What to know
- Raspberries are found early along the main climbing path, close to save points.
- You must manually harvest them before they can be used.
- Cooking raspberries always requires clear water.
- Raspberry juice provides strong survival buffs, making it worth preparing regularly.
In Cairn, food and hydration systems are tightly connected to exploration and climbing efficiency. Raspberries are one of the first consumables you’ll encounter, and while they seem simple, learning how to properly gather and cook them into raspberry juice can significantly improve your early-game stability and long climbs.
Where to find raspberries in Cairn
Raspberries appear naturally along the main traversal routes rather than hidden behind optional content. One of the earliest confirmed raspberry locations is to the left of a save point, near the area where your character climbs up after leaving the gym section. This spot is easy to miss if you rush forward, but checking the terrain carefully near save points usually pays off.
When you approach a raspberry bush, you must interact with it manually. Pressing the X button allows you to harvest the berries and add them directly to your inventory. There is no tool requirement, cooldown, or danger involved, which makes raspberries one of the safest resources to gather.
As you continue progressing along the mountain path, additional raspberry bushes appear further ahead, especially near natural rest points and traversal breaks. This design encourages you to stock up gradually rather than farming one single location.
Cairn raspberry collection overview
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Found near | Save points and early climbing paths |
| Interaction button | X |
| Risk level | None |
| Respawn behavior | More bushes appear later |
Why raspberries matter for survival
On their own, raspberries are useful, but their real value comes from cooking. Cairn heavily rewards prepared food over raw consumption, and raspberry juice is one of the best early-game consumables you can make.
Raspberry juice restores multiple survival stats at once, helping you maintain stamina, hydration, and overall condition during extended climbs. This makes it especially valuable before attempting long vertical sections where mistakes are costly.
How to cook raspberries and make raspberry juice
Cooking in Cairn is tied to rest and preparation, not on-the-go crafting. To begin, you must return to your tent. Inside the tent menu, select the Cook option to access the cooking interface.
Once inside the cooking menu, add raspberries to the cooker. The game will not allow you to start cooking with raspberries alone, so this step is crucial: you must also add clear water. Without clear water, the cooking process cannot begin.
After placing both ingredients, click and hold the Square button to initiate cooking. The process takes a short moment, after which the raspberries are transformed into raspberry juice.
When cooking finishes, you can store the juice for later or consume it immediately, depending on your current needs. Storing is often smarter before long climbs, while consuming helps if your stats are already low.
Raspberry juice cooking requirements
| Requirement | Needed |
|---|---|
| Raspberries | Yes |
| Clear water | Mandatory |
| Tent access | Required |
| Cooking input | Hold Square |
Understanding raspberry juice effects
Raspberry juice is more than simple hydration. It provides stacked survival benefits, making it far more efficient than raw berries or untreated water. In the image shown, raspberry juice lasts for 24 in-game minutes and restores multiple core resources at once.
Because of this, it’s best used before difficult climbs or extended exploration, rather than wasting it during safe traversal sections.
Raspberry juice effects at a glance
| Effect Type | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Stamina recovery | Moderate |
| Hydration | High |
| Overall sustain | Very strong early-game |
| Duration | 24 minutes |
Clear water reminder
While this guide focuses on raspberries, it’s important to note that clear water is a separate resource. You must obtain it before cooking is possible. If you’re missing water, the cook option will still appear, but the process will not start until water is added.
This makes planning important: always ensure you have both raspberries and clear water before returning to your tent to cook.
Food buffs in Cairn
Raspberries are intentionally placed to teach you Cairn’s survival loop early. They’re easy to collect, safe to harvest, and extremely rewarding once cooked. By consistently gathering raspberries near save points and converting them into raspberry juice, you give yourself a strong buffer against fatigue, dehydration, and failed climbs.
If you treat raspberry juice as essential climbing preparation rather than emergency food, your progression through Cairn becomes smoother, safer, and far more forgiving.
