Pikeapple

Pikeapple is a farmed food crop produced by Pikeapple Bushes. Domestic bushes yield about 266.66 kcal per cycle, while wild bushes yield about 66.66 kcal per cycle, making the domestic version much more efficient for sustained food production. As a raw food, Pikeapple can be eaten directly by Duplicants to restore calories, and it is also used as an ingredient in several processed foods.

Pikeapple has a number of practical uses beyond direct consumption. It can be fed to Critters, where it serves different ranching purposes depending on the species:

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

Pikeapple is also a flexible cooking ingredient. It can be processed into multiple foods, each with different benefits:

• At a Microbe Musher, 2 kg of Pikeapple plus 5 Sleet Wheat Grain or Megafrond Grain produces Pikeapple Skewer for 4,000 kcal at +3 quality. This recipe does not spoil.
• At an Electric Grill, 1 kg of Pikeapple produces a cooked version worth 1,200 kcal at +1 quality, improving the basic food without any added ingredient cost.
• At a Smoker, 7 kg of Pikeapple plus 100 kg of Wood or Peat produces 4 servings worth 11,450 kcal total at +2 quality. This recipe duplicates the calories of the base food and requires no power.

Because Pikeapple is edible raw, it can fill emergency food needs before a cooking chain is set up. Once a base has a stable agricultural and power infrastructure, it becomes more valuable as an ingredient for higher-quality meals or as ranch feed. Its compatibility with both ranching and cooking makes it a versatile crop, especially in colonies that want to turn surplus plants into coal, dirt, or upgraded meals.