Hi-Chew – 4 Peach Variety
It seems that Hi-Chew has figured out that some people really like a flavour. So much so that they’ve released a few variety bags that have four different variations on the same fruit. I figured the grape variety bag made sense since, well cmon…everyone loves grape. I guess it makes sense that they would start extending it to other popular fruits once they saw how popular that mix was.
Peach has always been a relatively unoffensive fruit to me. By this I mean, I don’t go out of my way to look for them, but if its in season and its on sale I’ll give it a go. I personally feel like that the variance between a really bad peach and a really good peach isn’t that far apart, and that it’s an overall consistent fruit. Unlike something like say, an apple where a really bad one….can be real bad, while a good one can be orgasmic.
Oddly enough, this packaging also has English on it, which is rare to see in Hi-Chew packages in Japan. But I’ll take it, since the descriptions help me distinguish the peaches better. Opening the bag up, I have to actually read the text on the wrappers to figure out which of the four is which, since the colours are so similar. Based on the helpful translations on the front, I can divvy these up to the proper piles, and I can at least know what I’m eating. Let’s start from left with white peach.
As expected, the white peach is fairly faint smelling of peach, and doesn’t seem to have a strong presence. There’s nothing different about the texture from other Hi-Chews; that is to say it is of the standard quality chew. The flavour is like the smell, it’s relatively faint and doesn’t have a particular strong flavour to it. It has that distinct peach flavour you get from candies, but it’s almost watered down, like a peach tea. Which could be good as a palate cleanser I guess? Though I’m not sure why you would need a palate cleanse unless you’re down the whole bag in one sitting and want to maximize utility. It’s worth mentioning that each flavour gets four pieces, with golden peach getting an extra two pieces. This brings to total piece count to 18.
On to the next one, which is known as Shimizu white peach. I have no recollection of eating this fruit, or at least not by name. I’ll be comparing this against the previous piece, since I have no real benchmark to work with. This piece has a faint yellow outer section, whereas the previous one was a faint pink. This one also has a very faint smell to it, and doesn’t smell all that different from the white peach piece. The flavour of this one is also very subtle, though this one has a slightly more sweet aftertaste, while the other one is ever so slightly more floral. Is floral the term I’m thinking of? Perhaps earthy is a better description. Nature-like? It has hints of earthiness at first, but that goes away and blossoms into a floral flavour. Kind of. I imagine this translates much better in the actual fruit, with that fresh peach juice dripping down your mouth. Mmmmm. I like this one a bit better than the regular white peach, but the flavour is still too subtle for me. Moving on.
The third piece is known as Hakuhou peach. Again, I don’t have much reference for this beyond knowing it’s a Japanese white peach. It’s a tad hard to tell from the picture, but this one flips the script and has the outside as white, while the inside is pink. This one is a more interesting piece than the previous two. While the peach flavour isn’t too much stronger in this one, it’s strong enough that you’re hit with the flavour right away, and there’s no mistaking it. This piece has a stronger peach-iness to it and while it’s not quite as sweet, there’s enough of a floral, almost tangy taste to it that I enjoy it more. Something about this piece’s flavour gives it dimensions, so it’s not just a mildly sweet treat.
And finally, we have the golden peach. This one seems to be the odd one out, since the other three varieties are all white peaches. I tend to find that yellow peaches are more common here in the North than white peaches. I’m guessing it’s a climate thing? This piece is also the one that they give you 6 of, instead of 4 like the other three. Maybe it means this is the more popular one? This one looks like the standard peach flavour they have in the main line up. It has a rich orange colour on the outside, and white on the inside. This one tastes like the standard piece too, its got that distinct sweet peach flavour. Unlike the white peach flavours, this one hits you with the strong peach taste right off the bat, and doesn’t show signs of slowing down. It has some floral peach after taste, so it’s not just sweetness throughout. I can see this being the most popular flavour.
As with most variety packs, there are clear favourites and a hierarchy. For me personally, it would look something like this:
- Hakuhou
- Golden Peach
- Shimizu White Peach
- White Peach
This may seem odd to some people based on my commentary for the golden peach. While the golden peach had the strongest flavour and was the sweetest, I found the complexity of the Hakuhou flavour to be really interesting and unique, and for that reason I liked it the most. For regular snacking though, golden peach will probably be the go to for most people. But as usual your mileage may vary. I would recommend this variety, despite the fact that I’m not crazy about peaches. There’s no bad flavours in this mix, and their all winners. There’s something for everyone, from people who just like the chew and don’t want too strong of a flavour, to those who want that strong, concentrated peach flavour. Looks like Hi-Chew hit it out of the park yet again.
