawberry, so that's what I name my sodas.

My spellcasters need all kinds of ingredients for potions, sage, potatoes, apples, and others I can't think of right now. My herbalists and jungle explorers need lots of insect repellent which means lots of basil and noxious elderberries. My sims in HoB always keep an extra blueberry, strawberry, blackberry in their inventories for the bunnies and birds...nevermind the canning and baking. :)

That's a good point - there are a number of herbalist and spellcasting potions that require a specific plant, and not only the special plants that came with the game packs. I think basil is the one I needed for the tummy therapy, which is useful off the grid, because Sims seem to be prone to eating unripe fruits and veggies.

For anyone interested I started a mini database with ingredients and recipes inspired by Cottage Living, some time ago. I had no time to complete it, so I've not announced it quite yet (a few errors in thee might occur), but I sometime find it useful even if it's "in the works". You will i.e. find most ingredients and can then see all recipes that ingredients can be used for. Info include needed skills, cost and number servings, but the latter got a bit confusing. My database bases on regular recipes, the "simple living" had too much variation to find a good way to include both, but basically one needs more ingredients with the SL challenge.

Re Pears, they are mentioned as one of a few fruits for Fruit pie and Fruitcake. I did not find any exclusive recipe with them, but in my game I often set a trad recipe for a family, like I could make fruit pie with pear their trad, and therefore have a good excuse to grow those pears. Or they could make a business from selling prepared food with certain ingredients. I'm fine with "any fruit/veggie as long as we can add a little imagination ourselves ;)

@Simmerville Not to harp on it but the “pear” pie still says “fruit pie” and has pink filling. But thank you for confirming it’s not exclusively called for in any recipes.

"babajayne;c-17993963" wrote:
@Simmerville Not to harp on it but the “pear” pie still says “fruit pie” and has pink filling. But thank you for confirming it’s not exclusively called for in any recipes.

Ha, I must admit i never looked that closely on any prepared food :) Would appreciate it if the visuals actually reflected what ingredient was chosen. Small details that makes a difference, and probably are quite easy to program.

Must say I do miss the damping most from newly cooked food like we had in TS2. For TS4 freshly baked breads looks just like old breads, but most of out curtains are animated to move constantly, although we can't open the windows which might have caused such movement. It's not always easy to understand those programmers ;)

I’ve shared what I have decided to stop growing. Now I can share what I’ve decided to grow that will cover a vast majority of the recipes. The only things I’m not mentioning here is sage and parsley because I can open a few herb seed packets and be all set with those for a lifetime.

The first two are always in season - I decided to graft everything possible to these so I get everything consistently.
• Lemon
• Chocoberry
(lemon is very useful in gourmet recipes, but chocoberry might be a better choice because it’s smaller and can be preserved as a sauce, raising its value and increasing yields)

Everything graftable:
• Apple
• Blueberry
• Raspberry
• Strawberry
• Plantain
• Tomato
• Carrot
• Onion
• Potato
• Spinach
• Basil

I will also plant:
• Pomegranate tree IF I want to be able to make superfood salad or graft it with an orchid for death flowers. Perfect poms make great fertilizer as well.
• All mushrooms (white plus any special mushrooms you want for special soups).
• All oversized produce (pumpkin, watermelon, aubergine, oversized mushrooms and especially lettuce).

The only animation I have seen is on the popcorn popper...after a sim week, a sim can grab a serving of steaming hot popcorn. :D

My sim in HoB grew an oversized lettuce, won a first place ribbon at the fair so I made it into a decoration. I did that on the lettuce and the pumpkin, awesome kitchen/dining decor. :)

I love pomegranates and usually graft to get one. I was all over grafting to get the different organics, I really enjoyed, especially after OT was released, that I could collect and graft all to each other, the berries together, the fires together, etc. One of my favorite things in the sims to do, 2-4. :)

With that being said, most of my stuff I get by (cheating). I have a great grocery mod by Sry Sims that I can't do without. >:)