ESO Provisioning Ingredients – Which Ones to Keep

eso provisioning ingredientsThere’s a total of 50 different provisioning ingredients in ESO, and every provisioning recipe uses between one and four ingredients. Ever since the revamp to provisioning in patch 1.6, the number of ingredients is a lot smaller, and provisioning is much more understandable and simpler as a profession. That’s still quite a lot of ingredients, especially if you’re planning on keeping all of them.

Keeping all of your ingredients in the bank or inventory takes a ton of inventory space. What makes provisioning complicated as a profession, is knowing which ingredients are worth holding onto.

Updated: 16th June, 2015.

Separate Ingredients for Foods and Drinks

There’s ingredients that are used solely for Food recipes and ingredients that are only used for Drink recipes. Some ingredients are used more often than others, but that doesn’t necessarily make these ingredients more valuable than the less-used ingredients.

It’s good to remember that for each desired provisioning consumable effect (such as a buff to Health or a buff to Magicka and Stamina Recovery), there’s three different recipes. This also means that no single ingredient becomes much more valuable than the rest, because there’s always other options to be able to cook or brew the same product, providing that you have the recipe, of course.

Finding the Ingredients

Getting provisioning ingredients in Elder Scrolls Online can sometimes be a bit hit-and-miss. Looting containers such as crates and baskets is often your best bet. Some ingredients are dropped by monsters and wildlife; it shouldn’t be a surprise that ‘Game’ can be looted from deer and some other huntable animals, for example. Rabbits drop ‘Small Game’, and so on.

The provisioning hireling perk and provisioning crafting writs are other ways of getting your hands on the ingredients.

Rare Ingredients

Of course there still are provisioning ingredients in ESO that aren’t very common and are generally difficult to get your hands on – there’s two of them, one for food recipes (Frost Mirriam), and the other for drink recipes (Bervez Juice). These rare ingredients are only used in purple quality recipes that provide a buff to all three attributes. If you want to cook or brew purple-quality stuff, there’s no way around these two ingredients.

Grocer Ingredients

Certain ingredients can be bought from Grocer vendor NPCs, located all over Tamriel. All of these ingredients cost 150 gold each, and they are only used for food recipes. Whilst grocer NPCs are probably the best source for these ingredients, you can also find them in containers and such.

Ingredient Recipe Type Used in # recipes Price
Apples Food 23 150g
Bananas Food 22 150g
Beets Food 22 150g
Carrots Food 21 150g
Corn Food 23 150g
Greens Food 22 150g
Jazbay Grapes Food 22 150g
Melon Food 22 150g
Potato Food 22 150g
Pumpkin Food 22 150g
Radish Food 22 150g
Tomato Food 21 150g

Grocer NPC Locations

  • Ebonheart Pact: Black-Silk-Earth in Davon’s Watch, Stonefalls. She’s at the northern part of the Market District.
  • Aldmeri Dominion: Samardan in Vulkhel Guard, Auridon. He’s near the docks by the merchant stall.
  • Daggerfall Covenant: Jafrost Cold-Eye in Betnikh. She’s at the Dockside Trading Stalls.

All Provisioning Ingredients in a Single Table

Here’s the full list of provisioning ingredients in a single table, sortable by the ingredient name, recipe type, the number of recipes they are used in and the source of the ingredients.

Ingredient Recipe Type Used in # recipes Source
Acai Berry Drink 22 Loot
Apples Food 23 Grocer NPCs
Bananas Food 22 Grocer NPCs
Barley Drink 21 Loot
Beets Food 22 Grocer NPCs
Bervez Juice Drink – Purple Ingredient 27 Loot
Bittergreen Drink 21 Loot
Carrots Food 21 Grocer NPCs
Cheese Food 30 Loot
Coffee Drink 22 Loot
Comberry Drink 22 Loot
Corn Food 23 Grocer NPCs
Fish Food 21 Loot
Flour Food 31 Loot
Frost Mirriam Food – Purple ingredient 27 Loot, Hirelings
Game Food 22 Loot
Garlic Food 28 Loot
Ginger Drink 29 Loot
Ginkgo Drink 21 Loot
Ginseng Drink 22 Loot
Greens Food 22 Grocer NPCs
Guarana Drink 23 Loot
Honey Drink 30 Loot
Isinglass Drink 31 Loot
Jasmine Drink 23 Loot
Jazbay Grapes Food 22 Grocer NPCs
Lemon Drink 32 Loot
Lotus Drink 22 Loot
Melon Food 22 Grocer NPCs
Metheglin Drink 28 Loot
Millet Food 29 Loot
Mint Drink 22 Loot
Potato Food 22 Grocer NPCs
Poultry Food 22 Loot
Pumpkin Food 22 Grocer NPCs
Radish Food 22 Grocer NPCs
Red Meat Food 23 Loot
Rice Drink 22 Loot
Rose Drink 22 Loot
Rye Drink 22 Loot
Saltrice Food 32 Loot
Seasoning Food 30 Loot
Seaweed Drink 30 Loot
Small Game Food 22 Loot
Surilie Grapes Drink 22 Loot
Tomato Food 21 Grocer NPCs
Wheat Drink 22 Loot
White Meat Food 22 Loot
Yeast Drink 23 Loot
Yerba Mate Drink 22 Loot

Conclusion

With so many different ingredients out there, it may not be feasible to keep all of them in your bank. You may have to choose between Food and Drink ingredients, since basically every ingredient is used in the full level range of recipes.

Personally I prefer food over beverages because I find the flat buff to stats more useful than the recovery rates. Either way, you really want to hold on to Frost Mirriam and Bervez Juice just because of their rarity and usefulness.

Provisioning Ingredient Types

Provisioning ingredients can be broken down to four categories:

  • Primary ingredients (Tier 1)
  • Secondary ingredients (Tier 1)
  • Blue recipe ingredients (Tier 2)
  • Purple recipe ingredients (Tier 3)

Every provisioning recipe requires at least a primary and a secondary ingredient.

The primary ingredients are only found either in specific alliance zones, or are looted from said alliance npcs (as an example you can get Daggerfall Covenant ingredients as an Ebonheart Pact player as loot when you kill Covenant humanoid mobs and such).

These alliance-specific primary ingredients are used only for lower level recipes. It seems that all level 1-35 recipes utilize alliance specific primary ingredients, whilst the recipes between level 40 and veteran rank 5 all use primary ingredients which are common for every alliance.

Secondary ingredients are common for all alliances, and there’s less of them in general.

On top of this, there’s ingredients for blue and purple provisioning recipes. Let’s divide these into tier 2 and tier 3 ingredients for clarity’s sake. Tier 2 ingredients are used for blue quality recipes and tier 3 ingredients are used for epic (purple) quality recipes.

These ingredients are found in ALL zones, and apart from looting containers, the best way to get them is having a provisioning Hireling. Blue & Purple provisioning recipes add ingredients on top of the base recipe, empowering the original recipe. If the original food added max Magicka, a blue version of that recipe could add max Magicka and max Health, whilst the purple version would increase all max Magicka, max Health and max Stamina.

Primary Provisioning Ingredients

The table below shows all primary provisioning ingredients. As you can see, for most of the recipe levels there’s six primary ingredients for that level, and many of the primary ingredients are alliance specific.

Ingredient Level Consumable Type Alliance
Shornhelm Grains 1 Beverage Daggerfall Covenant
Capon Meat 1 Food Daggerfall Covenant
Aged Meat 1 Beverage Aldmeri Dominion
Pork 1 Food Aldmeri Dominion
Snake Slime 1 Beverage Ebonheart Pact
Goat Meat 1 Food Ebonheart Pact
Iron Peat 5 Beverage Daggerfall Covenant
Battaglir Weeds 5 Food Daggerfall Covenant
Dusk Beetle 5 Beverage Aldmeri Dominion
Guar Egg 5 Food Aldmeri Dominion
Snake Venom 5 Beverage Ebonheart Pact
Kwama Egg 5 Food Ebonheart Pact
Tangerine 10 Beverage Daggerfall Covenant
Bear Haunch 10 Food Daggerfall Covenant
Ripe Apple 10 Beverage Aldmeri Dominion
Sweetmeats 10 Food Aldmeri Dominion
Wild Honey 10 Beverage Ebonheart Pact
Scuttle Meat 10 Food Ebonheart Pact
Wasp Squeezings 15 Beverage Daggerfall Covenant
Mutton Flank 15 Food Daggerfall Covenant
Wisp Floss 15 Beverage Aldmeri Dominion
Liver 15 Food Aldmeri Dominion
Dragon’s-Tongue Sap 15 Beverage Ebonheart Pact
Plump Worms 15 Food Ebonheart Pact
Dark Bile 20 Beverage Daggerfall Covenant
Combwort 20 Food Daggerfall Covenant
Pig’s Milk 20 Beverage Aldmeri Dominion
Goat Bits 20 Food Aldmeri Dominion
Sujamma Berries 20 Beverage Ebonheart Pact
Plump Rodent Toes 20 Food Ebonheart Pact
Orc Hops 25 Beverage Daggerfall Covenant
Venison 25 Food Daggerfall Covenant
Glitter Rock 25 Beverage Aldmeri Dominion
Moon Sugar 25 Food Aldmeri Dominion
Comberry 25 Beverage Ebonheart Pact
Plump Maggots 25 Food Ebonheart Pact
Desert Heather 30 Beverage Daggerfall Covenant
Horker Meat 30 Food Daggerfall Covenant
Molasses 30 Beverage Aldmeri Dominion
Crawdad 30 Food Aldmeri Dominion
River Grapes 30 Beverage Ebonheart Pact
Chaurus Meat 30 Food Ebonheart Pact
Black Tea 35 Beverage Daggerfall Covenant
Flank Steak 35 Food Daggerfall Covenant
Spring Essence 35 Beverage Aldmeri Dominion
Saltrice 35 Food Aldmeri Dominion
Ash Millet 35 Beverage Ebonheart Pact
Frog Legs 35 Food Ebonheart Pact
Crystal Berry 40 Beverage All Alliances
Beef 40 Food All Alliances
Kaveh Beans 45 Beverage All Alliances
Shank 45 Food All Alliances
Mountain Berries 50 Beverage All Alliances
Mudcrab Meat 50 Food All Alliances
Bervez Fruit VR5 Beverage All Alliances
Jazbay Grapes VR5 Beverage All Alliances
Honey Comb VR5 Food All Alliances

Shornhelm Grains, for example, is a primary ingredient typically found in low level Daggerfall Covenant zones. Only Daggerfall Covenant players can find recipes which use Shornhelm Grains. You can use the recipe on another alliance, though, but it’s not very convenient.

Primary ingredients are more general than secondary ingredients – Shornhelm Grains is used for beverages, which includes beer, spirits and wine recipes. It’s used in all three of the level 1 beverage recipes. This applies to all the other primary ingredients as well. With that in mind, you’re safe to throw away the lower level primary ingredients once you no longer think they are useful for you.

Secondary Provisioning Ingredients

This table shows all the secondary provisioning ingredients, their recipe level, type of consumable they are used for and the base consumable effect. Secondary ingredients are not alliance specific – they are common for all three alliances.

Each secondary ingredient covers a range of recipe levels, and is used for very specific recipes. Drippings, for example, are used as a secondary ingredient for level 1-15 Grilled Food recipes, and the base consumable effect of these recipes increases max Stamina. Beverages increase stat recovery rates.

If you don’t find beverages useful, you can just outright ignore grapes, malt and mash, for example. Once you’re in the veteran ranks, you probably don’t want to keep very low level ingredients in your bank either.

Ingredient Level Consumable Type Consumable Effect
Drippings 1-15 Grilled Increase Max Stamina
Meal 1-15 Bread and Pies Increase Max Health
Thin Broth 1-15 Soups and Stews Increase Max Magicka
Brown Malt 1-15 Beer Increase Health Recovery
Corn Mash 1-15 Spirits Increase Stamina Recovery
Wine Grapes 1-15 Wine Increase Magicka Recovery
Cooking Fat 20-25 Grilled Increase Max Stamina
Milled Flour 20-25 Bread and Pies Increase Max Health
Broth 20-25 Soups and Stews Increase Max Magicka
Amber Malt 20-25 Beer Increase Health Recovery
Wheat Mash 20-25 Spirits Increase Stamina Recovery
Grasa Grapes 20-25 Wine Increase Magicka Recovery
Suet 30-35 Grilled Increase Max Stamina
Sifted Flour 30-35 Bread and Pies Increase Max Health
Stock 30-35 Soups and Stews Increase Max Magicka
Caramalt 30-35 Beer Increase Health Recovery
Oat Mash 30-35 Spirits Increase Stamina Recovery
Lado Grapes 30-35 Wine Increase Magicka Recovery
Lard 40-45 Grilled Increase Max Stamina
Cake Flour 40-45 Bread and Pies Increase Max Health
Jus 40-45 Soups and Stews Increase Max Magicka
Wheat Malt 40-45 Beer Increase Health Recovery
Barley Mash 40-45 Spirits Increase Stamina Recovery
Camaralet Grapes 40-45 Wine Increase Magicka Recovery
Fatback 50 Grilled Increase Max Stamina
Baker’s Flour 50 Bread and Pies Increase Max Health
Glace Viande 50 Soups and Stews Increase Max Magicka
White Malt 50 Beer Increase Health Recovery
Rice Mash 50 Spirits Increase Stamina Recovery
Ribier Grapes 50 Wine Increase Magicka Recovery
Pinguis VR5 Grilled Increase Max Stamina
Imperial Flour VR5 Bread and Pies Increase Max Health
Imperial Stock VR5 Soups and Stews Increase Max Magicka
Imperial Mash VR5 Beer Increase Health Recovery
Golden Malt VR5 Spirits Increase Stamina Recovery
Emperor Grapes VR5 Wine Increase Magicka Recovery

Secondary provisioning ingredients are obtained from containers, as loot and from hirelings, but they can also be bought from Grocers.

Grocer NPCs who sell level 50+ provisioning ingredients are located in Veteran Rank zones. An Aldmeri Dominion player would have to go to the Ebonheart Pact or Daggerfall Covenant zones and so on.

Grocer NPC Locations

  • Ebonheart Pact: Black-Silk-Earth in Davon’s Watch, Stonefalls. She’s at the northern part of the Market District.
  • Aldmeri Dominion: Samardan in Vulkhel Guard, Auridon. He’s near the docks by the merchant stall.
  • Daggerfall Covenant: Jafrost Cold-Eye in Betnikh. She’s at the Dockside Trading Stalls.

Tier 2 Ingredients

eso tier 2 provisioning recipe
Tier 2 Ingredients are only needed for blue (and purple) quality provisioning recipes. Depending on the type of consumable, the blue recipe adds an ingredient on top of the primary and secondary ingredients, meaning every blue recipe will require a primary ingredient, a secondary ingredient and the tier 2 ingredient.

Ingredient Consumable Type Effect on Recipe
Salt Grilled Increase Max Health
Red Wheat Bread and Pies Increase Max Magicka
Onion Soup and Stews Increase Max Stamina
Hallertau Hops Beer Increase Magicka Recovery
Snowberry Spirits Increase Health Recovery
Concord Grapes Wine Increase Stamina Recovery

Tier 2 ingredients are needed for all blue recipes between levels 10 and VR5. Blue recipes get a new prefix: ‘Enriched’, ‘Fortified’ and ‘Invigorated’, and the recipe will add an extra stat/effect on top of the base recipe.

Tier 3 Ingredients

Tier 3 Provisioning ingredients are only needed for purple (epic) quality recipes. The final consumable will increase all three stats or recovery rates, and the tier 3 recipe names have the prefix ‘Consummate’.

Ingredient Consumable Type
Garlic & Pepper Grilled
Barley & Oats Bread and Pies
Potato & Tomato Soup and Stews
Hops & Saaz Hops Beer
Juniper Berry & Canis Root Spirits
White Grapes & Jazbay Grapes Wine

Tier 3 provisioning ingredients are needed for all purple recipes between levels 35 and VR5.

Note that every tier 3 recipe of a specific type requires both of the ingredients. That’s why I’ve listed garlic & pepper on the same row – you never use them separately. They are ONLY used together and for tier 3 recipes.

A tier 3 / epic provisioning recipe will always require the primary ingredient, secondary ingredient, tier 2 (blue) ingredient and the two tier 3 (epic) ingredients, meaning you always need five ingredients for a tier 3 recipe.