Hi-Chew – 4 Orange Variety
Citrus fruits, especially orange are wonderfully refreshing and tasty when they are picked at the proper ripeness. When not though, they end up very sour, overly tart and downright awful. To me, citrus is like the gambling fruit – high risk high reward. Other fruits like apples, or grapes aren’t as high risk. Sure it might taste bad if it’s not ripe enough, but worst case scenario they are bland or tasteless. Citrus though…Or maybe it’s just me. I don’t have a great track record for picking citrus fruits, so maybe its just my personal failings that are coming into play here. Either way, that shouldn’t be a problem with today’s Hi-Chews. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that these are going to be ripe enough to be the good stuff. But who knows, I could be wrong, being ever the optimist that I am.
The four flavours from left to right on the front of the package are Ehime Mandarin, Kagoshima Yuzu, Kyushu Dekopon, Kiyomi Orange. As someone who doesn’t know much about citrus, this is going to be a challenge to review. But I’ll do my best to try and guide you through this. Come on me with this journey to orangenlightenment. Also, you may have noticed that the top right corner of the package says Seiyu Livin. Seiyu is a company that has grocery and department stores. I’m assuming they’re a big deal, seeing as Walmart purchased them and has a majority stake in them. I can only assume this means that this pack is exclusive to that chain. This bag, like most of them has 18 pieces in total, 4 of each and one flavour has an extra two pieces. In this mix, that would be the kiyomi.
Ehime Mandarin is first up – these mandarins hail from the Ehime prefecture and….that’s about all I could find about them. Apparently a regional baseball team is named after them, the Ehime Mandarin Pirates, so that has to count for something right? Most descriptions just say that it’s very sweet and juicy, though that could be used to describe most fresh, ripened oranges. Appearance wise this piece has an outer layer and inner layer that is so close in colour I almost couldn’t tell them apart. The flavour is not as sweet as I expected, which is not a bad thing. The flavour is a little more complex than that. While the outside layer is a tad mild, it isn’t until I start chewing into the centre layer that I’m hit with a distinct orange citrus flavour. It’s not overpowering, but it’s definitely stronger than the outer layer. This is one of the few pieces that I could noticeable discern a difference in flavour between the two layers. While it’s not as sweet as mandarins I’m used to seeing widely available here in the north, it’s quite flavourful and reminds me of freshly squeeze orange juice.
Next up we have the Kagoshima Yuzu. I can’t really tell if yuzus from Kagoshima are supposed to be any different, or if it’s just a major product from that area. Appearance wise, this is much more like a lemon, with yellow on the outside and white on the inside. The smell though, is distinctly yuzu. For those who have never had yuzu knowingly, the best I can describe it is the cross between a grapefruit and a mandarin. The flavour is very distinct – it’s almost like eating the peel or rind of a citrus fruit, but isn’t quite as sour. It does have a very strong zesty flavour to it though, and if you’ve ever had a nice, natural marmalade with not too much added sugar, you would have a rough idea what I’m talking about. I’ve never been huge fan of yuzu, but the flavour is quite spot on so if you are, this one would be a winner for you.
Kyushu Dekopon – my experience with these is quite limited, but I have heard of these. Dekopons are basically a hybrid between oranges and mandarins. They are also super expensive, and have a distinctive shape, almost like if an orange and a pear had an offspring. Don’t think about that imagery too hard, for both of our sake. The flavour of this is very distinct, but in a way that’s difficult for me to describe. It’s like a cross between a grapefruit and orange, but without any of the bitterness or tartness, and it just has sweetness throughout. I say grapefruit, but in terms of smell, this one had the most distinctive smell when opening the wrapper. It definitely has the smell of a sweet mandarin, but taste reminds me more of a grapefruit. I’m not sure why. This one is probably the easiest piece to get through, as there’s little to no acidity in the taste. It does leave a bit of an aftertaste, but the experience is pretty nice, and I’m reminded a bit of a high quality orange sorbet. It’s appearance reminds me of a creamsicle, white on the inside and orange on the outside. This one should be a crowd pleaser.
Finally, we have the Kiyomi orange. Kiyomis were created as a hybrid of a mikan and an orange, mikan being a mandarin type orange, and orange being the more commonly known, sweet orange. Kiyomis are supposed to minimal acid content, and are generally quite sweet. To be quite frank, I’m having trouble telling all of them apart, with all the specific genus names and all looking/sounding the same. I’m way out of my depth here. This piece looks like it has a yellow on the inside, while the outside is orange. The flavour is kind of “rounded” and mild, and doesn’t have much tart or sour notes that you’d get from an orange. It’s mostly just a mild sweetness along with a hint of orange flavour on the outer layer. It’s when I get into the inner layer that I notice a bit more flavour, which has a slightly floral note to it. It’s so slight that you might miss it if you chew too fast.
I’m not generally someone who goes out of my way to get citrus flavoured products, but I figured I’d give this limited edition a try. In terms of my preference, it would go something like this:
- Kyushi Dekopon
- Ehime Mandarin
- Kiyomi Orange
- Kagoshima Yuzu
As mentioned before, the dekopon is real easy to get through, and I can’t imagine this being displeasing to anyone. The mandarin was definitely a unique experience, and I would definitely do it again. It’s not as sweet as you might expect from your typical mandarin flavour, but it makes up for it with an interesting flavour profile. The kiyomi felt like a standard flavour, and nothing was too special about it. Yuzu is last only because I generally dislike the flavour. If I liked yuzu, it might rank higher, but I don’t, so it doesn’t. Sue me. But please don’t.
I definitely enjoyed trying out all these new flavours, but I’m not so certain I would pay a premium or go out of my way to get these. If you like orange flavoured things though, this might be worth the effort. For me at least, this is a one time deal.
