Fit’s – Grape Mix

Chewing gum was once considered social taboo in Japan. There was and still is, a generally frowned upon thing to take something from your mouth once it’s been put in there. It’s why Hi-Chew was created and became the worldwide phenomenon it is today – it was basically created as a proxy for chewing gum that didn’t require disposal afterwards and could be safely swallowed.

As times change, so do certain rules and taboos. While it’s not as frowned upon these days, a big issue still remains that in Japan there are a very limited number of garbage cans, so chewing gum has to last for at least a decent duration for it to seem worth all the hassle. Either that or it has to be super tasty or come with a toy or sticker.

This thing is sealed up and after that seal is broken, the aroma of grape fills the room. No joke, I could still smell this after going into the adjacent room. These things are strong, but in a good, mouth-watering way. Opening the sleeve up reveals 12 pieces, and in a convenient format too. You simply pull the piece out and a part of the foil separate, leaving you with one open end so that you can pop it in your mouth without having to shove your grubby hands into it and unpeel it. A pretty neat idea that I’ve seen some other companies adopt at this point, but apparently Lotte has been doing this for quite some time. Good on them. Even gum packaging can do with some innovation once in a while.

They smell like a typical Japanese grape flavour, but slightly more generic because it’s a mix of the green grapes and the red grapes. For the most part the flavour is similar between the two so that you won’t be able to tell them apart, and having them mixed together doesn’t change a whole lot.

The grape flavour is pretty intense, and definitely reminds of grape. Though again, it kind of wavers between the two, as the red grape flavour is slightly tart while the green grape is more of that grape juice sweetness. Overall it works pretty well and the flavour lasted about as long as I thought it would – I think I stretched it out to a good five minutes or so. Fruity flavours just don’t tend to last very long in gum format, so it’s to be expected. I feel like there’s some xylitol or some other artificial sweetener that has a slightly refreshing after taste to it as well, as I get a slightly minty effect from the gum. It could also just be my brain playing tricks on me again.

The texture is pretty standard chewing gum affair, it starts off very soft and you can feel the flavour crystals as you chew through it. It stays fairly soft for the duration that I chewed it, which was about 15 minutes. While the flavour doesn’t last too long, which is to be expected, at least the chewing experience remains soft and doesn’t get overly stiff or rubbery.

All in all I’d say these are pretty solid and worth a try. I would consider getting them again, though the one thing I notice is that they don’t do well exposed to air so if you open a pack, make sure you finish it fairly quickly or things will go stale or lose flavour.