Pikeapple

Pikeapple is a basic food crop that can be harvested from Pikeapple Bushes. Domestic Pikeapple Bushes produce about 266.66 kcal per cycle, while wild bushes produce about 66.66 kcal per cycle, making domesticated farming far more efficient for long-term food supply.

Duplicants can eat Pikeapples raw to restore calories, and they also serve as a versatile ingredient for several cooking recipes. Pikeapple can be fed directly to Critters as well, which makes surplus harvests useful even when food storage is not a priority.

Common uses include:

• Pikeapple Skewer: made from 1 kg of Pikeapple at the Electric Grill, producing 1,200 kcal with +1 quality.
• Berry Sludge: made from 2 kg of Pikeapple plus 5 Sleet Wheat Grain or Megafrond Grain at the Microbe Musher, producing 4,000 kcal with +3 quality. This recipe does not spoil.
• Veggie Poppers: made from 7 kg of Pikeapple plus 100 kg of Wood or Peat at the Smoker, producing 11,450 kcal with +2 quality. The Smoker does not require power, and this recipe doubles the calories of the base food.

Pikeapple is also a useful animal feed:

• Floxes consume 160 kcal per cycle of Pikeapple and convert it into 5 kg/cycle of Dirt.
• Hatches consume 700 kcal per cycle and convert it into 656.3 g/cycle of Coal.
• Sage Hatches consume 700 kcal per cycle and convert it into 875 g/cycle of Coal.

Because Pikeapple can be eaten raw, cooked into higher-quality meals, or used as Critter feed, it is a flexible crop with multiple roles in a colony economy. It is especially valuable when a colony wants to turn excess harvests into morale food, stable Critter feed, or specialty recipes without needing rare ingredients.