Gridanian walnuts may be gathered by botanists from logging points in the South Shroud (X: 23.9, Y:20.9). This area is called “the Upper Paths”, and it’s just outside the settlement that’s home to the Quarrymill aetheryte to the west.
The logging points you’re looking for are called “Mature Trees” and have a level of 25.
This means that your botanist needs to be at least level 21 for these nodes to show up when you use the “Triangulate” ability.
Also worth mentioning that the monsters you encounter here are mostly non-aggressive, but there is a chance you may wander off a bit and encounter some that are not as friendly.
Specifically, there’s a Redbelly bandit camp that has level 26 enemies nearby, as well as a group of aggressive level 25 River Yarzons to the south. So do remember to use your “sneak” ability to reduce your chances of being detected.
If Gridania was your starting city, you can unlock the botanist class as soon as you finish your level 10 class quest.
If you started in any of the other 2 cities, you must first complete the level 15 Main Scenario Quest “The Ul’dahn/Lominsan Envoy” to be able to travel to Gridania.
The Botanists’ Guild can be found in Old Gridania where their receptionist is at (X:6.4, Y:8.3).
Another way to get Gridanian walnuts is through your retainers.
You can set their class to botanist and send them out on botany ventures. The venture for Gridanian walnuts is level 21.
In order to do this, you must have botanist at level 21 yourself, as well as have the walnuts recorded in your gathering log.
This means that you need to have gathered Gridanian walnuts at least once yourself while out in the South Shroud.
And of course, the trusty Market Board is there as well to provide us with a quick fix of walnuts when we don’t have the time to gather them ourselves. They can be found in the ingredients section of the board.
These walnuts are used in a handful of culinarian recipes, including the one for Rarefied Baklava.
Rarefied baklava is a collectable item which can be turned in to appraisers for White Scrips and experience points.
Other recipes, such as the one for walnut bread, produce items that can be used to boost your stats for a certain period of time. This kind of recipe also gives you a bonus in experience points for the same duration as the stat buff.
And finally, Gridanian walnuts may be requested by your Grand Company’s Personnel Officer for the daily provisioning mission.
These missions reset once a day, and they provide a large chunk of EXP as well as some company seals.
Which item you’ll be requested to get will depend on the current level of the relevant class. Gridanian walnuts are requested at level 21.
