How to Get Glow Berries in Minecraft

Guide Java Bedrock

Quick answer: Glow berries grow on cave vines hanging in lush caves - right-click a berry-bearing vine to harvest without breaking it. They also appear in mineshaft chest minecarts, and you can grow your own under any solid block.

What you need

Nothing but your hands
Azalea tree = lush cave marker
Bone meal (optional, to force berries)

Step by step

Find a lush cave: look for azalea trees on the surface and dig down beneath their roots.
Spot the cave vines hanging from the ceiling - the ones carrying berries glow at light level 14, so they are hard to miss.
Press use on a berry-bearing vine to collect glow berries without breaking it (breaking works too, but the vine has to regrow).
No lush cave nearby? Glow berries also generate as loot in mineshaft chest minecarts.
Farm them: place glow berries under a solid block and the vine grows downward - each new segment has an 11% chance of bearing berries, and bone meal forces berries instantly.
Eat them for 2 hunger, use the vines as natural lighting, or feed them to two foxes to breed a baby fox that trusts you.

Java vs Bedrock

Identical in Java and Bedrock: lush cave vines, 11% berry chance per new segment, light level 14 from berry vines and 2 hunger per berry. Foxes breed with glow berries in both editions.

Versions: Glow berries arrived with Caves & Cliffs Part I: Java 1.17 (21w05a) and Bedrock 1.17.0. They joined mineshaft chest minecart loot in the same snapshot cycle (21w13a).

Frequently asked questions

Do glow berries regrow after harvesting?

Yes - right-clicking leaves the vine intact and new berries appear as it keeps growing. If you break a vine, only that segment is lost; the rest keeps producing.

What are glow berries good for?

Three things: emergency food (2 hunger each), pretty natural lighting (a berry vine glows at light level 14), and fox breeding - feeding them to two foxes gives a baby that trusts you.

Glow berries or sweet berries?

Sweet berries grow on surface bushes that hurt you when you walk through; glow berries hang from cave vines, glow, and are safe to touch. Both breed foxes.